How to care for your hair system

The most common worry we hear after a fitting is not about how it looks — it is "what do I actually do now?" The honest answer is reassuring: caring for a system is closer to looking after good hair than to maintaining a gadget. The hair is real, the bond is secure, and the daily routine quickly becomes second nature.

This guide covers the whole rhythm of it — the day-to-day, the weekly, and the four-to-six-week studio visit that does the heavy lifting for you. If you are only days in, you may also find your first week with a hair system helpful alongside this.

The daily rhythm

Most days you barely think about it, and that is the point. A few light habits keep things looking their best:

• Brush or comb gently with a loose grip, working from the ends upward rather than dragging from the roots.
• Style as you normally would, using only a small amount of lightweight product.
• Pat dry rather than rubbing vigorously after it gets wet.
• Keep heat tools on a moderate setting — real hair scorches just like your own.

That is genuinely most of it. The system is bonded securely, so you do not need to treat it like something fragile; you just treat it with the same care you would give good hair.

Washing it properly

You can and should wash your hair as part of your normal showering. A few pointers keep the bond and the hair in good shape:

1. Use a gentle, sulphate-free shampoo and lukewarm — not hot — water.
2. Work the shampoo through with your fingertips in the direction the hair lies, rather than scrubbing in circles.
3. Rinse thoroughly and apply a light conditioner to the lengths, keeping it away from the bonded base.
4. Pat dry and let it air-dry where you can, or use a cool to warm setting if you blow-dry.

We will recommend the right products for your specific base at your fitting, and top them up at maintenance visits, so you are never guessing in the shop aisle.

If it starts to smell a little "stale" rather than clean, that is almost always buildup — sweat, styling product or the base not being fully dry — rather than anything wrong with the system itself. The fix is the same either way: bring the wash forward a day or two rather than waiting it out, make sure it is genuinely dry before you put it away or go to sleep, and avoid masking it with a heavier product instead of washing it. Kept to that rhythm, it is rarely something wearers deal with more than once while they are still finding their routine.

Treat it with the same care you would give good hair — no more, no less.

Sleeping, and the small habits

You sleep in your system — there is nothing to take out at night. To keep it comfortable and fresh, make sure it is fully dry before bed rather than going to sleep on a damp base, and a smooth pillowcase, such as silk or satin, reduces friction and helps the style hold. That is about the extent of it. Within a week or two most people forget it is there at all.

The gym, the pool and the everyday

A modern system is built for a real life, not a display cabinet. You can train, sweat, run and swim in it. A few sensible notes:

• The gym: sweat is fine. Rinse and dry afterwards as you would normally, and the bond holds up to a hard session.
• The pool: swimming is absolutely possible. Chlorine and salt water are drying over time, so rinse with fresh water afterwards and condition the lengths to keep the hair soft.
• The seaside and the sun: the same logic applies — rinse off salt and protect the hair from prolonged strong sun, just as you would your own.

If a particular activity is a big part of your week, mention it at your free consultation and we will steer you towards the base that copes with it best. You can read more about the options on our hair systems page. The same principles carry over to a holiday too — see our guide to travelling with a hair system for flights, hot climates and timing your visit around a trip.

The four-to-six-week studio visit

This is the part that quietly keeps everything looking effortless. Every four to six weeks you come in for a maintenance appointment, around £60, where we do what cannot be done at home: lift the system, deep-clean underneath, refresh the bond and re-style it. It is the difference between a system that always looks fresh and one that slowly drifts.

Keeping to the schedule is the single most important habit there is. Everything else is forgiving; this is the one that protects the result. You will find the full cost picture, including the maintenance cycle, in what a hair system actually costs. It is also the main reason a properly maintained system stays genuinely safe for your hair and scalp — see is a hair system safe? for the sourced explanation of why.

Colouring or touching up the colour

Because the hair is real human hair, it can generally take colour the same way your own hair can — but this is one job to leave to a professional rather than a home box dye. The base itself (the fine silk, lace or hybrid mesh the hair is knotted into) is not designed for high-street colouring chemicals, and the wrong product or process can weaken the knots or mark the base permanently.

Two situations come up most often:

• Fading over time: like any hair, colour softens gradually with washing, sun and heat styling. A colour-safe shampoo and keeping heat moderate (see washing, above) slows this down.
• Your own hair changes: if your natural colour shifts — more grey coming through at the sides, for example — the system can drift out of an exact match. Mention it at your next maintenance visit rather than waiting for it to become obvious; small touch-ups are far easier than a big correction later. See hair systems and grey hair for more on how the matching works.

If you want to lighten, darken or refresh the colour, bring it up at a maintenance visit or your free consultation rather than reaching for a home dye kit — we will tell you honestly whether it is a straightforward touch-up or something to think carefully about first.

Styling between visits, and who should cut it

Day to day, styling a system is no different from styling your own hair — a small amount of wax, pomade or light-hold spray worked through with your fingertips, kept away from the bonded base rather than massaged into it, gives you the same finish you are used to. In the first couple of weeks, the hair tends to hold a style better if you let it settle in one direction each morning rather than restyling it a different way every day; after that it behaves like any head of hair. If you are only a few days in, your first week with a hair system covers the early routine in more detail.

The one thing worth being deliberate about is cutting. Trimming and re-styling the hair itself is part of what happens at your maintenance visit — it is not a separate job to book elsewhere. Blending the hairline and keeping the shape sharp means knowing exactly how the base sits and where it is knotted, which a barber who has not worked with a system before will not know. If you fancy a change of style, mention it at your next maintenance appointment or bring it up at a free consultation, rather than letting a general barber trim close to the base.

Do's, don'ts and making it last

To leave you with something easy to remember:

• Do wash gently, dry before bed, rinse after the pool, and keep your maintenance appointments.
• Do use the products we recommend for your base, in small amounts.
• Don't use harsh, heavily-perfumed or sulphate-laden shampoos that dry the hair.
• Don't drag a comb through tangles or blast it with high heat.
• Don't try to re-bond or repair it yourself between visits — bring anything that is bothering you to us and we will sort it in minutes.
• Don't use a home box dye on the base — colour touch-ups are a job for a maintenance visit, not the bathroom sink.
• Don't let a barber who has not worked with hair systems before trim close to the base — save style changes for your maintenance visit.

Treated this way, each system comfortably reaches the lifespan of its base before it is replaced. If you have a care question we have not covered, our FAQ answers the ones we hear most, or simply ask us in person at the studio.