Lots of hair system wearers think that hairpiece maintenance is time consuming, expensive, and complicated. However the good news is that this common misconception about hairpiece care couldn’t be further from the truth. While all of our hairpieces are durable and high-quality, frequent use will eventually cause dirt and dust to accumulate on your hairline. To prolong your hairpiece lifespan, it’s important to take good care of your stock or custom hairpiece.
Lace front hair systems are a popular choice for their natural hairline that blends in well with the wearer’s scalp. While your hair system will go undetected, there will come a point when dirt particles will accumulate and stop your hairline from blending perfectly with your skin tone.
Hairpiece maintenance: How do I clean my hairline?
First of all, don’t wait until the dirt appears to clean your hairline. This is a common mistake among first time hair system users. Letting your hairline get dirty will only make it harder to get it back to that natural well-camouflaged look. Sticking to a consistent and regular hairpiece maintenance routine is key to keeping your hairline looking natural. Regular hairpiece maintenance will also help you avoid more complicated hair system repairs.
If you set aside a small amount of time each day to give your hairline a quick clean, you’ll find it far easier to keep your hairline in top condition.
If you find that your hairline is already dirty, don’t despair, it’s perfectly possible to get your hairline looking as it should. First up, you’ll need a bottle of 99% Isopropyl Alcohol. While the name might sound a bit intimidating, you can easily purchase this on our online supply store.
A 99% strength rubbing alcohol, it will remove the gooey tape and adhesive glue residue from your hair system’s base. Once this is removed it will be harder for dust and dirt to stick to your hairline. This product is also ideal since it won’t remove any liquid adhesive or tape.
We recommend pouring a generous amount of the product onto cotton pads and using these to wipe the hairline in a downward motion, always moving away from the hair. Take care to be gentle with your hairpiece so the bond doesn’t come loose. Applying too much pressure will result in the front lace peeling off your scalp, perhaps even damaging the base.
Hairpiece Maintenance: How do I clean my hairpiece if I haven’t for a while?
If you think that you’ve really neglected your hairpiece maintenance routine, it might be time to give your hair system a more in-depth clean.
First, remove the adhesive on the front lace and clean both your scalp and hair system. The best way to do this is find your preferred solvent and apply it directly onto your hairline and leave it for a few minutes. Once the time has passed, you can begin to remove the front of your hair system. It’s important not to grab or pull at the lace area, gently push it back slowly and cautiously. While you do this you’ll feel that it starts lifting off by itself. You can take a look at our detailed guide to renewing the liquid adhesive of your hairline.
This technique works best if you apply the solvent to two different sections of your scalp, leaving a small gap on the sides of your head, keeping the front of your hair system separate from the back.
The solvent will also work much more quickly and efficiently if you select a solvent based on the type of adhesive that you use with your hair system. Take a look at our solvents and removers to check if you’re using the best type of solvent for the adhesive for the hair system you have. If you’re looking for a detailed guide to removing adhesive residue, check out this post on our blog.
Once the front lace is fully lifted, apply a little more solvent on your scalp and use your fingers to gently feel the edges of your hair system to see if there’s any residue left over.
How to remove excess residue
If you find any residue left on your hair system edges, make sure to apply some more solvent onto the residue and slowly massage it in. It’s essential to make sure there’s no residue left on your hairpiece or scalp. If there is leftover residue, it can damage your hair system in the long term as well as irritate your scalp.
Take your time to clean both the hairpiece base and your scalp and keep repeating the cleaning until there’s no residue left. Once you’re sure you’ve removed all the residue, you can start to glue the hairpiece back onto your scalp. Check out this post for more on how to properly apply adhesive to your scalp and hairpiece.
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We would be more than happy to help you with any questions or concerns that you may have!
