As this weekend winds down, I’m playing with my hair.  Well, I’m playing with the hair that arrived in the mail on Friday.

If you aren’t familiar, I suffer from hair loss.  It is a topic I write about over and over. Who knows why but it happened. While my hair is thinning on top, the hair loss that has occurred toward the back of the crown is really bad.  Over the years I’ve been successful in disguising the loss with Toppik and other products meant to cover hair loss and thinning that isn’t too bad.

The fugly truth.  It has gotten worse and Toppik no longer does the job.  If you suffer from thinning and still have quite the bit of hair though, Toppik is the best hair fibers around!

Mine got bad. And even though I have a few wigs, I find them to be a bit cumbersome during the warmer weather and during long work days.

The toppers work much better for me and if you suffer from hair loss at the crown, might I recommend toppers for you as well?

And there are some that I have that I like a lot.  The first one I ever bought was an easiPartHD.  I wasn’t crazy about it when I first got it over a year ago because the color didn’t exactly match my natural hair. But lately I’ve been wearing it because it is light and covers the back nicely. It pays to hold onto stuff and not throw it out. I only wish this came in jet black—it would be perfect!

This is the box the easiPart came in. And although it does the job, you won’t look like this babe on the box!

easiPart out of the box…

..and turned inside out.  I have to wear mine turned so that it is wide ACROSS my crown.  It covers my spots!

I was wearing it in this pic. You can’t even tell. It blends well even with a slightly lighter color!

My Tony of Beverly topper is one that I use a lot. I have two and one is stored away for future use. The one I currently use has bangs that I cut. I had no idea what I was doing but it turned out ok.  I wear this to work a lot and like the way it looks pulled back. It covers my large bald spot in the back and I’m happy with it. Especially the price point. This was $55.00 with shipping.  Both were ordered from Vogue Wigs.

My Tony of Beverly topper with the bangs I cut into it.  For the price, this is one I would recommend if you are thinking about your “first” topper. The price can’t be beat!

I’m wearing it in this pic. I love the bangs and I love the way it makes my side pony look so much thicker!

Another recent topper that I got for a great sale price is this Rene of Paris topper. It was on clearance from Wow Wigs for a decent price. There is a lot of hair on this topper.  The color is espresso and I thought it would be darker. No big deal though because it looks like my hair has been slightly highlighted. This is a topper I will wear when my bio hair is spanking clean because the synthetic is really soft—and my hair is much softer after I wash my hair!

The Rene of Paris topper has a LOT of hair! The Espresso color doesn’t exactly match my black hair, but looks a bit highlighted. Hey, when you lose hair, you don’t care if the color is an exact match!

Back view, the coverage of the loss is excellent…

Another view–I will have to tweeze the part a bit to make it more natural but overall, I’m incredibly happy with this..

Rene was so nice to send care instructions too.  Lazy people like me NEED this!

But..the best topper I’ve purchased is from Uniwigs.   I found out about Uniwigs after I became obsessed with June Penny. June suffers from thinning and loss. And her YouTube videos are greatness.  She is so real and unpretentious and is completely upfront about her hairloss. She’s just incredible—a complete pissa (that’s NY/LI speak for someone who is really fun). I want to be besties with her because when I listen to her speak, I feel like I’m back home in NYC.  She’s that girl that I know if I lived next door, I could just call out to her from my window and have endless cups of cawfee with her!

June’s YouTube videos are like potato chips. You can’t watch just ONE–you need to binge!  Honestly, if you suffer from hair loss you HAVE to watch her!

She’s incredibly helpful and is a wealth of information on all subjects topper!  Have a look at one of her videos. If you suffer from hair loss—I swear you will binge on her videos!

Anyway, I ordered the Yaki hair lace front topper and paid the five extra bucks to have them sew in the clips.  Yaki hair has the look of relaxed African American hair. But you don’t have to have African American hair to wear Yaki. It is well-suited for anyone with coarse hair.  Oh. And my hair is coarse so this is what I went with.

This is the topper I ordered.  Luckily, I ordered the clips to be sewn in. It’s a good thing I did–I almost had an anxiety attack about cutting the lace!

When I took my little Yaki out of the box, I was a bit overwhelmed.  I was petrified to cut the lace because I thought I would ruin it.  I turned to June’s video on cutting the lace front and decided to cut.  First I went to my local beauty supply store and purchased two heads. After all, two heads are better than one!

My little Uniwig Yaki topper after I cut the lace off.  I need to put makeup on this little head of mine.  I also think if I ever get another dog I will name it Yaki!

I cut the lace as far back as I could. And when I placed it on my head, I had a bit of an issue with the small amount of lace—it is darker than my skin. So..I played around and set the topper back a bit toward the back and covered the front with my bio hair. Voila!  All looks great.

Bottom left you can see the lace a bit–but I played around and figured out how to hide it.  I’m loving this topper because it most resembles the hair I was born with.  I want to win the lottery so I can have every topper Uniwig makes!

Here–or rather, HAIR, I am earlier today ( I KNOW I have the same red t-shirt on.  It’s my “I’m-a-slob-at-home-outfit”).  I played around a bit with my little Yaki and was able to do a bit of a “Bardot” do. I can’t see any lace!!!!  I’m so in love with this!

Honestly, I can’t begin to tell you how wonderful this Uniwig Yaki topper is.  The texture is so like my bio hair. If it frizzes, I can curse at it—just like I cursed my bio hair when I had a ton of it.

I also set it in large bobby pins for some nice waves.  That’s another advantage. I can set my topper hair and don’t have to go to bed in bobby pins or rollers!  What’s not to love?

My little Yaki is set in pincurls so she will be nice and wavy tomorrow morning! And I don’t have to go to bed with these things in my hair!

I’m so thrilled with the Uniwigs topper because I really feel like I have the hair I hated so much back on my head—only this time I love it!

Have you ever heard of Monat hair products?  I was sent a couple of product samples to try out.  The company claims to help regrow hair (in some instances) and give your hair fullness and thickness.

Ever the skeptic, I kind of eye-rolled the claims.

Anyway, since Bonaparte doesn’t have the hair loss issues that I have, I asked for his assistance in trying this shampoo out.  HE LOVES IT!!!

My hand to god. I swear his hair is looking fuller and better since he started using the samples.  The conditioner softens his hair so well!   I’m shocked at how much fuller his hair has gotten. (Trust me, it works for fullness. I promised I would not take a photo of him. He’s anti-sociable. He’s French for cryin’ out loud!)

It’s too bad I didn’t have 90 day’s worth of samples–I would have been interested to see how this works after three months.  I mean, in three months anyone’s hair would be longer no matter what product you wash with. Right?  But I can attest that hair is looking fuller after one washing!

OK. It is NO secret that washing my hair is a major chore because of fallout. But–I’m lucky because my hair is so thick and dry that I can actually get away with washing it every two weeks.  This is my hair today. I washed and conditioned it LAST SUNDAY with Monat shampoo and conditioner.  It is still looking full. I have to give credit to Monat for that!

Now. I know my hair will never grow back, but my curiosity got the better of me so I decided to use the shampoo and masque and conditioner last week when I did my bi-weekly hair cleansing.  My hair, which is thick, looked fuller. I’m talking about the hair I still have. It looked fuller and it was softer.

I haven’t made the purchase yet because I want to see if it continues to keep the hair looking nice.  Bonaparte is being very stingy with the rest of the samples.  I may have to break down and buy some of Monat’s shampoo and conditioner.  It’s expensive though.

This masque did help add softenss to my hair. It was quite noticeable!

In addition, I’m a bit annoyed at their website.  Even though hair loss is something that affects all ages, it really affects the older population more. And Monat’s site is so youth-based by the photos.  There is one photo of aging hair that is so horrific and makes aging hair look so disgusting. I hate that. Yes. Aging hair is different, and it isn’t as lustrous as young hair—but don’t feed into the stereotypical image of the ugliest hair on earth. We older people take better care of our hair.

This is the ageist crap that I can’t stand.  They made this woman look so pissed off, the lighting is awful and made it look like aging hair is the fugliest hair on earth. First of all, her curls are great. Secondly, we older people actually DO leave the house with nice looking hair.  OMG.  This bothers me so much–you have no idea. Lucky for Monat, the company has good product!

When will companies start advertising in an older person friendly way?  Geez. Knock it off.  The products can be great, but that kind of advertising rubs me the wrong way!

So yeah, despite my annoyance with Monat’s website, they do have a great shampoo and conditioner!

I made dessert for dinner at Bonaparte’s daughter’s home last night. I’m so proud of myself because I didn’t overeat.  In fact, I got on the scale this morning and despite chowing down on hummus and Armenian cheese as appetizers, I lost two ounces from Friday!

Millionaire’s Shortbread! Shortbread. Caramel. Chocolate! Wow!!!

Well, that’s about it for today!  I hope everyone had a great, great weekend and is up and pumped for this workweek!

XOXOXOXO!!!

The Kinks are in my car this weekend.  This is the first Kinks song I ever heard and the one that gave me a lifelong crush on Ray Davies. “Tired of Waiting’. Yeah—and I’m tired of waiting till I see older people in ads—and not the stereotypes either. I want cool old people!