Are you good at detecting when someone is wearing a wig or toupee?

Yes, sometimes it's really obvious

No. i've never worn one (except once in high school when I was playing a woman) so I don't have the faintest idea what they are all about.

I suppose I could get on testosterone therapy and find out, but I haven't been motivated to do so.

Yes, I am.

More in person.

I can spot them a mile away.

Hairdresser here. I went bald in my teens, and I wore one for many years, learned a lot along the way and am proudly bald again- Once I fooled a roomful of hairdressers.

The undetectable ones are new and have several different colors blended or even grey added to blend with the natural sides. Because they fade and oxidize brassy, they need to be toned occasionally, but this darkens ALL the hair and will become rather obvious over time. You really need to buy a new one or have a second one to swap out after 9 months- even the very best sourced ones get a sandpapery texture after a certain period.

No matter how good the cut or style, as scalp hair grows on the sides, you will see telltale ledge where the natural hair begins to separate from the top cut, usually razor cut to blend. `Wealthy guys go and have it serviced every other week to keep them undetectable.

The best ones are sheer like pantyhose on the the top (lace front) but very delicate, and look like the hair is growing from the scalp. I once had a guy not understand me when i told him and struggled to understand- because it literally did not compute with what he was seeing, lol. A great fitting also takes into consideration where the hairline and density would be age appropriate- NOT trying to have the hairline or thickness of an 18 year old. It is an art form to do this and a great stylist can command thousands to do so.

Ever pull off an bandaid you wore and there was a stink? They are attached with a strong medical adhesive just like a waterproof bandaid. If you are active or sweat a lot, yes they smell like a sweaty baseball cap and need to be removed and cleaned regularly.

The other telltales are when sweaty, the top is still dry though the forehead is wet, and there is no “flow” or swing, like a natural scalp that pushes up from the scalp and hair a certain direction. This means unlike real hair longer styles are immovable and you can’t really brush a hairpiece straight back, or pull into a ponytail without giving it away.

Pay, You will pay for the privilege! 3-4 thousand for the piece, $600 or so every six weeks, and replacing it every year or so.

They often get called “hair systems” now and they can look pretty good from a distance. Up close you can usually see it’s an overly thick ‘nest’ of hair plonked upon the head.

R7, that was quite fascinating. Thank you for sharing!

Yep. Even the newer types

Its my X-Men mutant power... hey! there are worse powers out there

To be honest, OP, after many years on DL I now pretty much default to the assumption that everyone is wearing a wig.

Is that a common thing in 21st century?

Thomas Dolby got a new hair system.

If you spend the money on a good one, you won't be able to tell. But if you're cheap or broke, then it's obvious.

Not any more, they have become much improved. On bad hair days I wish I owned one.

Rip Taylor takes out all the guesswork.

Things start going off the rails at about 15:45.

[quote] To be honest, OP, after many years on DL I now pretty much default to the assumption that everyone is wearing a wig.

That's refreshing. So many DLers clutch their pearls at the suggestion that their celebrity FAVES wear hair pieces and have ... gasp! ... plastic surgery procedures.

I've always wondered. What's the protocol if someone you know suddenly turns up with a full head of hair? Like do you acknowledge it or just pretend they've not gone from looking like Patrick Stewart to Fabio.

They’re getting harder to recognize among the younger generation of men who are wearing them but usually very obvious with older guys.

White people are now just catching on to lace front wigs. Hollywood, black people, and drag queens have been doing them for at least 20 years but the general white person is still uncomfortable with the idea of a wig, even though so many white women have destroyed their hair from hair extensions which are usually gross to me.

The keratin bonds and tape-ins are horrible for your hair. Keratin bonds are melted into your hair and it looks like the end of a shoe lace at your scalp, it’s really bad.

The big issue with front lace and balding is the glue. I don’t know if they make clip ins for men but I’d rather do that than glue the wig to my head.

I honestly weep for men who aren't blessed with a full head of hair.

No.

was the late actor Tony Lo Bianco, who passed away this month wearing a toupee from approx 1972 (around the French Connection) on?

How would you know?

Thank you R7 that was a great read.

I just can’t understand how there are super wealthy men, some of them in the public eye, who wear such obvious shitty wigs. It must be that you get used to seeing it everyday so it becomes normal to you, like those ladies who have surgery with their big lips and cat like eyes.

R7, thank you for the breakdown. Are you talking about wigs made with human hair or wigs made with synthetic hair? Seems like you could re-use the wigs made with human hair.

Stevie Wonder could spot this local access cable interviewer's toupee.

R20 I’d suggest it’s more that, unless you had a nanna around with wigs, they were less common for white women. Black women of all ages wore (or wear) wigs much more often—at least that was the case when I was growing up. My best friend had to explain to me why his very pretty mom’s hair was always changing—she had a full collection.

I don’t understand the question, and I refuse to answer it.

In another thread someone insisted that Bea Arthur never wore a wig on the GG. I feel like that isn't true. Was she wearing wigs after season 3? All actresses hair was always so elaborate and thick and luxurious, so I thought maybe they were all wearing wigs just for practicality reason.

I always pull hard on the scalp before I have sex. Don't like surprises.

R7 put into excellent words the observations I've made about people's (fake) hair, but couldn't describe well. A neighbor has one of these hair systems I'm sure. I noticed things like, his hairstyle and length hasn't changed a bit in 5 years. When he's out doing yard work in 100 degree heat, his hair is dry but his face is red and drippy. And his hair, although blended salt and pepper gray, is too thick and the hairline too youthful, literally standing on end in the front.

Now I'm seeing guys everywhere with hairpieces of varying quality. On TV last night there was an ad for a window contractor, and one of the guys on there had a rug - you could see the hair shelf as described by R7.

I'd imagine even very wealthy people who can afford the best of hair systems are at times not interested because of all the time and effort required to maintain it.

R31 that actually happened to me once at the WSC, receiving head. I pulled back, and just had to tap him out. Shivers!

Wonderful, R33. Did you carry on?

Always.

R34 do you not know what it means to tap out?

I can spot it from the other side of the street, at night.

No but I can detect lip filler

A family friend had a toupee he worse for 50 years and I never knew it. But I knew him since I was a baby so that’s just how he was to me.

But I could tell Stan Zbornak had on a bad toupee the minute he was introduced. But that was definitely intentional and Dorothy called him out on it immediately.

I can tell immediately

George Maharis had four on Styrofoam heads. Rotated to make it it look like his hair was getting longer.

He could still suck like pig.

Can you tell Minnie Driver was wearing a wig here?

Nooo, not at all!

Nope?!

No, me neither!!

No R36.

It's getting harder to tell in movies because they use CGI to erase the silk. David Fincher talked about doing this to erase Rosamund Pike's wig line in Gone Girl.

Are you going to tell her about your little Hair Hat?

No one at CNN tells Frank Luntz to take off that wig. I thought they were journalists.

Take a guess.

"When ____________ took a part in my movie _____________, she was already famous for wearing wigs. I took her aside and said: '______, I don't want you to wear a wig on this picture. I hate wigs.'

She said: 'I promise you, I will not wear a wig.'

Just to make sure, I also told the set hairdresser, to see to it that ____________ never wore one.

Anyway, on the first day of filming the hairdresser beckoned me over and said: 'Pull at her hair. You'll see it's real.'

I pulled at her hair. It remained firmly on her head. And, to my satisfaction, she came to the set every day with her real hair on show.

When she'd finished on the film, she came across to where I was standing to kiss me goodbye. Then she walked off to the edge of the set and suddenly called out:

I looked round - She had taken a wig off her head and was waving it at me. Her real hair had been a wig all along . .

R48 They actually blurred out Christina Hendricks's lace forehead line on "Good Girls".

R51, Nicole Kidman? 👩‍🦰🧑‍🦲

No one can tell if you just spend enough money on it!

There was the time this guy was on his knees blowing me in a restroom. I grabbed his head to move it back and forth, his toupee came off in my hands.

R53 Nope.

I was waiting to see a specialist at a big medical Centre and chatting with the receptionist. I saw a female staff member walk by and asked the receptionist if that woman was wearing a wig? She replied How did you know? It is a big secret! I guess I have the gift.

Do you remember the episode of The Dick Van Dyke show when Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) blurted on National television that Alan Brady (Carl Reiner) was bald? She went to his office to apologize. He had several wig heads with toupees on his desk. “this is my ‘gosh, my hair gets frizzy when it’s humid toupee …. This is my ‘gee it’s time for a haircut’touper …”

There was an usher at the symphony who had a toupee that looked like Cousin It. So much hair, so little hairline. I had to force myself to look away when I was close to him because otherwise I would certainly have stared out of curiosity. He wore it for at least a decade. I haven't seen him in several years, so I have to assume that he died. I do feel grateful to have a pretty full head of hair. Granted, it's all silvery white now, but the person who cuts it tells me I'm not allowed to complain about the color because I actually have hair.

I guess what I would notice if I were really trying to ascertain what I was looking at, is that in real hair, there are little tiny bits of scalp visible between each hair, especially at the hairline, whereas with wigs, weaves, rugs, toupees, you don't see scalp or any kind of hairline that looks natural.

I instinctively clock smoke and mirrors in the crotch area.