Hair replacement systems FAQ with Paul Cochrane
What activities can I do while wearing the system?
Our hair systems are perfectly natural and you can do virtually every activity you like.
You can run, you can swim, you can cycle, do gymnastics. I’ve even had customers who’ve done grappling which is strange but true.
How safe are the hair systems?
From a safety point of view, we’ve been doing it over four years now.
Personally I’ve never had any of our customers have any problems whatsoever.
They’ve had no skin irritations and have had no side effects at all.
How long do hair replacement systems last?
It depends on your profile. That is to say it depends on how you sweat, your diet, your exercise regime, what you are like as a person.
Do you take drugs, do you take steroids, do you have diabetes? But on average it’s up to three months.
We tend to like our customers to remove the system themselves and put it back on. And that gives a bit more longevity to the system.
They’re built to last about eight weeks, but if you’re very careful with them and you understand how they work you’ll get three months (up to 13 weeks) out of them no problem whatsoever.
What type of hair is used for the making of the hair system?
The type of hair is mainly Indian. It’s sourced from the Tirupati temple in India where people go and donate their hair for charity or for the purposes of the temple.
So it’s a 100 percent natural hair unless you are graying, then there is some fibrous hair.
There’s new types of fibrous hair coming out that are very nice, they’re very natural.
The downside to synthetic hair is that you can’t heat it up very much, but apart from that it looks all the same.
Will my hair system fade?
Mostly no, unless you’re in excessive sun or if you use a shampoo with salt in it. We recommend a sulfate free shampoo since it doesn’t fade.
Obviously over time the more length you have on the system it will fade. But usually you’re changing it every three months.
Will people be able to tell that I am wearing a hair system?
Once we apply the system it is natural. On close inspection if you’re completely up close to it, yes of course you’ll be able to see it, but generally speaking you don’t see it at all.
You can see how the hair replacement system looks on our customer here.
Can you feel the hair system while wearing it?
When you wear it yourself there is a little lip through the front of the scalp.
But you get used to that and when you run your fingers through you don’t feel it all.
Where the hair is on the head you will not feel that whatsoever.
Can I style my hair in more than one way with it?
You can absolutely style your hair in any way you like. What we tend to do, we tend to cut hair on a bisection, which means you can put a parting on the left hand side, the center or the right hand side.
You can wear it back, you can wear it forward. It depends on your style, but we like to give you versatility to your hairstyles, and have more than two styles running trough your hair.
How long will it take to make my hair system?
We usually do a two hour appointment. Sometimes they go into three hours, but we like to keep it to two hours.
Could you show us how a hair system looks?
Yes, we have two systems here. It comes in a hairnet so this is looking a little bit weird in the moment.
We’ll take the hairnet off, and this is how it appears. This is a water wave so basically what happens is with the structure of hair you can put the hair into curls and make it straight.
Once we wash this hair and blow dry it, it will become straight. So, this is a blonder one.
This is how it comes out and if you look behind me we have one that’s already been cut and this is the finished result.
You can run your fingers trough it, and you can see the hairline trough here.
How often do I need to come back to the salon to maintain my hair system?
You can come back to the hair salon every four weeks to have the system taken off, the glue taken off, the new hair that’s grown underneath re-shaved and then have the hair system re-applied.
What tends to happen is the hair growing out on the widest part of the head. So you have the system that obviously doesn’t grow and this hair grows underneath it.
This is the part that you need to have cut regularly . And that’s roughly every four weeks. Watch how the hair replacement system is attached.
Will I need to take time off wearing the system?
You can wear it constantly, it’s no problem at all. They’re versatile systems.
The bond lasts up to four weeks depending on your lifestyle and they are really easily maintained.
It’s not an issue and it’s not a problem.
Is it necessary to shave my head in order to wear a hair system?
Generally speaking, yes it is.
However if you’re a little bit tentative and you’re not quite sure if it’s for you and you want to see what it looks like we can apply it over to your hair.
It will give you about 90 percent acceptance or vision rate of how it should look.
But from our experiences the people who’ve had this aren’t really committed to it so I would suggest, for best results, we do shave your hair and put it on correctly.
I am going for a transplant surgery. Will wearing a system hurt my transplants?
We’ve had customers who have had transplants and we’ve applied the system over the top of the transplants.
The transplants still grow and they still carry on growing so there is no problem. You can do it.
How often will I need to have my hair colour refreshed?
It depends on what colour you have and what your natural colour is.
If you haven’t gone grey or you’re not colouring your natural hair there probably is no reason to colour it because of fading.
However if you’ve coloured your hair and your natural hair is fading and we need to colour that and keep the grey out, then it’s probably every four weeks again which is the normal cycle for hair growth.
What about shedding? How often will I need to have hairs added back to the system?
The life expectancy is eight to twelve weeks. After three months you will get some natural shedding through the hair, through the hair system.
But you would be replacing the system anyway so there is no need for putting hair back into the system.
Are there any special hair products you would recommend using?
We recommend a sulfate free shampoo and conditioner purely because it keeps the colour intact and it makes the hair silky and smooth.
With regards to styling products and other such likes you can treat it as a natural hair style and use gels, waxes, or whatever you like. It’s not a problem.
When I am wearing a system is there anything special that the stylist trimming my hair would need to know?
It depends on how friendly you are with your local stylist. Personally, if it was me, I would confess and tell them so there is no mistake.
Hairdressers are generally great people, they’ll understand. You can book an early appoint if you’re slightly embarrassed by it.
We’ve had a funny situation where a chap from Lisbon popped into his barber early and confessed to the barber and he was so shocked, it looked so natural that he told all the customers that the guy is wearing a hairpiece and how brilliant it is. So be careful!
It is important for me that no one will feel my hair system during intimate moments. Is this possible?
We’ve had lots of people get lucky, have intimate moments and nobody’s come back to say they’ve had embarrassing issues with it whatsoever.
What if the hair system is not perfect when I come in to have it cut and styled?
It’s not a problem. That’s what we’re here for. That’s what we do. That’s our job.
We can take it off, restyle it and work some magic, put some life back into the system.
If you inadvertently made a little bit of a mess with the system we can make it work.
How would you replace the hair in my receding temple area?
Good question. Obviously some people come to us and they’re future-proofing.
They’ve realised that they’re losing their hair, they realise that with their DNA it’s inevitable to lose their hair and they want to act quickly so that people don’t notice that.
What we tend to do is shave it back to the weakest part of the head. What we do is cut the hair and then cut the system in half and place the front part of the system on the receding temple area.
We can then put the other half back on the front part of the system at a later stage, saving you some money as well which is great.
I live not that much of an active lifestyle, but I do own a convertible. Would that be a problem with the hair system?
No problem at all. We’ve had people bungee jumping, scuba diving, free diving, honey mooning in Thailand and Bangladesh and there was no problem whatsoever.
So owning a convertible and going for a drive in the sun and the roof down as long as the bond is secure there is no issue whatsoever.
Do you have clients that would let me meet them and see them wearing a hair system?
Yes indeed. There is no problem at all about that, just give us a call and we can arrange that to happen.
A lot of our guys are very proud of their hair systems and there is a sort of brotherhood among people who wear the systems and the people who fit them, and that works out quite well, you’d be surprised.
Is the glue and other chemicals used in the process safe?
We use a glue called “Ghost bond supreme”. It’s the market leader as far as I’m concerned.
It works for us and for over four years of experience we have had no problem whatsoever with this bond.
We’ve had two customers, one had chemotherapy so his skin is slightly thinner so we use a slightly sensitive bond for him which is different.
And then, we have another guy who has a really, really sensitive scalp, he’s always had a sensitive scalp, it had nothing to do with the bond and we use another sensitive bond for him.
So we have two different bonds that we use and they work perfectly well. No problem at all.
How do I know if I am a suitable candidate?
You can look in the Cochrane & Co website. There you’ll see some pictures.
Give us a call. Book a consultation. Come in. We’re totally honest, we’re totally passionate about this.
The system didn’t suit me so I’m quite a good one to talk to about why you should and why you shouldn’t use it.
If you are a correct candidate I will tell you, likewise if you’re not the correct candidate I will tell you as well.
We’re totally upfront, we’re totally honest and we will not oversell you.
Who is the system suitable for? What conditions?
It’s suitable for both men and women. Men suffering form male pattern baldness and ladies who’ve got alopecia.
Are there any guarantees for success?
Yes. When you come in and have your consultation, we’ll do an in-depth consultation with you will be asked a few questions.
Over four years we’ve got quite a good feel for who’s a good candidate and who’s not such a good candidate. We’ll be totally upfront and frank with you about your expectations.
Does it hurt?
No it does not hurt at all!
Why are you not wearing a hair system yourself?
I don’t wear a hair system because after 30 years of having no hair and having had to deal with my hair loss, I decided it wasn’t for me.
Purely, there’s a number of reasons. I should have done it when I started to first lose my hair, but back then 30 years ago the technology just wasn’t there.
The hair transplants were very harsh and very unconvincing and also the hair toupees and wigs were not so convincing either.
Back in 1992 an old colleague of mine and friend, Stephan Merz from Zurich, showed me some toupees that his father, a master wig maker was making.
I applied it to my head and I loved it but it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, it wasn’t there.
To get over my low self esteem and everything I did lots of things, I went boxing, I joined the parachute regiment, and after 25 years I suppose I got used to the idea and built my self esteem up.
When I put one of these systems on, as much as I loved it, it just didn’t feel right for me. There were a number of reasons.
The actual diameter of my individual hairs is very fine so to match that was very awkward and I just got used to having no hair.
And I do sort of 100 customers a week, It’s kind of a little bit awkward as well and that’s the reason why.
I still have a system, I still wear it from time to time as a fashion accessory and have fun with it but for everyday wear it just isn’t for me.
Where can I get more information about the hair systems?
You can come to our Cochrane & Co website hairreplacement-london.co.uk. Alternatively you can call our telephone number which is 020 3746 8276.