Toupée

A toupee is a hairpiece or partial wig of natural or synthetic hair worn by men to cover partial baldness.

"It's a question that I find like asking somebody, 'Did you have a breast implant?' or 'When did you get your lobotomy?' - William Shatner, when asked if he wore a hairpiece.

Toupees and wigs

Toupees may be designed to cover just a portion of the top of the head, either the front or the crown when partial baldness is due to male pattern baldness, or bald spots at the top and back of the head, or they may be full toupees, designed essentially to cover all of the top of the head. A toupee is most usually the first two for partial coverage, rather than the full one for complete coverage of a bald crown. The word originates from a French word for a hairstyle emphasizing a "tuft" of hair on the top of the head.

Toupees are often referred to as "hairpieces", "units", "rugs", or "hair systems" by those seeking to avoid the negative connotations that the word "toupee" conjures up.

A woman's partial hairpiece is not typically called a toupee, but rather a hairpiece. Women may wear hairpieces, the equivalent of a man's partial toupee, rather than full wigs if their hair loss is confined to the top and crown of their heads, however this is not a typical pattern of baldness for women.

Toupee use and manufacture

Toupee wearers are concerned with the appearance and function of the toupee. The user seeks a hairpiece that appears natural, fits comfortably, and does not move or come off in high activity situations, such as playing sports. Patents have been granted that address these needs for toupee wearers, in particular that the hairpiece appear natural at the front of the hairline, and that it remains comfortable and stays on during certain activities.

While toupee dealers and manufacturers often advertise their products showing men swimming, water-skiing and enjoying watersports, these activities can damage the toupee. Saltwater and chlorine can cause a toupee to "wear out" quickly. Human sweat during sports can require the toupee be cleaned more frequently, and shampoos and soaps used to do this damage the toupee over time.An attempt is made to match the color of the toupee to the natural hair color of the wearer. The toupee's color can fade with time, though, causing a color mismatch that overly emphasizes the presence of the hairpiece.

Hair weaves are a technique in which the toupee's base is then woven into whatever natural hair the wearer retains. Hair weaves can be used as a substitute for a toupee, rather than just being part of attaching the toupee to the scalp, but weaving balding hair can cause permanent damage and hasten hair loss. While this usually results in a less detectable toupee, the wearer can experience discomfort, and additional hair loss from retightening of the weave as one's own hair grows. After about six months a person can begin to lose hair permanently along the weave area, resulting in traction alopecia.

Reasons for wearing a toupee

Men typically wear toupees to avoid being perceived as bald, usually after resorting to less extreme methods of coverage such as the comb over, or the failure of various anti-baldness medications, such as Propecia, Rogaine and other remedies.

Toupees of the last few decades are less discernable than older ones. However there has been strong bias in some Western societies against balding men, particularly in the mid-twentieth century, leading men to wear noticeable and unattractive toupees rather than appear bald in public.

Toupee use has declined in recent years, in part due to the success of medical treatments for male pattern baldness. In addition hair transplants have replaced the use of toupees among those who can afford them, particularly celebrities. Other trends leading to the decline in toupee use include a rise in acceptance of baldness by those men afflicted with it due, in part, to balding athletes and celebrities going public with their balding. Many balding men choose to shave their heads entirely - a trend often given new momentum by a by famous male pattern baldness sufferer of the time taking the step. Witenss Yul Brynner Bruce Willis, Patrick Stewart and Michael Jordan doing so in various eras.

Toupees and humor

Toupees have long been the subject of comedy in Western cutlure. Humor generally emphasizes the same points that wearers consider when selecting a toupee, namely the obviousness of the toupee to others, its ability to stay in place, and its overall ineffectiveness in concealing baldness. This humor was in its heyday in the mid-twentieth century in the United States in comics and comedy routines, but has declined with the decline in wearing toupees due to medical treatments for baldness and advances in hair replacement techniques.

Well-known and rumored toupee wearers, such as liberal commentator Keith Olbermann, usually deny their use of any kind of hair replacement accessory. This is usually a source of much humor. (http://www.answers.com/topic/toupee)