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Tips on Picking the Right Tape or Liquid Adhesive

March 29, 2021

Adhesives are kind of an interesting subject. As we start talking about hair systems, they really are the magic that allows all of this stuff to happen. The adhesive is what’s going to keep the hair system on your head, and then we have a love-hate relationship with adhesives. 

As we talked about inside of the psychological journey video earlier in this E-course. When you have problems with your tape or your liquid adhesive, it can be a traumatic experience at first because it feels as if this new identity, this new piece of you, the hair system that that image is shattered, so finding the right adhesive can be a little bit challenging right off the bat. It’s a big process of trial and error to figure out what works best for you. 

Before we get into the actual details that will help you pick the right one and I want to tell a little bit about my story. I told you earlier that I actually took my first hair system off of my head. I just gave up because I didn’t have the right base and adhesive combo and I didn’t think that a hair system was going to be possible for my lifestyle because of this, but it turns out I was wrong. It turns out that I didn’t have the right combination at first. So this is really important information to make sure that you stay on the right track, and that you have the best experience possible.  

Two Main Categories of Adhesives

Adhesives really kind of break down into two main categories. So we have liquid adhesives and then we have tape adhesives. So these are the main two types that we’re going to be talking about. We’re going to be talking about some of their pros, some of their cons and some of the things that might help you decide really what is the right adhesive for you.  

Pros of Liquid Adhesives

So let’s start out by talking about liquid adhesives. Liquid adhesives are very common. Inside of the hair system were a lot of people use liquid adhesives and they do for many reasons. Liquid adhesives can give some of the best results possible when it comes to the aesthetic, and the overall realness of your hair system. They blend in extremely well with your natural scalp and if you have a hair system like a Swiss lace or an ultra-thin skin unit, it can almost be imperceptible even at a close examination that you were wearing a hair system. It can look exactly like it is your scalp because it can blend in so well with the liquid adhesive. On top of that, people who do use liquid adhesives generally do a full scalp bond meaning that you have a lot of support with your adhesive to keep the hair system on your head and it doesn’t move around generally, which can be a very nice feeling. It can feel like it’s very integrated into your scalp. 

Cons of Liquid Adhesive

Now some of the kinds when it comes to a liquid adhesive is that it’s generally considered, not as easy to clean up and to maintain and to install as a tape Adhesive is. So it is a little bit more of an expertise thing that you have to learn how to use the liquid adhesive and if it’s giving you some trouble, you may want to try a tape on top of this. Generally speaking, a liquid adhesive in my experience, they don’t tend to stand up as well as a whole category, too hot human environments where you’re sweating a lot. If you do sweat a lot with them, eventually, there’s the potential that the liquid adhesive can leak. It can actually liquefy because ultimately, these glues, these adhesives have chemical properties. They are first liquid, but once applied, they solidify. They bond your hair system to your head. However, under high heat which generally speaking as things get hotter, they tend to move from a solid-state into a liquid state. Adhesives can do the same exact thing and they can go from having that strong bond to actually weakening and then having a little bit of leak of that adhesive which is an interesting experience the first time it happens. But if you do not live in a very hot part of the world or you’re not getting very sweaty because if you don’t live an active life, exercising a lot things like this, a liquid adhesive can be a great option for you. 

Three Different Types of Adhesives

Now, that being said, there are really three different types of main adhesives, that you’re going to find the water base, the silicon base adhesive and then you’ll find acrylic based adhesives. Water base adhesives are generally the kindest to your skin. They’re very gentle. And on top of this, they perform well in cold weather environments that are a little bit drier. Water base adhesive also tends to have the shortest duration of bond time coming out, sometimes around a week to two weeks long. A silicon base adhesive is really kind of an all around use case adhesive. You can use it in cold or warm weather or kind of medium temperature or whether they have generally medium-term bond durations which is a great thing. If you’re looking to apply your hair system more often which isn’t always a bad thing. Something to think about when considering how long you are bonding a hair system to your scalp is of course cleanliness. If you are going for a very long period of time, there is a chance for bacteria and other things to build up inside of your hair system. 

The best performing bonds for hot weather and generally the longest duration liquid adhesive is acrylic adhesives. Generally speaking, these adhesives are the harshest on the skin, although they are all cleared and our medical grade adhesives, that are fit for human use. So that being said, there’s no real danger to using them. However, they can be a little bit harsher on the skin and if you have sensitive skin, it can be something that you may want to consider and go for either a water base or silicon based adhesives but acrylic adhesives hold up very well. 

Tape Adhesives

Tape adhesives are what they sound like. They are adhesives that are applied onto double sided tape. That way, you can apply it to your hair system into your scalp and it keeps everything bonded together. Tape adhesives can be a phenomenal product because they are incredibly easy to apply and generally speaking to remove. They also seem to have a better longevity and bond strength for those that live in very humid climates or exercise regularly, like myself. I personally use a tape adhesive because of the fact that I am exercising and sweating. So often it tends to hold itself better together than a liquid adhesive. You also don’t get any leaking ever like I said when I first was using hair systems. I use a liquid adhesive and then transferred it over to a tape because it was a better fit for my lifestyle. Ultimately, that’s what we’re going for is to make sure that you have the right hair system, the right adhesive for your life style. 

Cons of A Tape Adhesive

There’s really one main adhesive that I think about. With a tape adhesive you are not going to get that same level of realism that she might be able to get from a liquid adhesive. The tape adhesive itself is generally thicker than a liquid adhesive especially for the front hairline. It is something that you may find. It does not have that same level of realism, and if you’re okay with that, it can be a great option. My personal recommendation although you don’t have to worry about that for those that are not going with a swept back hair style, with the hair off of the face, are covering up the hair line. Go for a tape adhesive it’ll last longer. It will be much easier to maintain, it’ll be easier to take off and put on again, but that’s just my advice. Go ahead and experiment. 

Finding the right tape or liquid adhesive can be a bit of a psychological drama. It can be tough to find the right thing because here’s the fact when it comes to adhesives, they have different chemical makeup, and so do our skin. We have different Ph levels. We have different levels of oiliness or dryness when it comes to our skin. Because of that finding, the right adhesive can be tough for you. Some may work for an extended period of time, while others may unfortunately not work after just a couple of days, this is something that you will discover, and it means that you have to go out and really make an effort to find the right tape or in liquid adhesive for you. But on the other side of all of that, once you find the right adhesive for you, you generally set it can be a bit of a struggle at the beginning, but if you get through that, you’ll have the right adhesive and you’ll have a hair system that treats you well for your lifestyle.

 

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