When Talking About the Life Span of a Good Toupee, Is a Longer Life Better?

Introduction

At Bono Hair, we value all dimensions of a good toupee, including the life span. The other aspects are also equally as important, such as naturality, breathability, softness, etc. Regardless of all the other dimensions, a longer life span would be better absolutely. However, it should be known that a longer life span would directly impact the other characteristics of a hairpiece. For example, the mono base is stronger and has a longer life span than French lace while French lace is much softer than a Mono base, so, the answer is it depends.

If the needs of the end-user are focused on high-cost performance, then yes, the longer life span is better. However, in this industry, the end-users are more sensitive to the naturality and visibility of the toupee.

What Determines the Life Span of a Great Hair System?

In the previous blog post, What Determines the Life Span of a Hair Piece? We know that there are usually three variables that determine the life span of a good-quality toupee. These include hair loss, hair tangling, and a broken base. Today, we will look into it from another angle and talk further about the life span.

 

The graph below illustrates what determines the life span of a great hair system.

It shows that the life span of a toupee is determined both by maintenance and by the production processes, such as choice of hair type, ventilation methods, base material, etc.  Regardless of the maintenance, this blog post will cover the production causes.

What is a toupee? Hair that is knotted to the base is created from a mold of a person’s scalp. In other words, a toupee consists of hair, knots, and a base. So, a long life span means strong hair, strong knots, and a strong base.

 

Strong Hair

It’s important to note that the use of the amount of chemical treatment on the hair has a huge impact on the quality of hair. It is better to have less hair treatment, which means less damage. So, the quality of the hair remains good and strong.

Non-Remy hair has been through heavy chemical treatment and accordingly has the lowest quality and shortest life span. The strongest and best that is the most durable hair is Virgin hair.

There are four main types of hair materials, Indian (Non-Remy), Indian (Remy), European & Chinese Virgin.

 

The table below breaks down the chemical process for each hair type.

It would appear that if we want a longer life span, we should choose Chinese Virgin Hair for all orders. However, Chinese hair is thick and is not easily styled for short hair for men.

So, usually, Chinese Virgin Hair is only used in custom orders that ask for long hair length and lightly finished color, not used in all the orders even though it may have the longest life span.

For the European market, the lifted appearance of short Chinese hair does not seem like European hair, which means it is not natural. In simple words, a long life span conflicts with naturality from the angle of hair type.

Check out our blog post Is European Hair the Best Hair Type for Hairpieces? to learn more.

 

Strong Knots

There are many different ventilation methods, each method uses a different knotting method. Such as Single Knot, Double Knot, Single Split Snot, Double Split Knot, V-looped, Injected Skin, Injected Lace, and so on… Let us look at French lace as the default base, we have two ventilation methods that are most commonly used and best for this base material. They are Single Split Knot and  Double Split Knot. Double Split Knot obliviously is stronger than Single Knot. On the very front hairline, would you like to use larger or smaller knots? Smaller, right?

Check out our blog post Quality Hair System Use Quality Ventilation Methods to learn more.

Another example that we can talk about is Single hair Single Knot, this means only a single strand of hair is knotted to the base to make the knot tiny and undetectable. Of course, this kind of knotting is not that strong and does not have a long life span, but it appears more natural and that’s what customers want.

Here are faced with the same dilemma with Life Span vs. Naturality

 

Strong Base

With regards to life span, the base material is a vital contributor. Some base materials have longer life span than others due to their characteristics and traits, but they also have a direct impact on the other aspects of the toupee, such as visibility, softness, convenience of maintenance, etc.

“A good toupee is an invisible toupee!” Or “A good toupee is one that lasts a long time!”

Whilst both of these statements are true, which one is more important? Let’s look at some examples.

Skin – Looking at our best-seller, the Ultra-Thin 0.03mm Skin base, it has the shortest life space only up to one month. In comparison, the 0.06mm & 0.08mm Ultra-Thin Skin base only have a life span on average of 2-4 months. It is not the life span that makes the 0.03mm ultra-thin skin base the bestseller, but its naturality and undetectability.

Lace – Swiss Lace is softer and more natural than French Lace while French Lace is stronger. The toupee using Swiss Lace usually has a life span of about one month while the toupee that uses French Lace as the base has a life span of 3 to 4 months. Both of these two base materials are popular even though they have a different life span.

Monofilament (Mono) –  Mono is much stronger than its competition base materials. It is much stronger than French Lace, both have a mesh hole with different patterns however the holes in a Mono base are smaller. Some Mono bases can last up to 6 months or even longer if the wearer maintains it properly. The issue that arises from a Mono base is that the holes are very small, and thus when using shampoo and conditioner to clean the toupee, if the cleaning is not done thoroughly, there will be corrosion that occurs leading to a weaker base. So, although Mono base theoretically has a long life span, the maintenance of it asks for more carefulness and patience.

 

Mono(6-12 months) > French Lace(3 months) > Swiss Lace(1 month)

Combination – Ideally, a combination of toupee is crafted to bring together all the best attributes of the different base materials. The life span of a combination base depends on what materials it consists of.

For example, mono with PU coated perimeter and lace folded at the front hairline, the life span of this model is very long, more than 6 months to be more precise. But French Lace with 0.06mm skin front will only have a life span of 2-3 months because of the durability of the skin material.

For the Combination,

In the middle: Mono(6-12 months) > French Lace(3 months) > Swiss Lace(1 month)

Front hairline: double lace / lace folded > a single layer of lace

Perimeter: PU coated > skin with gauze > thick clear PU > thin clear PU

PU coated: 4 layers(poly + gauze + lace/net + poly)

Skin with gauze: 3 layers(poly + gauze + poly)

 

Coming back to the beginning of this blog post about how to judge whether a toupee is a good one or not, the life span is not the only dimension to value a toupee. Sometimes, a long life span can even impact the other aspects of a toupee. So, meeting the needs of high-cost performance can be challenging while ensuring naturality, breathability, and convenience of maintenance at the same time. Combination base will be a good solution.

Some Stock Units will be launched soon at Bono Hair, they have long life spans by adopting a combination of Mono Middle, PU Coated Perimeter, and a double layer of a lace front. Single Split Knots and Bleaching knots are used to get a natural effect.

Have a look at BH11 below, this is what it looks like!

Conclusion

There’s a perfect balance point to be found between a long life span and other dimensions of a toupee, the best toupee craftsman in the world based in China are perfecting this as we speak!

So, stay tuned! Bono Hair No.1 Toupee Manufacturer, will share with you more professional information and news about this industry in the future. If there is any topic you are interested in, please feel free to contact us!