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Permalink Reply by Unfair2HaveHairThere on August 9, 2024 at 2:07pm

Have been in your exact situation with the decision making!

If you're only going through two a year, you're obviously taking very good care of your hair (to me, by now, it's just "my hair" whether purchased or waxed off my big toe, which I swear could become a hair extension factory, pffft).  So you're probably up to the added challenges of human hair.  

Shorter styles may fare better?

Short answer is that I think unless you graduate to something like a custom system (ostensibly made to last) you will likely have similar results with weft & elastic wear?  

I was where you're at with getting tired of frizz and wear, especially on neckline for long hair. Have never tolerated caps under my hair, so they get dirty fast.  Also can't drive without a window down 70% of the time, so I'm just always asking for trouble. :-) 

I bought a long Louis Ferre hand tied 7 or 8 years ago and spent an insane amount of time very gently (!) coloring it to my specifications - started with lightest blonde and added roots and toned the rest with 4 or 5 colors, then Olaplex'd and conditioned it heavily.  It was truly stunning first wear out, and shaped up nicely into a long style. Cold sets made beautiful curls that held and were gentle on the hair. 

The cap didn't fit out of the box, stretch lace, and left a "fold" on the back of my head at my occipital bone.  Since I'd had that in synthetics with wefts, didn't immediately fix it, which was a big mistake.  Rat's nests for days!   

It also was a nightmare to wash, and I wasn't patient enough to wash it as gently as I needed to with a big, fat braid (and let it get really dirty first time out, because I was hesitant to crack open those smooth cuticles).  So that was fun and beautiful until it wasn't. 

Figured there had to be a happy medium, so got a couple long Belle Tress HR (monotop + wefted sides), which tended to frizz even worse (HR fiber, while lovely in that it doesn't look like Barbie hair out of the box, makes you pay for that with a rougher surface that wears worse, at least in long hair). 

Thought if I put human hair at the "wear points" like the nape and back, it would provide a degree of insulation, which it did, but also added a lot of weight, since HH is heavier & especially was then, when most affordable HH was a little more "horsey" than the finer hair you can get today. 

The Belle Tress had less elastic-y wefts than my go-to, Estetica Orchid, and the added weight + sweaty head = quick wear to sides and bottom of cap.  While I patiently combed out and pin-curled the HH lengths, the HR synthetic sandwiched in there got frizzy and needed attention, so... it was complicated. I was also in a "wear 24/7 glued to my head" mode, which probably accelerated wear in a major way. 

Solved a little bit of that saggy cap issue by stitching in some elastic weaving cap as a "panel" in the back, which also worked as an attachment point for any added hair.  

The BT wasn't as comfy for me as my Estetica, which over the years (3 a year since 2014) has pretty reliably fit and been the right color out of the box.  Blondes are so hard to get right in synthetic hair.  Most run ashy or weird.  Estetica has one that's the perfect mix of warm root/cool ends, and I will stage a protest if they ever discontinue that color, because it's THE color for me. 

In the Belle Tress, I had two monotopa that were a little stiff, but wearable, and another that was unbearably stiff and scratchy, and although by now the elastic and fabric of the cap have been worn down to butter-soft texture, that top could still scrub your pots and pans with burnt-on egg just fine.  

Used Estetica, JR, and Hair U Wear shampoo, conditioners, & leave-ins.  Usually washed in distilled water. 

All that said, I still have some worn thin Orchids from 2014 when I gave up trying to cover the sparse top and just went for it (which had a learning curve, but was much less depressing than fighting the camouflage battle every day).  They've been trimmed, steamed, ironed, reinforced, and hospiced together to use for super sweaty gardening and such, top lace part is shot on anything older than 4 years, but they are fine with a hat, and/or working as a salvage yard to keep other units up and running.  

So maybe it's possible if you start with the cap - find one well constructed and in a color you like, you could get better wear in the long term? 

With HH, you might even be able to start with a longer style if the other elements were correct and then cut to your preferred style?  

The one upside of wearing human was that people quit asking if it was a wig, because it looked so frizzily natural, clearly no one would BUY that kind of hair.  Funny/not funny, but I'm still halfway into the hair closet.  Happily admit to wearing extensions, but just can't share that there's nothing up there except some fringe frizz... and, of course, note my prolific toe and arm hair...  

What if you had some hair custom made once you found a cap you like?  Or are you up to sewing it yourself if you had the right ingredients and could buy a mono top pre-made?  

I thought for a while I could do some hand knotting on lace, but there's not enough focus and patience for me to do that.  Barely have the patience to sew in panels and such.  

Would also add that if you can get the silicone sew in strips to work for you, that would allow less movement, which could help preserve your caps?  Having those at strategic points (crown, occipital, sides) helped a little as long as my scalp was smooth and not sweaty (which is maybe 3 days a year).  

Another point might be how committed you are to styling?  Having an arsenal of hair, I usually have one that's "not too miserably dirty or frizzed" to wear, but with HH, weather will mess with that schedule.  And "fast styling" (anything with heat) will be harder on your HH than cold sets (damp or wet roller sets). I was lucky to learn/do a ton of roller sets for the "once a week" hair ladies back in the day before becoming a beauty school dropout.  There's a reason that technique lasts a week in most climates!  Also, less hot yoga then. 

Sorry for an entire dissertation on this - hope something here was helpful, even if it's only that you're not alone at this decision point.  Do let us know how it works out if you've gone HH?

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