UPDATE: My Custom Topper from Shanna Moll Studios ❤️

Now that the new year is upon us, I thought it was a great time to do a follow-up showing you the hair that I got from my Austin to Shanna Moll Studios last fall (read previous post here).

The hair was ready a bit more quickly than I was (Shanna now has a second studio in Dallas – yay!! More info at the bottom of the post — but our schedules didn’t jive for a few weeks so my hair was sadly left waiting), but when I saw her sitting on the wig head, it was love at first sight.

Quick reminder: Shanna’s goal was to come close to my current daily driver color, which is Jon Renau’s 10H16. I want to be able to switch between my synthetic topper and this new human hair topper.

Here’s what we settled on for specs:

• 11×11.5” (measured by Shanna)
• Standard Chinese/Indian mix, 18”, Remy hair
• Jon Renau brand
• Clip-In with Poly rim (so that I can tape)
• Base of 8 with a 1” root of  6
• Custom highlights

And here she is!!!

As with most human hair, she is just a touch warmer than my synthetic piece…but she totally works.

Shanna and I looked through a variety of colors, and she insists that everyone generally has at least a bit of warmth in their hair color.

Me included.

I guess I see her point; while I do prefer ashier colors as a general rule of thumb, when I hold up the bottom of my hair I do see that there is some warmth there.

It’s just because the hair shaft is SO weak and SO thin that the color looks much less rich than it probably did back when my hair was more normal.

Here’s a close up of the gorgeous color.

I was SO SURPRISED to learn that these highlights were actually done at the factory! I would’ve bet money that Shanna or someone on her team had done these by hand.

Many times when you get highlights straight from the factory, they are stripe-y or clumpy. EVEN from the super, super high-end manufacturers.

These are perfect.

I expressed my shock to Jeni, Shanna’s Director at the studio, and she told me that “Shanna specified exactly how she wanted them to do it. 😀”

That’s one of the great things about working with someone in-store: they can really specify and make perfect aspects that we either don’t think of or can’t properly describe.

Had I ordered this myself, I likely would’ve completely botched the highlight…even though I have a ton of experience with alternative hair.

(I actually learned this lesson very, very early and waaaaaaay before hair loss. I specifically remember asking a stylist for “caramel” highlights thinking they would be one thing, and what I got was yellow/gold chunks through my hair. So they fixed it with some sort of toner which turned my hair gray. Oh, did I mention this was FOUR DAYS BEFORE MY WEDDING??? Color is just so tricky!)

If you’re looking at color at home, it’s helpful to have a color ring handy.

You can get an idea of color blends by taking the different colors that in the color you might buy and twist them around to see how they mix together.

For example, if I was going to see what a Jon Renau 8H14 looks like, I’d take both colors and twist them around my fingers. This will give you a better idea of overall result.

In case you were wondering, here’s a shot of the base:

I kinda love it has my name in it. 🙂

But, back to Shanna. She did a few things that I thought were really cool to help get this piece perfectly customized to me.

First, she had ME place the topper on my head.

Sure, she could’ve done it…but she wanted to see exactly where I place the piece and the clips so she could assess how the topper would lay on me.

Then, she asked me a series of questions and had me play with the hair to determine where it would be best to cut in baby hair.

For example, she asked me to tuck my hair behind my ears as I normally would. Then, she would add some baby hairs in to help blend the topper hair with my own hair.

We also acted like we were putting the hair up so that she could determine where baby hairs should be cut in, on both sides of my head.

She was SO precise during this process (literally, she’s trimming one tiny hair at a time, taking a step back and reassessing, cutting another hair, rinse and repeat) to make sure that the overall look is as perfect as it can be.

Again…another “pro” for working with someone in a salon versus buying online and trying to customize the wig or topper yourself (you know, where I take thinning shears and kind of hack at my piece, ha).

She even cut my bio hair, which was almost an out-of-body experience since no professional has cut this my since 2013!

I really can’t stress enough how seamless and comfortable Shanna made the entire experience – I have plans to take a few other pieces to her to get customized and tweaked (maybe some color work??) to make what I already own even better.

Because you can’t get much better than this (outside light, this time!):

If you’re in either the Dallas or Austin area, considering making Shanna Moll Studios your new hair home. Not only will you leave with gorgeous hair, you’ll leave having made a new hair friend, too.

Visit the Shanna Moll Studios website here
Dallas: 214-912-1833
Austin: 512-789-5630

Oh, and in case you’re wondering: I’ve worn her several times since taking her home, and not one person has batted an eyelash at my ever-so-slight color change. I absolutely ADORE having human hair touch my neck. Sometimes synthetic hair gets a little poke-y. 🙂

Check out my original post on Shanna Moll Studios to learn more about my consultation, and to catch a glimpse of her infamous dog, BooBoo!