Unusual advice regarding Hair Piece

[avidz]

Hey everyone. I'm in my 30s, been wearing for almost 10 years now. For the record, I am a Norwood 7.


I have gotten to the point in my life where I am no longer comfortable wearing the piece. The cost, maintenance, and also people finding out that I'm wearing is mentally exhausting at this point. Each new unit is costing me around $650+ with maintenance and I have considered taking the plunge to shave it all off and eventually go with SMP (scalp micro pigmentation).


Basically, I am looking for a method to "transition" from having a decent amount of hair to thinning hair. I know this will take some time, but I don't want to just shave it all off and make it obvious that I never had hair to begin with and I was wearing this whole time. What I'd like to do is wear a piece that is showing my hair thinning and gradually going bald (I am ok wearing for another year, maybe two if I have to). I was really hoping some of you guys can help provide some advice on this...

Are there specific pieces that are much thinner in terms of hair density and what would be the best method from your guys' experience?


I know some people will say just to shave it all off and get it over with, but I would much rather go the route of "balding" or "thinning" first. Regardless, all opinions are welcome. I appreciate everyone's feedback, we're all in this together.

 

[Noah]

Hi Avidz

That's an interesting dilemma, although it is really just speeding up something that we should all be doing, which is keeping our units age-appropriate in terms of density, and reducing the density as we get older. Unfortunately it is complicated by the current state of the market caused by Covid.

In a normal market each time you buy a new unit you could gradually reduce the density and build more recession into the hairline contour, down to about 60% density, which would look something like this photo (off the Internet, not a hairpiece). But that involves using custom ordering, so it is going to be quite difficult if not impossible in the current market conditions. You could achieve the same effect yourself if you use a lace hairpiece, by gradually thinning out the unit, either by selectively plucking it or by using a chemical hair remover like Nair. It would require patience and care, because you don't want to create bald spots by taking out too many hairs in the one place, but it is doable. There will be extra work to do when you switch from one piece to another when one wears out, because obviously you want the new piece to continue the downward trend of density, but if you work with a good supplier and communicate what you are doing and what you want, it should work OK. Personally I would try to do it with 2 hairpieces over 9 months to a year, so that you don't have too many of those transitions from unit to unit.

For the low densities you really need either Swiss lace or 0.03 grade thinskin, and if you are going to thin the piece out further it needs to be lace. It's difficult to take the density below 60%, because then you start to get issues with the base showing, so at that point you would likely have to bite the bullet and switch to the scalp tattoo.

You will also need to think beforehand about where you want the boundaries of your tattoo to be. I think it may look odd if you thin the density dramatically but your hairline contour remains full and unreceded. On the other hand you don't want to build temple recession into your pieces if later you intend to include that area of scalp in the tattoo. That's maybe something to discuss with the SMP artist.

Hope those thoughts are useful. Best of luck with your plan.

Noah

 

[BaldBearded]

If you are already hassled by the price and bother, you are now going to spend a fortune on systems that will have you "thin".

It is totally acceptable for someone your age to just go and shave your head.

I had a client who is in his late 30s, after five years of wearing, just said the hell with it.

He didn't have a chance to think twice, as I had the clippers ready.

I shaved his head, and after a couple of minutes of "OMG" he is now, a month later, totally happy with his choice.

I would seriously consider it, people don't really care if you have hair or are thinning or are bald, or shaving. We don't do this for others, we do this for ourselves.

You shave your head, folks go, wow, you shaved your head, and then ask you to please pass the salt.

 

[deg_dilemma]

Well said BB: "We don't do this for others, we do this for ourselves." This is so true.

What Noah advises is spot on too and is pretty much what I've done over the past couple of years. I started with a horrible stock system that gave me the hair of a 20 year old (baring in mind I'm in my 40s) and that shocked me to quickly move to custom systems and design my own Widows Peak style template.

I've also dropped my density down a fair bit and thinned the hair out further with shears. BTW this might help get past that 60% barrier that Noah mentions i.e. if you want the impression of thinning hair, go for 60% / 70% or whatever density and then use thinning shears. This way the base is less exposed but on top your hair is thinner.

My plan is to continue to thin my hair and create more of a recessed hairline as I get older. I've seen someone else do it gradually over the past 10 years - he's eventually ended up with a very small system that I'm sure he will soon discard and go for the shaved look.

 

[Fanjeera]

Damn I only do this for others.

 

[JMC]

I actually think you need to go ahead and shave it and have the SMP done. The whole point of SMP is to look like you actually have a full head of hair but YOU decided you wanted to shave it. As you know, it leaves tiny dots which replicate that hair is actually there. If you get thinner and thinner hair and then shave it then you have what looks like hair everywhere it will be more recognizable.

I will tell you before a hairpiece I actually had 2 hair transplants and several sessions of SMP. My scalp kept rejecting the ink from my head so we tried several times along with several different needles and it just did not turn out right. I, however, always seem to be the one person that something doesn’t work on. I’m cursed I suppose. I’ve seen lots of other people who it looks amazing on. It also could have been the girl doing it on me who didn’t know what she was doing. You never really know I suppose.

 

[BaldBearded]

I actually think you need to go ahead and shave it and have the SMP done. The whole point of SMP is to look like you actually have a full head of hair but YOU decided you wanted to shave it. As you know, it leaves tiny dots which replicate that hair is actually there. If you get thinner and thinner hair and then shave it then you have what looks like hair everywhere it will be more recognizable.

I will tell you before a hairpiece I actually had 2 hair transplants and several sessions of SMP. My scalp kept rejecting the ink from my head so we tried several times along with several different needles and it just did not turn out right. I, however, always seem to be the one person that something doesn’t work on. I’m cursed I suppose. I’ve seen lots of other people who it looks amazing on. It also could have been the girl doing it on me who didn’t know what she was doing. You never really know I suppose.

I have yet to see an SMP that looks... decent.

 

[JMC]

I have never seen anyone in person who has had it done. I’m basing it all on pictures of the girl who did it (mostly on African American men) and pictures on the internet, which obviously can be deceiving.

It very well may not look good in person.