I wore a piece for about a year, and it was the biggest mistake of my life.
First off, don't think for a second that people won't notice. Even the best ones are noticeable, but they are good enough to at least not cause a distraction. Why? Because the color of the piece will NEVER exactly match the color of your hair.
They look perfect when you first get them on, but over time the color of the piece starts to fade. This is why everyone with a piece has to go in each month to get it dyed. It is just part of the process, no way around it. As long as you are getting a HUMAN hair system, and the human hair is the best looking from a texture perspective, the monthly dying is mandatory. Now, your REAL hair is being pumped out of your scalp at a constant color, but the piece starts each month with that "dyed hair" look. After a week the dye in the piece starts to lighten up a bit, and may actually look very real for about a week. Then, it starts to look LIGHTER than your scalp hair, at which point you have to go in and get the color redone. People won't notice this right away, but people you come in contact with on a daily basis over time will inevitably know.
Then comes the issue of the piece's condition getting worse over the months. I think most of us know how our hair feels after a month with no haircuts... for some of us, over time, your hair starts to dry out at the ends, and get brittle. Well, take this concept, and imagine how the condition of your hair ends would be if you didn't cut it at all for a year and a half. After about month 5 or so, it starts to get very frizzy, and you are constantly 'deep conditioning' the piece to keep it looking fresh.
Now, both of the above can be minimized if you treat the piece very carefully, which I tried to do, and this is a VERY time consuming task. It is almost like having another pet.
There are other issues as well... wearing a piece can be VERY uncomfortable. On hot days, when you are out in the sun, the sweat and sebum builds up under the piece and becomes uncomfortable. Remember, the piece is literally glued to your head, so as sweat is expelled directly under the adhesive it can itch like a mofo.
The hairstyle of the pieces can be done to hide them pretty well, the one caveat being that this is only the case when your piece is styled. But, as we all know, there are times in life when we CAN'T style our hair or, when it is just plain unstyled. Times like, well, when you wake up, or when you are swimming in the pool. When your hair is wet, the piece CAN be seen. Sure, it is invisible under such circumstances right after you first have it put on, but over the weeks between treatment, the hair under the piece starts to grow out and up, and the piece always starts to buckle in the back, and this buckling can be seen when the hair is wet.
It wasn't too much of a worry, because after a few months with the piece I realized that swimming was pretty much out of the question. Not only for styling issues, but because the piece is dyed, and chlorine really does a number on hair. Especially dyed hair that has not been cut in several months.
I've seen the commercials, and the pieces always look great. Well, they do look great when you walk out of the studio each month after your $100 monthly maintenance session. Well, they don't "market" the maintenance sessions as being $100 a month, they'll quote you $30 or so, but this initial quote does not include the dying, and believe me, you are going to NEED the dying each time you go in, especially as the hair gets older through the months. Back to my point.. the piece always looks good right after the servicing, but you have to keep in mind that when the piece is re-applied the hair under it is shaved down. So, the piece is lying on a completely flat surface, and very accurately follows the contours of your scalp. BUT, imagine a week later, as the shaven hair along the perimiter starts to grow out... that once seamless contour becomes somewhat of a rough cravasse. By the end of the week the glue at the rear of it starts to loosen, and the rough edges of the dried glue on it start to feel itchy on the scalp.
Basically, when I wore a piece, it was NOT my front hairline that gave it away as much as it was the upper temples area, where the mesh front gave way to the more solid acrilyc of the piece material. I wish they could have done something to better engineer these corner areas, but they CAN'T put the mesh there because this is the main corner anchor point for the whole thing. The thin mesh up front prevents you from putting any really solid adhesive there, so you have to have a thicker point at each of the corners to tack it on, and keep the front taut. Well, as the hair in the corners starts to grow, the tautness loosens up and the piece starts to buckle in the front. It's just a real pain in the ***, and when I wore it I was constantly self-conscious of it.
Another point, a person running their hands through your hair WILL feel the piece. A lot of places advertize that a piece is unnoticeable to the touch, but this is BS. I agree that it might be unnoticeable to the touch when you walk out of the studio, but after a week, you cannot help but notice slight buckling around the sides. Thus, if you have a sig other, getting a piece should very much be a group decision. Your sig other will be waking up with you, and when you wake up, your piece WILL be noticeable, period, until you shower and re-style it.
Now, to be fair, I have to say that a lot of what I mention CAN be minimized with a LOT of daily maintenance, but despite the maintenance, the REASON why you are having to do the maintenance is something that will always be on your mind. For example, the minute that someone asks you to take a road trip to Vegas, you just BEG that they won't ask to share a room. You immediately start thinking to yourself, "okay, Vegas for four days, so, I have to condition my piece tonight... I have to pre-cut some adhesive tape so I'll have it ready quickly... Do I need to stop in at the shop and get it serviced, or does the color look good?... GOD, I hope they don't decide to hit the pool and play water volleyball!... our flight out leaves at 7:30am on the last morning, so I HAVE to get up at 5:00am so I can shower and style my hair... OH, or I can bring a baseball cap for that morning!?"
Sure, I got through these trips, but these issues were ALWAYS on my mind. And as time went by, I found myself wearing that "baseball cap" more and more often, because unlike minoxidil, you can't go a DAY without doing your hairpiece regimen. Not even one day. I mean, I could take that trip to Vegas for a WEEK if I wanted to and just leave the minoxidil at home, and it would be FINE. Not so with the hairpiece. It is a completely DIFFERENT level of attention that is required. I swear to you it felt like having a child to care for.
Perhaps the worst part of it was the looks from others. I'd meet someone for the first time, and if they glanced at my hair, I would always wonder "did my piece look good this morning?... oh my gosh, did I just look up at an angle at which they can see the tape, I wonder if my mesh is loose?... did the wind blow that corner part of my hair to the side?" I mean, they may just have been admiring my nice hair, and not have noticed the piece at all, but because I KNOW that I am wearing a piece, I always would assume, and/or wonder, if they noticed it. I think there was also a certain esteem that would get battered every night that I had to take it off to clean it, or to re-apply glue to areas that were coming loose. Just the fact that I was doing this, and watching myself in the mirror as I literally glued this chunk of fake hair to my head took a toll on my self-esteem over time. It is a very humbling and almost scary lifestyle to live.
But most of all, the proof came on the day I decided to take it off. I was scared, but once I got it off and had my head shaved down, it was the best decision I had ever made. I was free! I could swim! I could run my fingers through my own hair! And I realized just HOW uncomfortable it was to wear!.. It was almost like I just got used to the discomfort of the cracked glue bumps, the feeling of hair growing out of my scalp and literally pushing up on a solid wall of glue, and I never had to undergo what I considered the inhuman act of watching myself with a handful of fake hair in my hand, knowing I had to glue it on in order to be the person that everyone around me was used to seeing.
Sure, applying minoxidil is a pain, but this is something that I had shared with my ex-girlfriend and we both laughed about it. Heck, my ex used to enjoy putting the minoxidil on for me! However, my hairpiece maintenance is something that I NEVER shared with any girls. There is a big difference between putting some drops on your head, and having your girlfriend watch you remove a forehead full of hair, revealing something different than is what her, and her parents, and family, are used to seeing.
This is just my opinion, and I know that some people are willing to do the maintenance to make hairpieces work for them. I am just not one of them. Unlike the minoxidil, which I have accepted in the same way that I have accepted brushing my teeth, I could NEVER accept holding that chunk of hair in my hands, knowing that I was wearing a fake face to people around me. I think hairpieces are terrible, just my take on it, and I think anyone should really think very long and hard about getting one.