I am a newbie and just receive the piece from John. I have shaved my hair off and tried putting it on but never had once time the piece was right on to my shaved area. The front is always right on but when I go to the middle back part of my head, its either too much to the right or too much to the left. I dont know how to do it right.
When I finished the front and go to the back, I always couldnt figure out when either side is goign to overlap on my real hair. I cant take it out again as its a mess again. Anyone please help!!!
Well, I can never get this quite right myself, so I'm not sure what my opinion is worth, but every time I get it a little better, so the first piece of advice is "practice, practice, practice".
Another technique is to use Debbie's "Re-Align" spray or 70% rubbing alcohol on your scalp. It gives you a little bit of time to move the unit around and align it. When the alcohol evaporates in about a minute, the glue or tape will set.
Another technique is to use tape, and to put the backing back onto the tape (leaving folded little tabs) before applying the unit to your head so that you can remove the backing a little piece at a time and therefore apply the unit more carefully.
Finally, there's a technique used for gluing, where you put a tiny piece of tape in the middle of your unit, and use it to position the unit correctly. Then you clip the hair up in the front, apply glue to just the front of your head, and lay the unit down onto that glue. Now the front half of your head is glued. Then you remove the little piece of tape and then do the gluing for the back half.
Personally, I didn't have so much luck the time I tried the "alcohol slide". Putting the backing back on the tape worked okay for me, but not 100% perfectly. I think that next time, I'm going to try the last method with the tiny piece of tape. It sounds like that would work well to me.
Thanks for all the advices. I wouldnt dare to try the alcohol slide coz it may make the bond loose. I think the last method that uses a tape in teh middle makes more sense and i am going to try that.
I thought it was easy at first before I try gluing downt eh piece on my head. I thoguht it was always the bond problem and detectability. Now I found that making it precisely fit into your shaved areas is the most difficult part!
Don't underestimate the alcohol slide. I've been using this technique for years. I modified it a bit by spraying alcohol on both my scalp and the tape. It gives me a minute or two to slide the piece around and place it in the exact position I want. It sets it about 5 minutes or so. I have not noticed any weakening of the adhesive after it sets - in fact it may help dissolve some of the oils on the scalp.
I put the tape on the unit, but leave the backing on, the only backing i take off is the very back edge.. I make sure this doesnt stick when i put it on my head. I get it into position the way i want, then tack down that back part. Then i lift up the front in front of a mirror. and peel the tapes back in sections and tack down. going from back to front. So tack down, lift up front.. pull down the next row of tapes, tack down etc
You must be very good with your hands. When mark the front with a comb like what mB did, the lace was so soft that when I hold teh front, the back of teh piece flips to the center of my head, and the hair sticks on the glue. When I remove the hair from the center, I miss the front..
I will try to do it from the back to the front. I couldnt see the back at all, just using fingers to feel.If the back is well aligned, I think the front should be fine.
Alcohol slide shold be good but I only have 99% and I read that 99% is not suitable for spraying on the scalp before aligning.
yeah i dont know man. I dont fuss with the back too much, for me anyway when i align the unit up in the front good, then the back seems to fall into the right position. I just feel with my finger tips in the back and tack down, id ont even look in the mirror for the back.
of course, having a friend help you makes it much easier... BUT doesn't make it VERY "dependent"?? I mean, this friend HAS to be around once a week, no matter where you personally are...
I know the situation. From the first attachement till today, my girlfriend helped with it. The piece was always exactly at the right place. She has really become an attachement expert! Some weeks ago, we split up (for reasons very different from hair *g*)... but we are still "friends", dear friends... though we both know, that is not the best solution when splitting up is so fresh!
And she even still helps me every 5 days or so. Because she likes me very much (and I like her), she's a great person. And she WANTS to do this for me because she has seen me SUFFERING from balding 7 years long, the whole time of our relation. She says it's sooooo unfair that I have that kind of problem and is soooooo happy, that I finally found a solution by wearing those great hairpieces... That's why she still helps me...
But I'd feel a slightly more independent if I could do it as perfect on my own.
After you get the hairline in place grip the piece with your thumbs underneath, keeping the back of the piece "flapped" over the front with your head tilted slightly forward if necessary.
Keeping the flap out of the adhesive, slowly move back and feel the edge of the adhesive with the very edge of your thumbs. Once you feel the sticky edge, tack it down and keep moving back.
I'm going to try to put all of these little tips on DVD eventually. Would have helped me a lot in the beginning!
I fully agree. You dont want ot be too dependant on somebody to help you too much on attachment. I travel quite a lot and imagine that I am in the hotel room doing it myself. I cant possibly ask anyone to help when I am alone. Thats why I kept trying to attach myself even when there is someone beside me.
I believe its just a matter of time but its really a tough thing to master.
the lace was so soft that when I hold teh front, the back of teh piece flips to the center of my head, and the hair sticks on the glue.
I know what you mean, as I have the same issues. These days I just always watch that segment of MB's video immediately before doing it to refresh my memories. (I ripped the disk to my hard drive to make this easier to do.) Notice that he uses one hand to keep the unit oriented out of the way, while tacking down with the the hand. That's what keeps hairs from getting stuck in the glue.
I've also taken to clipping the hair into segments to lessen the chance of stray hairs falling into the glue. That makes those hair segments a lot heavier, though, so I'm not sure if that actually works better. It might, though -- I'm on the fence.
i also travel alot.. fortunately i travel with alot with people.. but i think even if i was in the situation i would rather just ask one of the maids to line it up for me than walk around with a piece that was not lined up perfectly.
it all depends on how you treat the situation really. if you dont act like its a big deal a stranger wont.
i would rather just ask one of the maids to line it up for me than walk around with a piece that was not lined up perfectly.
If you have some Dermmatch, this will handle any small bald spot that might be caused by imperfect alignment.
If you just have it too far back and it overlaps your own hair a bit in the back, no one would ever know, unless they run their hands up the back of your head.
Another problem with attachment is that you cant 100% get the hairs at the edges of the piece avoid the glue on your scalp, expecially when you have to press it down hard! Even I spray alcohol on my fingers to press it down, the hairs 3 mm from the root will still stick to the lace. sigh.....
At the back , worse. you cant even see it when you press down, Considering to attaching it right at the back, preventing the piece lace sticking on your real hair, preventing the piece hair to stick on the lace when pressing down, Now I know why many guys here want to remove the piece as long as they could.
I have not try St tape. I believe it should be less messy that glue. But adhering the tape to your scalp first is another tedious thing to master. I will try adhering it on the piece then to the scalp. Praying that i will not get wrinkles! I will post a photo of myself with the piece when I get a perfect attachment.
Another problem with attachment is that you cant 100% get the hairs at the edges of the piece avoid the glue on your scalp
I'm not sure why this is a problem, except at the front of the unit, where you generally use a comb to press down the lace into the glue if you are exposing your front hair line.
Are you saying that you get hairs that are so stuck into the glue that they won't come unstuck? Are you using a white glue and waiting for it to dry clear before attaching?
(I don't have experience with solvent-based glues, as there are some incredible white glues now. Or at least incredible for me.)
YEs. I have a piece customized and a stock piece from BA. The customize piece, a freestyle, comes with bad ventilation at the front. The hairs curls out from the base and not growing out 45 degree angle or 90 degree adjacent to the base. Furthermore, 3 to 4 strands of hair together coming out from one direction. When I press it down, 3 mm from the roots of the hair will stick on the glue. and the front hairline will have strands of hairs that curls.
BA's stock piece freestyle ventilation will have not much problem coz the hairs are ventilated nicely 45 to 90 degree angle from the base. and it doesnt have 4 to 5 strands sticking together , growing out from one area. Very natural and easier to manage.
BA told me that I can send in for re ventilation and I am going to do it when I finish my trip. I asked for customize freestyle, coz the stock piece freestyle is really nice. I dont know why the ventilation of the stock piece and customize is so different!
Well, alas, I can't really give much advice on getting a natural front hairline. I spike my hair forward with only modest exposure of a front hairline to avoid these issues. Full exposure of a front hairline just seems like a lot more to have to worry about, especially for a newbie. Some day, when I've got all the other aspects mastered, perhaps I'll take up that challenge. I don't know about Keeping It Simple, but I do believe in keeping it as simple as possible.
Yes, i am using maxibond. It works very well for me in terms of the hold. I have tried ST30 tapes once, but it doesnt hold at all. Probably its too humid in here? I dont know.
ST-30 didn't hold for me until I pressed on it very hard. Then it held great. At first I used the handles of the scissors for pressing. Now I use a seam roller. (They cost about $3 at a hardware store.) The seam roller is easier to use and works better.
That approach is not so good for a front hairline, but I don't use tape on my front hairline.
When you guys say shave your hair, does it mean shaving it wil a blade? or shave it with a electronic shaver? I saw MB vidwo , he shaved it with an electronic shaver, and I did the same. But it wasnt a clean shave, leaving stubbles on the scalp. Despite this, the maxibond could still hold the piece well on my scalp.
ST tape doesnt hold well is due to the stubbles on the scalp?
Do you guys shave everything clean and smooth?
Keep using an electric razor because otherwise you will probably accidentally shave off some of your long hairs unless you are extremely careful and you don't want to do that. This mistake is virtually impossible with an electric foil razor.
You can get a close shave with an electric foil razor. Maybe you just need a better one. Consumer Reports recommends the Braun 360 Complete and the Remington MicroScreen 500. The Remington is much cheaper at $60, but I can vouch for the Braun, which cost me $130 or so at BJ's.
- Darius
This message has been edited by Darius99 on Aug 2, 2008 8:15 PM
Hmmm, I'm not sure why one would want to use pieces of electrical tape rather than just a makeup pencil. Has anyone used electrical tape instead. Is there an advantage?
Also, the duck's butt styling on the back of his head was kind of goofy if you ask me, but the hairline looked nice.
