Lessons - 1st try with the Sticky Stuff

Tuesday, October 13, 2009 8:17 PM

Nightmares are scary. Sometimes, my nightmares aren't at night, but instead they happen when a recollection of a moment in time happens...you know, a memory that you wish was buried deep never to resurface again?

So, yesterday - I had one of these "nightmares"...I was remembering my first attempt at attaching my hair. It was quite an emotional day to begin with. After all, I had MADE my own hair piece and was waiting on my first order from Hair Direct. Not only that, but this was the big day I was shaving off my natural hair to make room for the new hair! That alone made this a nightmare day, but nothing had prepared me for the nightmare of glue.

Oh sure, I had read a zillion posts and messages on websites everywhere trying to figure out how to do this myself, so I thought I had a pretty good idea of what to do. Nonetheless, when the actual time of attachment was in front of me, all of those tips flew from my mind and I was all alone with my crying hairdresser who was begging me not to shave my hair the whole time!

So, here I was, the top part of my head bald, holding a bottle of UltraHold glue in my hand. The moment of truth. I remembered reading about how the glue should be applied in VERY thin coats and should be allowed to DRY before attaching hair. Humph...what can THEY know. It didn't make any sense to me to let a glue dry BEFORE trying to stick something in it. So, little miss know it all and uncoachable...did it my own way.

I glopped the first coat on and it strung everywhere like little sticky spiderwebs trailing from the bottle to my head. Ugh. I waited a minute or two (it should be dry enough by now right?) and applied another thick, gooey layer. There, that should do it.

Now, the moment of truth as I plopped my newly made hair down over the oozing gooey mess on my head. Uh oh. This can't be good. The glue was seeping through the lace and into the hair. The hair was sliding all over my newly shaven scalp and I couldn't keep it in one place. Every time I touched the hair, it just soaked up more glue. What a DISASTER!

I did try to live with this for a day (as I recall) and then the next day, I tried it again. Of course, it took me 9 hours!!! This time, I decided that little Miss know it all had better eat a bit of humble pie and try to follow instructions!

So, I applied a VERY thin layer of the glue to my head and waited about 20 minutes. Next I applied a 2nd coat. After the 2nd coat had dried, I decided to give it another shot. Miracle of miracles, the glue was MUCH stickier after it was dry and the lace just laid down into the glue and virtually disappeared!

So, this was what everyone was talking about..."invisible lace"! Wow, what a difference following those tips made for me! Now of course, you all know my entire routine is down to 30 minutes and that includes a fresh shave and a shower!

I highly recommend that as a new wearer, you "team up" with someone who has worn hair for a long time and drive them crazy with questions! Don't worry, those of us who have worn hair for a long time understand that this is a "pay it forward" situation. We had people who helped us and now it's our turn to give back! Heck, I've even been known to hook up my webcam and help new wearers with their first attachments step by step.

Hopefully you won't have to suffer through the mistakes Little Miss Know It All did before she ate a big piece of "humble pie"!

Let me know if I can help!

Babe