Wearing a hair system is great for so many people struggling with hair loss, helping you to regain your confidence without exorbitant costs or perilous side effects. Most importantly, it actually works.
One of the major benefits of transitioning to wearing one is also the speed of the process. This is accompanied by an element of risk, however. Won’t people notice that you’ve gone from thinning hair to abundant locks in just a matter of weeks?
In this article we look at four different ways of transitioning to wearing your new hair system, each with its own pros and cons depending on your level of hair loss.
You can also mix and match these strategies to some extent, and the main thing to remember is that there’s no right or wrong on this – do what’s right for you.
With this method, the idea is to wear a cap or hat to wherever you go regularly – for example, your gym or office. You’ll need to do this for a period of two or three weeks.
Not worn a hat before? There are a few ways to convey this new look – hats are always in fashion, for example, and, if it’s winter, it’s perfectly excusable to wear a beanie. All in all, there’s always an excuse.
This approach is effective in that it allows you to stay in contact with people while you’re moving over to your new luscious locks. You don’t have to isolate yourself in any way, but you’ve created a bit of a barrier, not allowing people to see what’s going on under the hat.
The reason you might want to do this is that it allows the people you come into contact regularly to forget how exactly your hair looks. They probably won’t remember what your exact hair line was once you’ve removed the hat.
Over two or three weeks, people will interpret any change in your hair to you having grown it out or maybe they’ll think you’ve just had a haircut. The level of change will be muted over a longer period, particularly when you remember that people don’t tend to observe you in anywhere near the same level of detail as you probably observe yourself.
The benefit of this approach is that, if it can work in your life situation, it’s quite easy to do, particularly if you’re at a relatively early stage of hair loss. The downside is that there’s an element of risk if you’re surrounded by highly observant people. Also, if you really don’t like wearing hats, this probably isn’t the strategy for you.
The next method is to actually stay away from people during the transition period. This isn’t possible for many people, but there are ways of doing it. For instance, you can go on vacation, go on a meditation retreat, work from home or, if really desperate, feign illness.
As with the cap method, you’re creating space and time in which people can forget what you exactly look like. People won’t be paying as much attention to your hairline as you will, so after a two-to-three week absence, they’re less likely to notice any significant change.
And remember, hair does change, whatever your level of hair loss. Over a few weeks, most people’s hairlines will change a little bit, so any changes people do observe, you can put down to the passing of time.
This method’s strength is just this – its use of time and change. The downside? It’s not possible for everyone to abstract themselves from society, and for many people this isn’t advisable.
The next method – or group of methods – revolves around using the hair you already have as part of the transition. Depending on your level of hair loss, you may be able to just grow your hair out during the adoption phase.
If you have only a little bit of thinning here and there, you can grow your hair out and by the time of your next haircut, the change between your previous hairline and your new hair system will be minimal and difficult to notice.
You could also augment this process by using some hair fibers. Hair fibers aren’t necessarily effective as a strategy to tackle hair loss in and of themselves, but they can be a short-term solution if you’re looking to make your hair look a bit more dense for a couple of weeks while you’re moving over to using a hair system.
The other idea, if your hair loss is relatively low-level, is you can grow your hair out really long and then, when moving to your new hair system, use a short system, so as to create a significant contrast. The hairline difference will be lost amid the more obvious change in hair style.
Strategies involving using your existing hair are really beneficial for those with lower levels of hair loss, as you can be subtle in your approach and you don’t have to hide anything from friends and colleagues, or isolate yourself completely. The downside is that this approach will be less effective for those with more significant hair loss.
The most liberating option is to just own the process. It’s the scariest option, but, if you can do it, it can reduce any feelings of shame or any requirement to hide.
The truth is that people will usually notice a difference if you don’t adopt one of the above strategies. They may not know exactly what the change is, but they’ll know something’s up.
But, if you own it, and be honest about the fact you had hair loss and got a hair system – which is made of natural hair, is safe and helps you feel better about yourself – most reasonable people will respect you for this. Let’s face it, in the US alone male pattern baldness is thought to affect around 50 million people. You are not alone in this situation.
There will occasionally be someone who may call you up on it, but is such a person really worth your mental energy? Is someone who can’t respect the decision you’ve made, which is completely reasonable and yours to make, really worth your time?
It’s their problem that their judgmental, not yours. Focus on yourself, on what helps you to feel more confident. You can lose that one disrespectful friend and gain 20 more because you feel better about yourself.
Not everyone feels they can take this approach, and that’s completely fine – we all live in our different situations. But if you can take this approach, we’ve got your back.
Changing lives since 2022.