Will a Poly System Shrink? From heat or cleaning product?

Marooned

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I recently had a system cut in by TCP. It's a thin skin, but I don't know exactly what the thickness is.

After a few showers, I noticed that there was a gap forming between the system and the shaved shape on my head. I tried removing / cleaning the system and after reapplying it, there was at least a centimeter gap all around. It's essentially ruined..

Is it possible that I shrunk it? TBH, it was an bad system, so I was rough with it (hot showers, blowdrying with regular heat, head and shoulders shampoo, cleaning with TCP's own alcohol based cleaner). But I didn't expect the material to actually shrink. Or, did TCP actually stretch the system out during application?

Thanks!
 

smoka123

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I think it was stretched during application.
You have to stretch it too during your application :)
 

deg_dilemma

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TCP is 0.03mm UTS.

UTS / Poly is essentially plastic and it will shrink with heat. You should avoid any kind of direct heat - blowdryers, hot showers. But then again, you should avoid that on any system because it's bad for the hair.

1 cm shrinkage is huge though. I would guess that the system wasn't large enough in the first place. I now order bespoke systems where my UTS is a little bigger than needed, because I know it will shrink over time - even if you don't use excessive heat, the plastic will shrink slowly over time.

What do you mean that it was a bad system? Is there anything you or TCP can learn from, that can be changed on your next system?
 

Marooned

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@smoka123: if it was stretched, I imagine I would have felt it. Maybe this is part of the hair system experience, pulling back the skin on your head to remove a few wrinkles at the same time? :) But I don't know how else to explain it.

@deg_dilemma: I have a second system which I did not have cut in / or to a template. So I'm going to try to cut off a few pieces of excess and see if I can make them shrink with heat. Maybe this will explain the mystery.

When I say it was a bad system: it was a shade too dark, and the cut in was unfortunate at best. The stylist applied the thinning shears to try to bring down the density, but instead it looked like a shaggy mess. I think I can learn a lot from the experience, but next time I will play around with the second system, and attempt different styles until I commit to something. It's been a long time since I had decent hair and I don't think that I know what works / what's current / what's right for me in my 30's.

Sorry to abandon this thread for so long, I really needed some distance from this topic for a while..
 

deg_dilemma

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Let us know what happens with your experiment on the shrinking. It will be interesting.

Also if you're happy with UTS then maybe opt for a custom system. You can lower the density and mix up colours to get your desired result. Though as I've said in other posts, it's vital to have a good stylist to cut the hair first time.
 
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