JRob's Hair Replacement Blog

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I have been getting quite a few emails from people who are anxiously awaiting the release of my Full Cap DVD, so I thought it might be time to post an update for those of you who are interested.

This project has turned out to be quite a long and drawn out process. We have had quite a few setbacks over the past several months, and despite the fact that the DVD is about 95% complete, I was forced to put it on hold for the past couple of months due to other obligations.

I am happy to announce that I will be resuming the final stages of production sometime in the next few weeks, and hope to have the DVD completed and ready for sale within the next couple of months. As of next week I will have a lot more time to devote to tying up some loose ends, and this video is a top priority.

I look forward to providing you with a high quality product that will provide lots of valuable information. Thanks for your patience everyone!

There are only a few downsides to wearing to a full cap versus a partial unit, and the nape area has been one of the areas that has caused me some problems.

I am happy to announce that the two problems I was having with the nape are now solved!

First, I want to say that I have never had any issues with bonding in the nape area of my full caps. I have used blue liner tape from day one, and even attaching the unit below my occipital bone I am able to get a week’s worth of hold without much lift.

The two problems I was having with this area were:

1. A “hard” edge that could be detected by touch.
2. A slightly unnatural look, especially when the hair was wet.

The edge didn’t bother me too much, as I overlap the tape slightly in this area which provides a decent transition, but the look in the back of the unit after leaving the gym was unacceptable. When the hair got wet in the back it revealed a clearly visible line where the knots begin. This would have been much less of an issue if the knots were smaller, staggered, and well-bleached, but with this particular unit I had to do something to overcome this problem so I got out the scissors and started cutting.

I decided to cut small triangle shaped chunks out of the base in the back to break up the knot pattern so instead of being able to see a straight row of large, dark knots, it is broken up by “V” shaped cuts which make it much less noticeable even when wet.

The side benefit to this is that it also made the nape become completely undetectable to touch. Since there isn’t a straight edge of lace OR knots, you can run  your fingers up through the hair on the neck and you can’t feel a thing!

This was done on my latest creation, my “Full Cap Mohawk”, but it will solve the same issues on a unit that stretches across the entire nape. Here are some pictures-

Before. Straight edge on the lace and the knots.

After. Invisible to sight and touch....

Here are some pictures of my first “real” full cap mohawk.

This is still an experiment in progress, but I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out. I have two more units that I am going to convert to mohawks and I plan to experiment with try different hair lengths and base sizes to see what looks best.

Some notes on this project:

1. The base on top doesn’t completely cover my balding area. I have to keep it shaved close to maintain realism. A tan helps hide this. I know I’m the only one who notices this though, so it isn’t a deal breaker.
2. This unit is very easy to attach. I use blue liner tape at the nape and on the sides up to about mid-scalp. I attach it from the back to the front just like I do my regular full caps. Once the unit is taped in place I mark the outline of the hairline, flip it back, apply two coats of glue, allow the glue to dry, and lay the unit down into the glue.
3. I’m still trying to get used to walking around with a mohawk, but I have gotten a lot of compliments on the new style. I think I will stick with it for awhile.

Click on each of the pictures to pull up the full size image.

Yes and no.

If you plan to show hairline, you definitely want bleached knots in that particular area.

I personally am not overly concerned about the knots in the crown. (edit-I know I posted that bleached knots on the entire unit are important in a previous post, but the more I wear these units where the knots on top aren’t well bleached, the more I realize for me it’s not a huge deal) I usually order highlights and they ventilate a patch of blonde hair directly in the crown, which makes it acceptable for me even if the surrounding knots aren’t well bleached.

Reader Dave is considering going with a full cap for his first hair system and was concerned with detectability issues with the lace. If the knots are well bleached, the base is invisible even from close-up. Since this might be of interest to others who are looking to take the plunge, I thought I would post up a few pics of what a base looks like with well bleached knots and with unbleached knots.

To the right is a picture of one of my units that has unbleached knots (except in the hairline area.) Keep in mind that this is taken up close with the super-macro setting on my camera. I wore this unit just as it is. Depending upon your situation you might need to ensure that the knots are well bleached, if not on the entire scalp or hairpiece, at least in the crown.

Take note of the area at the top center of the screen that (at first glance) looks like it might be a patch where the hair is missing. Look closely, because the hair is indeed there. That is an area where the unit has blonde highlights. Notice how the base is  invisible in that area? Blonde hair (or bleached knots) leave no “grid pattern”.

The next picture is of a unit with knots that were bleached by the factory. You can see that it isn’t perfect, but definintely an improvement over the last one. There is still a bit of a grid pattern, but if you were to see this on skin up close you would have to look pretty closely to notice the base. The picture on the right is of the hairline of this particular unit. You can see how the factory took extra care in bleaching the knots in this are, as it is critical if you plan to show hairline.

Anywhere you require a completely invisible base you will need to specify that you want the knots in that area bleached if the factory that is making the unit doesn’t normally bleach them.

Okay, so I finally got the mohawk cut. The hair was too long and it looks much better now that it has been cut for that style.

It looks pretty cool and I have gotten several compliments on it from men and women of all ages!

I am still working out a few of the kinks but I should be able to post some pictures after my next attachment.