A Hair System is a prosthetic hair replacement solution, designed to be indistinguishable from natural hair. Here’s the space to feel safe to discuss Hair Systems, hair loss, and everything in between. Hi, I am a South East Asian 26M and I will be giving my thoughts on wearing a hair system for the first week. Background Info:I started thinning heavily at 19 and then shaved it all off at 20. I went from semi-attractive dude that got some female attention to sexual drought for the last 6 years. Hair loss affected me in a profound way. I went from an extroverted/life of the party dude, to a guy that didn’t want to go anywhere. I lost my love for life. I decided that enough was enough so I wanted to try something to boost my confidence/attractiveness. I did all of this myself (cutting the base, installing, etc.) with the exception of the hair cutting/styling (went to my hairdresser aunt). I am using a hybrid system that has a French lace front and middle with a poly perimeter. Thoughts: It is VERY accurate when they use the term “beginner” hair system wearer. On my first week, there was A LOT of things that I learned. There was also A LOT of mistakes. I will say one thing. If you hated arts and crafts as a child, I would recommend NOT doing this yourself. It can be extremely frustrating especially if you are working with glue. For how it looks? It looks amazing. The hair system looks better than my real hair at ANY point in my life (imagine a 12 year old you). When I walk out in public, I have this new found confidence. I feel like a lion with his mane. The looks/checking out that other people did to me when walking in public disappeared completely when I shaved my head at 20. For those “looks” to come back is a completely surreal experience. It may sound vain… but I love this attention so much. I felt invisible as a bald dude. Although I do believe that self-confidence should come from within, input from the external world has a such a grand effect. The Difficult: The first 3 days, the itch was unbelievable. It is the WORST in the morning and at night. It was so bad for me, that it was enough for me to want to rip the system off and shave my head again. With the itch being the ultimate problem, my brain was doing some mental gymnastics to try to get me to quit wearing the system… “omg, you are a fraud, just take the system off and go through life as a bald dude” “This is going to take so much time”, etc. However, after watching some videos about this, they say that your brain will get use to it. A Youtuber by “Hair systems DIY” said that this acclimation may take up to 4 months. At that point, he says that you will forget that the system is even on your head. Interestingly enough, when I woke up today, there was absolutely no itching. I also have certain periods where I completely forget I have this thing on my head. I have decided that I will force myself to wear the system for 2 months no matter what it takes. I will report back around November. Can people tell?: Only the people closest to me/ see me everyday can tell. This is just due to the nature that they know who I am/my hair loss problem. However, outsiders have no clue. In one instance, I have an uncle who I’m not super close to (I’ve known him all my life though) see me walking outside target. I met him later at a family gathering and revealed my hair system. His response was “When I saw you at Target, I was wondering why you shaved your head all this time because you have an amazing head of hair.” The man is balding hard too so he was asking me all these questions about the system. It is interesting because I felt like I made a lot of mistakes thus, I was insecure about the hairline being the “tell.” However, I truly believe outsiders cannot tell. They just believe you have an amazing head of hair. Some sadness (this is my personal experience): I’m sad about one thing. This has confirmed my suspicions. When I went bald, the internet and the people in my life said just to shave it all off… that it is the CONFIDENCE that matters. However, after wearing this system, it is clear the critical impact that hair/baldness can have on your looks. Having hair makes me look 10-15 years younger than I am. Clothes literally look better on me. I see the shine in people’s eyes when they interact with me. I just feel so damnhandsome. Something that I haven’t felt in 6-7 years. Being bald feels like I’m living life at 50 percent. With this hair system,I want to go out and interact with the world. With this being said, I really hope that they can cure baldness one day. There are so many people quietly suffering as this condition really eats at a person’s confidence. Tips: Rubbing some alcohol on your finger tips (index/thumbs) is an amazing technique. It prevents the adhesives from sticking on your fingers when you are handling the system. If using glue for the hairline: once you are done with the hairline and are about to clean the excess glue from your forehead, use aplastic cardas alimit. Use the plastic card to block yourself from touching the hairline when you are wiping your forehead down. *I’m not completely sure about this part so please correct me if I’m wrong. If you have naturally very black hair, you will have an easier time. This is due to the fact that the hair from the hair system is harvested by Indian/South East Asian people which have naturally black hair. For people with lighter shades of hair colors (light brown, etc.), the hair must be processed by a bunch of chemicals in order to obtain the desired color. This does a number to the hair and is bad for the cuticle. This results in hair that dries super easily and does not retain moisture. It cannot be perfect. If you DIY, you will understand what I mean. However, it doesn’t HAVE to be perfect. People will not be able to tell either way. Definitely have resolve and force yourself to wear a hair system for a certain time frame despite its difficulties. I think 1-2 months should be good enough to decide if you want to keep going. Here is a pic (blocked eyes because I want to hide my identity): https://imgur.com/a/Aa6oYzR