While the attraction to fast delivery and easy availability is the mainstay of the online hair replacement business there is nothing better than a hair system that is custom made for ALL your personal specifications.
In fairness to the stock system it is important to point out its benefits before we tell you about the benefits of a custom hair system.
First, stock hair pieces and toupees are usually pretty consistent and what you ordered today should be pretty close to the one you ordered 6 months ago. The production facilities love to make stock hair, the colors are consistent, the density is always the same as with the direction of knotting, making it easy for the workers and there are generally no surprises. This is great for the factory and the retailer but what about the person who is wearing a stock system? This is where we tell you just how inconsistent a stock system can be for you. The first issue is size. Our stock hair replacements are 7-1/2” X 8-1/2”. This is pretty standard for all stock pieces out there and the size difference may only be ½” up or down from there. This is great if you’re a 7-1/2 X 8-1/2 size and have a “standard” contour (shaped) head. If you’re smaller than this you’ll need to first “Cut Down” the system to fit your hair loss area. This isn’t a problem if you’re only cutting the system down a small amount say 1” front to back and/or side to side but what happens if you need a system that’s 5-1/2” X 6-1/2”???
Here’s a little something that is really good to know. When the hair system is made and the hair is knotted (Ventilated) into the base it is done with a basic finished hair style in mind. Whether that is Freestyle or Left Crown doesn’t matter the hair has to be put in going in a certain direction. Also, if the product is designed correctly there are different knotting techniques used in different parts of the system, specifically the edges. The hair around the perimeter should be ventilated using a single flat knot so the hair on the sides and back lays flat to the head and doesn’t poof out creating a “tunneling” effect. Unless the hair lays flat you will find it more difficult for the hair to blend from the hair system to your own growing hair. The balance of the hair is ventilated using a “Split Knot” technique so the hair will have movement and lift. If you cut the system down you are cutting away the area of single knots and what you’re left with is Split Knots around the perimeter and that means lift and poof and that is exactly what you don’t want on the sides and back of your hair system.
Here’s another issue there is a color that you always order but it isn’t quite the same as your hair color—what do you do?? You color your own hair or you color the system. When you color the hair piece you’re dealing with a natural fiber (Human Hair) that comes from many different sources and is inconsistent. This month’s batch of hair may have been processed differently than last months and you really can’t be sure to get the color you need because frankly coloring a system is iffy at best, even for a professional. If you color your own hair you need to keep that up and color every few weeks. Hair color on top of hair color means a different hair color all together not to mention that over time the hair color in the system my change slightly so you will have to adjust your color from the last time you colored it. Sounds a little complicated doesn’t it.
How about you have a flat head in the back? This isn’t uncommon and every head shape if different. Any head shape that goes beyond the “Standard” will require some compromise to the hair wearer. You may have bumps or folds in your base because the fit doesn’t contour your head correctly. Now if all of this isn’t a problem then we say continue with the stock systems. We’ll keep supplying them to you happily but we want you to know the real difference and benefits to ordering a custom system.
With a custom hair system there is NO COMPROMISE at all. The system is made to fit your heads contour. The custom production assures that the finished product will match the pattern sent in exactly. There should be no noticeable or uncomfortable bumps or folds in the base. The system is “Ventilated” in exactly the hair style you want. The biggest benefit to this is that you don’t have to “Fight” or “Train” the hair to go where you want it to go it is knotted into the system to maintain the desired hair style for the life of the system. The biggest downside to having to change the hair style on a stock system to the hair style you want is that the knots are put into the system for the hair style intended and when you start to try to re-direct the hair, you’re also trying to re-direct the knots. This causes the knots to weaken and break and then you have hair loss. If you’ve had the same hair loss pattern in all the stock systems you’ve worn, this is most certainly the reason why—Broken Knots due to Re-Direction!!!!!
Then we have the perimeter ventilation we talked about before. To have a good blending area and quite frankly that is the “Toupee Give Away”, the hair has to flow smoothly into your growing hair, not poof out and require gobs of gel to try to get it to lay flat—it’ll never work. Custom hair replacement units should all be designed with the perimeter hair directed down and knotted to lay flat to the head. We do that standard on all our custom ordered systems. (We do it on our stock systems as well but if you cut that away—–)
Then we have color. When you order a custom hair system we blend the hair specifically to match your hair sample. It is not matched up to a color ring for the closest match; the hair is actually BLENDED to match your hair sample EXACTLY. That means the color blend from system to your growing hair is exact, not close, exact. Color variation between a system and growing hair is another “Give Away”. Not to mention it ends the vicious cycle of dealing with hair color.
For those who deal with “Customizing” a stock hair system every 3 months or so and deal with the degradation created by hair color, cut downs and hair style adjustments you may want to consider doing yourself a favor and consider a custom hair piece. Just add up the cost for systems, hair color, cut downs and cut ins not to mention the aggravation and uncertainty that comes with all those practices and see how really cost effective a custom system from Hair-Necessities really is. We also offer some really great services and options with our custom orders. You can get your custom hair replacement system and get a second system for ½ price!! What could be better than having 2 hair pieces at once? Would you wear the same pair of underwear every day week after week and expect them to always look and feel good??? With a second hair replacement you will always look your best and stay fresh and clean not to mention if something should happen to your system you have one ready to wear while your other is in for repair or your waiting for a replacement. With our cost effective products you really can afford to have 2 systems. You’re still way under the price you’d pay at a hair replacement center for one toupee.
Finally, we will keep your pattern and hair samples along with your system specifications on file in our offices. When you’re ready to re-order just give us a call or send an e-mail and we’ll get your new system ordered and make any adjustments or changes you may want and you don’t have to send anything in. We also are available to consult with you and we really want to help you design the system that is right for you. We have over 25 years of experience in design and custom production and have seen it all. We will help you get the most out of your custom design and help to eliminate any possible problems before the order goes to our production facility.
Our goal is not to have you order systems over and over until you get it right. Our goal is to make the process fun, easy and affordable and make sure YOU LOOK GREAT!!!!!
