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Permalink Reply by Leah Ingle on February 19, 2011 at 2:42am

Hi Ailin,

Hi to everyone else too since I am new here and this is my first post.

I have tricholotilomania. If there is anyone who is not familiar with the condition, it is compulsive hair pulling. I know that it should be easy to just stop pulling the hair, but it is not, even if you want to stop really badly, as I do. It is not about will power, it is about getting the brain to unlearn an involuntary behavior.

I do have quite a bit of bio hair, but it is has a lot of breakage from all the handling, and a lot of thinning, almost bald, or short growing hair areas. Wearing wigs is a cosmetic solution and also, since the wig covers all my hair, I can't access the hair to handle it and pull it.

I am not an expert on wigs, actually, I only own one, so far. At least one that I have the courage to wear out in public when it is not Halloween. I do have some cheaper, synthetic, non-lace ones that I never wore in public besides on Halloween (I am wearing one of the cheap, synthetic ones on my profile/avatar picture that was taken on Halloween).

The one I do wear in public is a human hair, full lace wig and, even though I custom ordered it, it didn't really fit my head circumference (too large) or my hairline shape. I couldn't just cut the lace, had actually to cut into the hair area to make the hairline shape to match my own hairline a little better, and had to cut into the hair area also in the nape area in order to make it less loose on my head. That obviously left the whole hairline area of a higher density than a "natural hairline" would have. However, I could not afford another wig immediately after I bought that one and also was afraid to spend money and not to get what I wanted again so, I was able to get around that but cutting bangs and, disguise the side hairline, since the wig is a silky straight style, by wearing the hair down and using the "baby" hairs to hide the not so natural hairline on the whole front hairline perimeter.

Besides not having the appropriate, lighter density hairline, until I decided to take the plunge and get a wig that maybe would make me brave enough to wear it out in public, I used to spend hours every time I had to go out, trying to style my bio hair in a way in which I could hide the bald, thinning, or short haired spots and still had to use the "cover up" products such as Toppick and others. So, people knew what my bio hair looked like.

With all that said, besides my husband and the people I voluntarily told about it being a wig, no one thinks I am wearing a wig, even the people who knew me before. Since my wig is longer than my bio hair was, they think I have extensions and a new hairstyle. I have people who didn't know me before tell me that "my hair" is very beautiful.

I even had a couple of friends visit from Brazil, where I am from (20 years in the USA), spend 32 days at my house, and also think I only had extensions.

While my friends were visiting, I only removed the unit about once a week, at night, when I wasn't going to leave my room for the day anymore, washed my hair and the wig dried my hair with a drier, let the wig dry overnight, and apllied it back on in the morning before I left the room.

Obviously, you need to have the unit bonded to your scalp (whether you are bald or have any amount of hair). I only use glue/tape at the front hairline and snap combs in the back since I don't wear my hair up.

So, given my experiences so far (about 4 months wearing a wig), I do believe that it is possible to wear a wig without at least most people knowing it is a wig (maybe without them "ever" knowing that it is a wig, but that is hard to guarantee).

There will always be some people to whom wig wearers will have to tell that they are wearing a wig, such as close family members, boyfriends, and husbands for example but, in my opinion (and I could be wrong), it is possible to hide it from people you are not intimate with or people who don't live with you 24/7, 365 days a year.

It takes owning the right wig, commitment, skill, and strategy but, as long as:
- your wig looks like human hair or is human hair (lace wigs, specially with silk tops or well bleached knots with a scalp color wig cap underneath for a natural part),
- the wig fits you properly or at least you are able to make the necessary adjustments for it to fit properly while you wait to find the money and the right vendor to get a new wig
- you either have a well made wig with a natural hairline or can hide the hairline well with bangs and baby hairs,
- you know how to apply the wig (well secured and looking natural),
- you are willing to have the wig on for extended periods of time (certainly every time you are in public),
- you never have any noticeable "lifting accidents" and carries an emergency kit for bonding retouches (some people are able to even shower, swim in pools or in the ocean, etc., while wearing the wig but I am still afraid of that and have not tried it.


If I have such a nice feedback wearing a wig that is not perfect for my head size and hairline, I can't wait to get one that actually is.

As everyone who needs (or wants) to wear wigs know, finding the perfect natural looking wig can get very expensive and take you through a road with many bumps but with time, through experimentation, and with some luck, you can get there. I have hopes I'll find my "perfect wig".

Good luck to you.

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Permalink Reply by AnGeL on February 23, 2011 at 5:58pm

yes! just get a really nice one preferably with silk top or skin top and tape it down securly noone will be able to knoe!

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