Hair Covers

Hair Pieces or "wigs"

Lets talk about "wigs" or hair pieces. They are either made using real hair, or synthetic hair, which is a fibre. It is almost impossible with the naked eye to decipher which is real hair, and which is acrylic because of the technology today. Synthetic has less maintenance. With a real hair wig, you actually have to shampoo it, blow dry it, you can even color it, but there's a lot more effort and work involved.

Are people going to know I am wearing a wig? It's a bit like anything in life - you get what you pay for. By customising it around the face, it can look very, very real.

How does my wig stay on? The inside of a wig is elasticated, it's made to fit anyone and everyone. There are little straps, they look like little bra straps where you can literally pull and it will tighten the frame of the wig. If and when you put it on it's got to feel, not tight, but not loose all at the same time. Only the person that's wearing it can actually feel that. So, if they get it to a point where they feel that "yes, that does feel secure", the chances are that wig will never come off.

Will the wig irritate my scalp? When you wear a wig, there is a certain amount of discomfort. Bear in mind, if you have a wig on, that heat is getting trapped. Your head can actually sweat a lot, and if you have a sensitive scalp there can be some irritation, but certainly not in every case. We don't advise anyone to wear a wig twenty-four hours a day.

The biggest disadvantage is cost. Hair Pieces require six weekly maintenance, colouring every 3-4 months and replacing every 2 years (often it is best to have 2-3 at any one time to avoid colour changes and detection). They do give "instant hair" and good coverage. However, it has been estimated that over a lifetime of wearing a wigfor 30 years, that the cost could be above $50,000 in total.

Hair Expanders

These are products that attach to the hair shaft and then give the visual appearance of increased hair density. They do work but they may be messy and difficult to apply. They require hair to be thinned and not completely absent. There are several brands and price generally differentiates the preference as report for and against the different brands gives no indications that any one is better than the other.

How do I find out more?