Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Closures, Frontals & 360s - What is the difference?

Closures, Frontals & 360

 

The difference between a closure, a frontal and a 360.  There are many different controversies about these different pieces.  Some people confuse them and also some people become very disappointed when they put certain ones of them in, and it does not work, the way they think it should work. So I'm Sandy with Shallamar's Hair Solutions I've been doing hair for 20 something years. I've been doing the weaves and extensions and sew-ins even before closures and frontals, and 360s were invented. So I've been around for a long time.  We're going to start off with closures. There are two different kinds of closures. There is a lace closure and there is a silk closure.



The lace closure is transparent and once it goes up against the scalp, it will show your part and that’s how that works with a lace closure. You're not able to move your part from side to side because it's just a four by four square unit so you will not be able to move your part from side to side.  So with a closure, it gives you a natural scalp looking part with a sew in hair extension. You won't be able to move it from side to side.   Based upon how it's sewn you may be able to move the part somewhat, but you can't take it from the left side to the right side. So you will need to decide which side you want your part on before the sew-in takes place and where you want this closure to be. Whether you want it to be left or right side. This goes for both kinds of closures.  

The second closure is called a silk base closure, it is more reinforced on the base than the lace closure. The difference with the silk is that the top as a scalp like surface. So when you part into the silk,  you get more of a scalp part, so the difference between both is that one has more of a scalp part.   The silk is going to be a little bit more expensive because it's more reinforced on the back.  No need to bleach it or anything because it has a scalp part.  You just got to make sure that the one you're getting has a color scalp that much your own scalp. So you want to get one that comes closest to your own scalp. If you are Caucasian, you want to get one with a lighter scalp. If you are black, you want to get one for African American black hair or a darker scalp.

So what is the difference between the two of them?   This is the difference. One is laced, one is silk. The silk will always have a more reinforced back on it.  With either of these closures; you cannot change your part. The beauty of the closures that I love Is that they are sewn down and there is no need for any glue.   They also come with the baby hair as well.  So if the closures are sewn on correctly, there's no need to get it glued down so don't worry about Got To Be Glue or any other kind of glue because it does not require that.

 Now with the frontals, there are different kinds of frontals as well. Same thing with the closure.  There is a silk frontal and a lace frontal. The frontal mean it's going to be sewn across the front of your hairline.  That means it goes from ear to ear so you could wear your part on either side or wear it back.  You could do a center part or right to left parts; you could move the part. So that's the difference. Some people like that scalp looking parts of as opposed to doing the lace.   Most frontals are going to come with baby hair already on them if not you can cut your own baby hair and create your hairline.  Now here's the thing with frontals. Frontals are sewn down. Most of them, when people get a frontal, they want to be able to wear it back in a ponytail, and they want to be able to do funky stuff with it in the front. In order for the frontal to work properly in the front, it has to have something to hold it in the front. Yes, you could sew it down. Yes, you could go in between and sew it down. That's fine, but if you don't have something holding It down in the front, on your hairline, it's going to move, and this is where the disappointment comes in because oftentimes people sew it down and it's sewn down, and after a few days it begins to move back, and then you've seen your own hairline and then the frontal, is moving back and that does not look natural at all.

So what I encourage my customers to do is if they have a hairline, which means your hairline is not compromised at all, I encourage them not to use the frontal but to use a closure where they could get a sew down. No, they're not going to be able to wear it back in a ponytail, but the thing about that is they wouldn't have to deal with any glue. Now, I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but when you start to put glue on your hairline, it does take your hairline out, and the kind of glue to use with a frontal would be a different kind of glue than the black glue in the beauty supply stores. Do not use the black glue in the beauty supply stores that are not designed for gluing down frontals or 360s.  They are designed to glue down hair.

 You shouldn't really be using the black glue at all, but that's a different topic. So sticking to this topic, no matter where you go, no matter how many, you-tube videos that you're going to watch, that shows you that, the frontal is sewn down and it's all natural. That's all fine and good when it's first installed and sewn down. It's going to look all fine and good. However, after a few days or a week or two, the frontal will move back because no matter what kind of weaving technique you have in your hair, after a while it's going to move back, it will even with the closure.   For the frontal to stay on your hairline if you're going to sew it on it and you wanted to last for a few weeks, or maybe a month or two, you're going to have to glue it down. Now there's a gel on the market called got two be glue, and there's a spray on the market also called Got to be glue and there are two different kinds of them. The yellow one, that’s the one in the yellow tube is more water resistant. It will sit in a little bit longer. The one in the black tube is a day to day thing because it's not really water resistant.  Now the one in the black tube has a clear gel and the one that is in the yellow tube has a white gel.  The one in the yellow tube will hold your frontal down longer depending on how active you are.  This may hold it down on the hairline for 2 to 3 days.   Sometimes people tell me they get a week out of it. Most people don't get a week because once you start to sweat, especially if you live in Florida where we are, it's going to move. If you decide to go with the got to be the glue that means every few days you're going to have to lift your frontal up and reapply the gel, if you use the one in the yellow tube.  The one in the black tube will require more gel every day but is great if you are only wanting a temporary use.

Now after a while, there's going to be a have build-up of the gel and it won't stick anymore and you're going to have to wash it and completely remove all reside to get it to stick again. A lot of people don't want that frustration of having to keep putting that gel down all the time. So then they start messing with all these different kinds of glues. These glues were meant for scalp, not hair so if you use these glue on your hairline it will take out the hair you have on your hairline.  However, you could shave your hairline, and use a professional lace glue. 
  
If you put the same kind of glue on your hair, it is going to take your hair out. Once you start to take it off.   And if it doesn't happen the first time if you keep doing this, it is going to happen over time, so that's not a good idea. If your hairline is compromised, whereas you have a receding hairline, or you have no hair on your hairline, then the frontal will be a perfect solution for you because then you could just put it down and you could glue it with the regular lace glue, not the ones that they sell  in  the beauty supply store. A professional lace glue and it will stay down for two to three weeks, but the frontals were designed for people with a compromised hairline that has no other choice.  They will be able to glue it on their hairline once they shave any other hair there and they will be set.
 The reason why I'm emphasizing this, and staying on this topic for so long, is because it's a big problem. People go to you-tube and watch the videos. The frontals on the videos look nice and they want theirs to look like what they are seeing in the videos.   They go to the salon wherever they go, or their friend installs it for them. It looks good for a day or two. Then it starts to move back, and they get upset. It is going to move back. I don't care how you sew it if you flick it back if you sew in between it, no matter what you do if there's nothing holding it down on your hairline, it is going to move back.   So that's the frontal.

360s 

The 360 is almost a wig with a hold in the middle.  It’s designed to be used as part of a sew-in weave to give you the ability to wear your hair up in a ponytail or part in any direction.   It's a lace unit.  You can get a silk top 360 custom designed but the most popular ones are all lace based.   Most of them come with an adjustment in the back so it can be fitted to the head.
It is typically sewn down around the head and then the extension hair is added to the middle to complete the look, but in order for you to have it going up in a ponytail and do all the funky stuff that people want it to do, it has to be glued on around the hairline. Yes, you could sew it down but the hairline would need to be glued to keep it there.   The back is a little bit easier to work with because you can sew it to give a nice illusion back there, but the front, if you have a hairline you're going to need to glue no matter how much you sew it because if you sew too much into it, you won't be able to part it wherever you want it to part them, which is. That's the whole idea for 360 to be able to part it wherever you want it to part or to bring it up in a ponytail, in order for you to bring up a ponytail especially a tight ponytail it will need to be glued, especially if you want to wear it overtime
 Same thing with the frontal. Personally, I'd tell my customers if they have a hairline, don't do the 360.  I would prefer to see you do a customize 360 wig that's specific to your head and you could put it on and take it off when you wish, than to do the 360 piece with a sew-in because these are not customizable and when this goes on your head, in order for it to stay on your hairline,  you will  need to glue it, and if you have a  hairline  and you  glue it, you're going to compromise your hairline. If it's only for a few days or for a week or two, then that's fine because you could use the Got to be got to be glue gel and that will work, but after a while the got to be glue gel has to be washed and completely cleaned off the unit before it will be able to stick again

 This is Sandy with Shallamar’s Hair solutions here in Orlando, Florida. We do a lot of consultations on these each day and we try to teach our clients and customers the difference between these units and what you don't want is to have a unit that you wear and then when you take it off your hairline, or your hair is compromised.   People get very upset with stuff like that. Nobody wants to lose their hairline, so to keep your hairline intact, I'm going to tell it you to keep away from glues, or if you're going to glue, you got to go with the got to be glue gel. The got two be glue is a gel that washes off with water and conditioner.  Make sure you are not ripping it off if you use this gel.

Make sure you're wetting that down with a lot of water and using a lot of conditioners to lift it because if you pull it off it can also compromise your hairline so it has to be removed properly. I'm big on hair care. I'll do any style, any technique, as long as it's not going to compromise my client's hair. If it's going to compromise their hair, I rather not do it. If they want to go somewhere else and get it done, I have no problem with that, but I'm not going to do something that's going to ultimately hurt someone's hair, and you've got to keep that in mind. So when you see the you-tube videos, and you'll see the frontals and the 360s, and they're saying is completely sew down, and it doesn't move, I want you to send them a question to comment section and ask them, how long does it stay that way?
How long do they keep it like that? When it's sewn down, how long does it stay like that before it starts to move back? Because I guarantee you after a few days it's going to start to move and you won't be able to wear it for a month, two months or even up to three months. You won't be able to do that and keep that frontal or that 360 on your hairline. I promise you that it will move back.  The same thing occurs with the closures as well.  The closure will also move back, but the thing is with the closure when they move back you can always sew them back down, and you still have that natural part. But with the 360s or with the frontals, you could sew it down, but once it starts to loosen up, you're going to have to keep something there to hold is flush on the hairline

And with a lot of people, they will get it done and say they will just wear it like that, however when  it starts to move back, I'll put on a headband, and it starts to move back, and they still want that flush, nice, beautiful hairline with  baby hair kind of look. So they start to glue it. So here's my thing. If you're looking to do frontal or a 360 and you want the best solution and you have a  hairline, and you want the best solution.   Then the solution is to get a customized 360 wig. We customize them all the time. We'll do the measurements, all that great stuff. Get a customized 360 wig customized specifically for your head. Don't go online or go to the store and just buy one. Get one customized to you to your head. So when you put it on, it's going to be the correct thing.

There's also a band that you could use on some of the frontals and some of the 360, some of the wigs. They come with this band that you could hold it in place. That's a better choice over gluing it down. You can use a band on the 360 wig. You could use a band on the frontal, and you could also use a band on the 360, notice that there's a difference between the 360 unit and the 360 wig. The 360 unit is where you have the hole in it, that leaves the space for extension hair to sew in. The 360 wig is a complete wig.     With the 360 customized wig you're able to do your ponytail and put it back off your face because it's going to fit your head directly and you can also use a band to hold it in place, and you could also put it wherever you want.
A Customized 360 wig can also be sewn down and still give the flexibility of wearing it up or down.  In conclusion, it is best to get a professional consultation before you make a decision on what procedure would be best for your hair.  Do not base your decision on the video you see online or what a friend or family member tells you. 
Here at Shallamar’s Hair Solutions, we give complimentary consultation to help our customers and clients decides what is best for them a closure,  a frontal or  360

Article written by
Sandy Sills
Shallamar's Hair Solutions 
407 507 3000
www.shallamarshairsolutions.com


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