# "What's that on your head? A wig!" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 21, 2004, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446 "2004-06-21T15:04:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446/1 "2004-06-21T15:04:45Z")
Like most people, I Hate My Hair. At my age and with my bone structure, a short, full 'do would look best—but my hair is fine, and straighter than the road to perdition; looks more “Alfalfa” than “Audrey Hepburn” when cut short (right now it’s shoulderlength, but I wear it up in a chignon). I’m thinking of getting it cut short and buying a “hair yarmulke,” something like [this](http://www.wigs.net/hairpieces1.html) or [this](http://www.wigs.net/sky.html), for fullness. Anyone have any experience with these things, or wig/hairpiece stories to share? ---
**Author:** ![tanookie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/48db29/32.png) [@tanookie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanookie)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446/2 "2004-06-21T15:29:14Z")
Just chiming in to say I like the second one better… I just had my hair cut into one of those short full 'dos … I was trying not to look like my mother! For the first time in 17 years I like my hair. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446/3 "2004-06-21T15:37:27Z")
> [@tanookie](#): > > Just chiming in to say I like the second one better… I think you can smooth them down or pouf them up as you like them—I might even go to a hairdresser and get it thinned-out if it’s too Eighties Huge Hair. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446/4 "2004-06-21T15:40:07Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Anyone have any experience with these things, or wig/hairpiece stories to share? I haven’t used one yet, but I’m thinking about it. My MIL (who is balding) wore one to FIL’s funeral and it looked very nice. My SIL also wears one quite a bit. It looks absolutely darling. She has long hair and wears it kind of up with the yarmulke. Very cute. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446/5 "2004-06-21T15:42:05Z")
“Sophie! What have you done to your hair? It looks like a wig!” “It is. All my hair fell out.” “Oh. It looks so natural, you’d never know!” ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446/6 "2004-06-21T16:48:42Z")
Both of those look really nice. I wear a wig on a regular basis (no hair to use in an integration piece due to alopecia universalis - total loss of body hair), so I’ve had lots of experience. A synthetic is a good choice because it will save you time in not having to style it much, and will bounce back to its style after washing. I’d recommend getting their color wheel so you get the best match for you. And yes, it’s easy to have them trimmed/thinned out a little at your salon if needed. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446/7 "2004-06-21T17:05:38Z")
My mother lost all her hair due to chemotherapy about 5 years ago. She’s now considered cured. Anyway, she tried on a wig or two, but she lost all of her hair so quickly that the wigs always looked funny to her. Going from bald to a full head of hair was just too jarring. She wore a variety of hats and bandanas and got lots of compliments, mostly from people who either knew her well enough to know about that cancer or who could tell by the style of hat that she had cancer(since so few women wear hats routinely). However, there were a few who were both compimentary and clueless about the cancer. After the chemo ended, her hair started growing back in, and came in very soft and curly- a look known as “chemo-hair” to hairdressers. It was also far more white than it had been. My mother’s hair has been mostly grey and wavy for years, but for a while was almost all white. It is now back to mostly grey. Anyway, a friend was looking at her hair recently and asked Mom why she didn’t keep it the way it was a few years ago when it was so nice and curly? Mom had to laugh, either the friend had never understand about chemo-hair or she’d forgotten. At any rate, getting a perm to try to recreate chemo-hair is not something my Mom is willing to do, it violates her principle of “be grateful for what you’ve got”. She’s lost it twice and is happy to have hair at all. ---
**Author:** ![nocturnal\_tick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@nocturnal\_tick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nocturnal_tick)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446/8 "2004-06-21T17:53:44Z")
Oh **Eve** you silly girl. **It’s not a wig, but a hair enhancement**. 😛 If you look half as good as you do in those pictures you posted on the boards then, by golly, you don’t need it. But whatever makes you feel happy you should do. 😉 I don’t have any wig stories unfortunately but I do have outrageous hair. Everyone calls it ginger but it’s really more of a copper and worse yet it is naturally fluffy, I mean _real_ fluffy, like strange cute animal funny. I wake up in the morning and it’s like _DOING!_ fluffy. Is that any good? ---
**Author:** ![Stainz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Stainz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stainz)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446/9 "2004-06-21T22:30:10Z")
Okay … colour me clueless … but I don’t understand how those ‘enhancers’ work? As in, how are they different from wigs? S. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446/10 "2004-06-21T22:39:01Z")
Go the Dom Irrera route (paraphrased): “If I go bald I’m going to buy the cheesiest toupee I can find. One with a chin strap and the price tag still attached and I dare any mother f\*\*ker to say anything about it.” ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446/11 "2004-06-21T23:01:00Z")
> [@Stainz](#): > > Okay … colour me clueless … but I don’t understand how those ‘enhancers’ work? As in, how are they different from wigs? > > S. Well, I’ve never worn one, so I am guessing . . . But I think they are loosely woven “hair yarmulkes.” They only cover the crown of your head; you put them on with combs and pull your own hair through the weave of the hairpiece, and it adds to the fullness. I hope. Ortherwise it looks like a baby beaver died on your head. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446/12 "2004-06-22T14:47:42Z")
Well, I ordered [this one](http://www.wigs.net/sky.html), in dark brown. I got one made of “Fakelon,” as it’s easier to style than human hair and cheaper, so I can experiment with it before deciding if I want to trade up. I can trust the Brutally Honest Fashion Girls at work to tell me if it looks like a small beaver died on my head. ---
**Author:** ![nocturnal\_tick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@nocturnal\_tick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nocturnal_tick)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446/13 "2004-06-22T15:30:53Z")
I think I’m not the only one here that would like some photographic evidence so we too can exclaim, “Ooh!” and “Aah!” and “Mmmm Mmmm” 😃 BTW, what kinda name is Fakelon? They really get to the point don’t they. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446/14 "2004-06-22T15:37:17Z")
> [@nocturnal\_tick](#): > > I think I’m not the only one here that would like some photographic evidence so we too can exclaim, “Ooh!” and “Aah!” and “Mmmm Mmmm.” Or, “Take off the pillbox hat so we can see the hair! . . . Oh. That _is_ the hair?” ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2004, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446/15 "2004-06-22T16:59:30Z")
**"Fakelon! Now with 15% more Counterfeitium, and extra Frauduline!** ---
**Author:** ![Bewildebeest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bewildebeest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bewildebeest)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446/16 "2004-06-23T15:23:05Z")
…contains no Erudite! ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446/17 "2004-06-23T15:27:43Z")
It’s very “you.” I wonder how long it takes to weave your own hair through it? If it’s anything like pulling hair through a frosting cap, I’m out. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446/18 "2004-06-23T15:37:37Z")
Eve, did you consider the hair extensions? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446/19 "2004-06-23T15:41:07Z")
Is a “demi-cap” the same thing as a toupee? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_griffin-kentzel/32/14787_2.png) [@Larry\_Griffin-Kentzel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Griffin-Kentzel)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2004, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446/20 "2004-06-23T17:45:22Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by **Eve** _ > > Well, I ordered [this one](http://www.wigs.net/sky.html), in dark brown. That one should look great on you. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-on-your-head-a-wig/251446.md?page=2)