Smelly Hair System

I have a hair system and it smells. I am compulsively clean and I used to wash my hair once or twice daily. Now, with the hair system on, I can not wash frequently. A close friend told me that the colognes I use do not help hide the smell, so when I heard this, I was devastated. Now I think that everyone is smelling me, my dates, the ladies around the office and strangers I meet, but I am so embarrassed that I do not know what to do. Any suggestions?

Just in case you weren’t sure, the term hair system is another term for a toupee, a wig or in local slang, a rug. Systems have been around for centuries. They have been found in Egyptian tombs, on frozen mummies from Alaska’s Eskimos, and on your late night TV showing quick fixes for hair loss. My saddest story reflects a less than ethical wig-salesmen (only some are bad folks), who introduced a 21 year old with early frontal balding for a free trial. Before he knew what was happening, his head was shaved and then a ‘mop’ was put on this poor soul’s head, glued to his shaved scalp. Of course, he could have walked out and not purchased one, but alas, with the front of his scalp shaved bald and the back of your head with long luxurious hair, he knew he was going to look kind of funny walking into the office in the morning. So, like a few fixes of Heroin, he got hooked on a ‘system’ and found it part of his persona for years. Worse still is the hidden reality that these systems promote hair loss from traction, accelerating the genetic hair loss and promoting the addiction even further. Hair piece cripples are created and they live their hell almost every day.

When a poor self image is perpetuated in the mirror every morning, the smell may be less of an issue. This emaiiler’s main point is the smell. To deal with the smell, the only satisfactory solution is to have a series of wigs, use clips to attach them so that they can be taken off at night and then wash the wig often. Daily washing of the scalp is not a problem when the wig is off the head. Washing the wig will cause it to wear out sooner and the result will be more frequent replacements. The use of clips are not promoted by those who sell these systems. For reasons I can not fully understand, glues and tapes are more popular, and weaves are gaining in popularity. These last three fastening methods keep the soap and water away from doing a proper cleaning of the scalp, despite what the wig salesmen say. If you can’t wash the scalp with the system off, the scalp will smell and if you do not wash the wig, it will smell. I have rarely seen a person in my office with a system that does not smell, but sometimes I can not tell if it is the system or the patient. Does it matter what smells?

Today, the cost of a hair system properly fitted and maintained in a 5 year period of time will often run more than the cost of a hair transplant procedure.