devarim

This morning Julian accompanied me to my second appointment with FHL, who had three falls for me to try on. First off, let me say that those snap-clips hurt like hell. Maybe it takes some getting used to, or maybe it was because I kept taking off and putting on new wigs, but by the end of the hour I had developed quite a headache. I'm sure it just takes some getting used to, and FHL assured me that the clips loosen up over time.

Of the three falls that FHL had me try on, two were from Georgie, and one was from Shevy. (All three were European human hair...if I'm going to do this, I'm going to go as natural-looking as possible, and my own hair is just too light and thin for an Asian hair wig to ever look natural.) The colors on the Georgies were 8 and 10/6/8, and the Shevy was a 10/6. After much switching back and forth and a couple of trips up the stairs to see the wigs in natural sunlight, we decided that the plain 8 was completely out of the running, and the 10/6, while a little dark, was the best match for me colorwise. Unfortunately Georgie does not make a 10/6 fall (FHL called to make sure while we were there), and although she's going o try to get a plain 6 for me to try on, I suspect the decision is going to come down to a 10/6/8 Georgie or a 10/6 Shevy. The Georgie is available as short as en inches - which is already longer than how I'm going to wear it - for $750. The Shevy I tried on was fourteen inches and $1450; FHL is going to try to get one shorter but doesn't think she can do better than 12 inches and $1250. It kills me to spend all this money just to chop half the hair off, but what can you do?

The main differences: The Shevy is hand-tied on top, with a whitish cap, and can be parted in any direction. The very front has a half-inch-wide strip without hair on it, which smooths the transition from my own head to the fall (under a handband). The Georgie has no part in it - the hair is all attached (by machine) to a brown lace cap. However, Julian pointed out that when a woman puts her hair back in a headband (my own very thin hair excepted), it usually falls without a part anyway. With the Shevy, I run the risk of having a part in the very front (my real hair) not match up with the part on the fall, which really would look terrible. The Georgie also has hair all the way up to the front, meaning that - in theory - I can comb a little of my own hair over the edge, blend it in with the fall, and go without a headband at all. In reality, though, my own hair is just too thin to make that work, so the advantage really isn't there.

The Shevy also came in a "small," which is still too big but is closer to my head size. The Georgie, on the other hand, comes in only one size. I found the Shevy easier to put on and adjust on my head, but that was without any customization on either of them. FHL will adjust either to fit my head, removing the extra hair and the pieces of the cap underneath or sewign things up as necessary. She said the Georgie would be less work for her to fix (I think because it's all in rows) but she can do either and make it look good.

If the two brands were closer in price (or maybe even if the Shevy came in a ten-inch length for only $1050), I think I'd opt for the Shevy. I just liked the way it looked with a part, and despite my earlier dislike of the color 6 I think the 10/6 was the best color combination. However, if the Shevy is going to run nearly twice the price of the Georgie...well, that's just a lot to spend on a first-time wig, isn't it? One of two scenarios will play out:

In Scenario A, I get a fall now, use it only for interrviews, find myself in a work environment where I can wear hats all or almost all of the time, and wear a wig so infrequently that the $1450 one would have been a waste of money. After all, it's not like the Georgie looks bad. It's just not quite as nice. I'm sure I'd look snazzier in $2,500 designer suits, too, but the $250 ones are more than passable for my needs.

In Scenario B, I get a fall now, wear it on interviews, end up wearing it to work frequently, and discover that I need one or two other sets of Fake Hair (this stuff does need to get washed and re-styled, after all). Since I'd have had the first fall for a while, I'll have been able to figure out what features my next wig does and does not need, and so will better be able to judge whether something is worth all the money. The question in Scenario B is, if I buy a Georgie now, will it end up sitting on a styrofoam head in the closet as soon as I get a second, more expensive wig?

All opinions welcome. I also have a post in the works responding to some earlier comments, but at this very instant I have to go finish installing our closet shelves...

part of a series: I, II, II 1/2, branching out, IV, sub-V, V . . .