Wearing Your Piece in Any Weather

This summer has brought lots of unpredictable weather. How does this affect hairpiece wearers? Just like with natural hair, there are steps you must take to keep your hairpiece fresh, clean, and looking perfect.  Rain is one of the gentlest natural forces on your hairpiece, especially if you live in a rural area with low pollution. Air pollution and dust particles get trapped in raindrops that can get your piece dirty over time. If you have a custom made hairpiece, you won't have to worry about the style being ruined by a passing cloud. The hair in David Hansen's custom hair systems is ventilated by hand to achieve maximum mobility. If the rain tousles your style, your hairpiece is natural enough to just run a comb through it, and the style is done! All in all, a little rain won't hurt. But bring your umbrella!

Spending time in the sun can give your skin a great glow, but it can also bring some unwanted color to your hairpiece. When exposed to sunlight and air (especially near bodies of salt water), the hair in the piece can oxidize, or turn color. Pieces with grey or white hair can turn a yellowish color, blonde can gradually turn orange, and brunette pieces will display much more of a reddish tone.  This doesn't happen overnight, but a summer of fun in the sun can leave your piece looking lackluster after only a few months. There are options to both prevent and combat sun exposure. The first and most obvious is a hat. David Hansen's custom hairpieces use a lightweight yet durable mesh-type base that lets your scalp breathe just like it would with regular hair. Wearing a hat with one will not overheat your head like other hairpieces. The other option is talking to your stylist about shampoos used to tone yellow and red colors in the hair. These shampoos, like ShimmerLights, are purple or blue colored, and gradually remove yellow, orange, and red from hairpieces that have had too much sun or have aged considerably.

If a strong gust of wind blows past, your LAST thought should have to be worrying about your hairpiece staying on. If you have a custom hair replacement system from David Hansen, then your hairpiece is shaped perfectly to your head for an undetectable fit. If your scalp and piece are clean, and you are using the proper double-sided surgical tape, your hairpiece will stay on, even in winds that could blow YOU away!  The wind is not the danger to your hairpiece, but the wrong styling products are. NEVER use hairspray on a hair system. The alcohol, aerosol, and propellants in hairspray dehydrates hair and causes it to break easily. There is also alcohol in most generic hair products for natural hair. These chemicals are much too harsh for hair in hairpieces, so there are plenty of alternate styling tools and products that are alcohol-free.  You can buy Wet Look, a holding spray for hairpieces, at our studio. The best styling product for a hairpiece is just plain water. Custom hair replacement by David Hansen always styles easily, and can be combed back into place.

With the weather warming up, the beaches and pools will open. But before you take that dive, here's a few things you should know. Swimming in a hairpiece is one of the quickest ways to age it. Not only does the act of getting it wet and matted pull hairs out of the base and cause terrible tangling, what is IN the water can hurt the piece, too.  Chlorine from pools dries hair out, and will cause hairpieces to thin rapidly due to all the breakage. Salts from the ocean or salt lakes also have a drying effect on the hair. This combined with the matting of the hair can take years of life out of your piece.  There are a few alternatives to this, David Hansen suggests wearing a swim cap or even using an old hairpiece that has seen better days. The new ones, though, should be kept out of the water.

No matter what the weather may bring your way, you can keep you hairpiece looking undetectable!

How To Get A Perfect Piece

How is it that some hairpieces look terrible and others you don't even know are there? There are a lot of factors, of course, but when it comes the the actual hairpiece itself, there are few very important ones. Color, Curl (or Wave Pattern), Ventilation (or the way that the hair is sewn or knotted into the piece), and Density are 4 key ingredients to making your piece completely undetectable.

A hairpiece needs to match your own hair color perfectly. The best way to achieve a good result on your first order is to use a sample of your own hair. The sample should be about 2 inches long to achieve the best results. Another way to decide what hair color to order is by obtaining a color ring from a hair retailer or manufacturer. A color ring can also come in handy if you have gray hair in your piece, since many rings have samples of varying percentages of gray.

Next, you will need to decide how much curl you have in your natural hair.  Curl size is generally expressed in categories; straight, light wave, medium wave, tight wave, loose curl, tight curl, or kinky.  You should be able to get a good idea of the size curl you need simply by visiting a hair replacement specialist like David Hansen. 

Another thing you will have to decide before placing your order is the direction in which the hair is ventilated.  A  ventilator is a person who makes hairpieces.  The art of tying hair into a hairpiece base is called “ventilating”. Generally, when your order is placed the manufacturer asks what style ventilation you want. This means that you need to decide if you prefer the hair on the top to tend to lie forward, backward, or “freestyle”.

“Forward from the crown” means that the hair will tend to lie in a forward direction. “Flatback” means that the hair is tied in such a way that it naturally lies backward. “Freestyle”  is where the hair is ventilated in no particular direction, and is easy to style in many different ways. This is the way that many of David Hansen's pieces are ventilated, in order to give each client the most versatility that they can have in their hairpiece. Don't worry, though; If you decide to order forward ventilation, this doesn’t mean that you can’t wear it spiked up or combed back, but without styling products the hair will tend to lie in the direction in which it was ventilated.

Finally, there is the density of your hairpiece. This is an important step in creating a natural looking hairpiece. You have a little more flexibility in your choice of density in areas like the crown of the head, but the general rule when designing a hairpiece is “less is usually more”, especially on the top. 

An important thing to consider when choosing density is age. The older a man is and the finer and whiter his hair on the sides and back of his hair are, the less dense the hairpiece should be. It would look completely unnatural for a man to have thinning hair around his ears and in the back of his head and full, thick hair solely on the top.

Before you choose your density it’s a good idea to do some research. Take a look at the various densities of other men who are roughly your age. Make a mental note of how much density they appear to have on top, on the sides, and in the back.

Most men’s hair thins and recedes with age. Sure, there are some older men with very thick, full heads of hair and very little recession, but as a general rule most men who you wouldn’t even consider to be “balding” will lose density as time goes on. When choosing the density for your custom hairpiece remember that you  by slightly lowering the density, especially on the top, your piece will look more realistic. Little details like this can help improve the overall look of your Custom Hair Replacement System.  

This just goes to show that even with a light density on top, you can still look as if you have a full, healthy head of hair. When deciding on the density for the top, it’s always best to start low. If you aren’t comfortable with a super light density, step it up a little bit, but for your first order stick with a medium density at most. You can always add a bit more hair to the piece with the services of a ventilator, like the one working for David Hansen. The first thing that gives away a hairpiece is too much density, ESPECIALLY on the top. Most people think of the bad toupees of the past, and the fastest way to let everyone know you are wearing a hairpiece is to have hair that is too thick.

So, when you are ready for your new Custom Hair Replacement System, keep these details in the back of your mind.  We will be here to walk you though these and other steps you take towards the new you! 

Cancer hair loss

www.davidhansen.com
The common name for medical hair loss solution is cranial prosthesis.

These are designed by David Hansen for people experiencing hair loss due to:

• Chemotherapy
• Radiation
• All types of Alopecia
• Burn victims
• Accident victims

Chemotherapy and radiation

• Many radiation and chemotherapy patients experience hair loss during their treatment. This could last anywhere from a year up, meanwhile there are solutions to this excessive hair loss. Custom made full skull-caps are especially designed to cover the entire balding area from the widow’s peak all the way to the nape of the neck. This gives the patient a full head of natural looking hair, similar to the way they had it before the hair loss.
  

Chemotherapy and cancer treatment hair loss

Cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, chemotherapy drugs, and radiation may result in hair loss. This can vary from temporary to permanent hair loss. While with chemotherapy the hair loss is usually temporary when it comes to radiation it can go either way.

With chemotherapy if an individual is going to lose their hair varies with each patient. Some people experience hair loss that usually begins one to three weeks after the beginning of treatment, others do not experience hair loss at all. The hair loss due to chemotherapy usually starts growing back anywhere from six months to a year after the treatment.

Since custom made cranial prosthesis take six to eight weeks to be produced depending on the time of the year, it is better to order your prosthesis before the hair loss occurs. By planning in advance it is also possible for David Hansen the hair replacement specialist(main page) to match your original hair color, texture, and wave pattern.

 

Insurance coverage options

Individuals experiencing hair loss due to medical reasons such as cancer, alopecia, accidents, or burns may be eligible for between 80 to a 100% reimbursement from their insurance provider.

 

There are several guidelines you need to follow in order to receive 

this coverage:

• Check the benefits of your insurance (usually there is a section under covered expenses that relates to prostheses.)
• You would need to ask your physician to write you a prescription for FULL CRANIAL HAIR PROSTHESIS
• To be safe you may also want to ask the physician to write a letter explaining the impact hair loss has on a person’s well being that are symptomatic  of your condition.  Low self esteem, depression and isolation are some common symptoms.
• Once you order your cranial hair prosthesis keep the copy of your sales or invoice receipt.
• You may also include a letter from you explaining the importance of the prosthesis for your well being.

Palm Springs Hair Replacement Video

This is a recently shot hair replacement video. This new video features one of my clients. I just recieved his new custom made hair system and I am going to cut it into his hair. You can see here how a proffesional hair piece designer works and what a good qquality hairpiece looks like.

David Hansen
www.davidhansen.com