Summer Hair Piece Bonds
Glue Vs Tape, what works best in Hot Aussie Summers?
Back when I first got my first ever hairpiece (decades ago!) my hairpieces was sewn into my hair, which was a disaster! Then I begged my supplier to move me to clips so I would have the ability to take my hair piece off when I needed, rather than traveling to a salon to have it serviced. But over time the clips pull my hair out, frustrating as it just added to my male pattern problem.
Over the last decade or so the mens hair replacement industry has developed some amazing bonding adhesives, including tapes and glues.
This has truly transformed us away from the dreaded "toupee" to the more modern "hair system". I still cringe when I see businesses promoting their "toupees", shows how truly out of touch they are. A toupee is a system that is designed to take on and off, not like the 24/7 experience a modern hair piece gives.
When I started Replique in 2016 in Brisbane we focussed on using several really good glues, Great White, Ghost Bond and Ultra Hold. But summer in Brisbane is very different to the weather in other parts of the world.
Its high 30s and humid, our clients were melting. We had many guys that were athletic or worked outdoors and while they loved having "glue on hair" or "stick on hair", they became quite anxious about the bond breaking down more quickly.
When we were selling to clients in Sydney and Melbourne through our online store repliquehair.com we noticed that the bond breaking down prematurely in summer wasnt just a Brisbane, Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast problem, it was affecting clients in other warm areas of Australia.
Normally our guys were able to enjoy about 3 to 4 weeks of bond, but in summer this was slipping to 1 to 2 weeks, which isn't ideal.
We sourced a tape that was amazing for summer conditions, some clients were able to get 4 to 6 weeks out of it. Ultimately though, we have no control over how a bond will last. The more a client sweats and the more oily their scalp then the quicker the bond breaks down. But in our experience using a strong tape will last a client one week more, than using a strong glue.
The other benefit of tape over glue is in the cleaning process. When we remove a hairpiece that is bonded with 100% glue, half the glue comes off with the hairpiece, but the rest is stuck onto the scalp and needs solvents such as C22 to remove it. With tape, 100% of the tape comes off with the hairpiece. While the ingredients of glue and tape are similar or the same, the clean up process of tape is much easier.
Ultimately it is up to each client, in our Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne salons we always offer clients the use of either bonding agent, but find that once a client tries tape, they start using it more regularly.