Non-surgical hair replacement (often called a hair system or hair piece), involves attaching a fine mesh to the scalp with hairs matched to your hair color attached. The hair piece is either taped, glued, or clipped onto the scalp to keep it in place and is styled to match your hair style. A technique called hair weaving is no longer performed by reputable companies and should be avoided, because it has been found to cause ‘traction alopecia’ (hairloss due to constant strain on the hairs). The advantage of non-surgical hair replacement is that it is the only option that can always make you look like you have a full head of hair no matter who you are. Also, there are no side effects as with medicinal treatments and it is not permanent like transplantation. The disadvantages are a continual high cost per year, extra time for maintenance required to keep the hair looking good, lack of comfort for some people, and paranoia regarding discovery for some. Costs vary widely, but typically range between $1,000 and $3,000 per year. Several companies are now marketing programs to teach you how to create and maintain your own hair system as well as how to purchase the unit directly at a much lower cost. By purchasing and creating the hair piece yourself, your cost per year should easily be in the $500 or less range, however you will have to perform a lot more maintenance on your own and it can be very difficult to create a natural hair piece on your own with little training.

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