Unlock the Secret Comeback of Hairpieces: The Surprising Trend Transforming Confidence and Style Today

Ever had one of those moments where life throws you a curveball so wild, you’re not sure whether to laugh or panic? Picture this: a scorching day in Mexico, 2021. Lacie Rodriguez, a proud mom of three, takes a casual plunge into a natural swimming hole. But wait—her daughter’s curiosity about floating leads Lacie to demonstrate by leaning back. Suddenly, her trusty hair topper—a clever little hairpiece designed to mask thinning spots—goes rogue, waterlogged and slipping just like a bad toupee in a movie scene. You can imagine the scene: her husband worried, her brother-in-law pretending not to see, and Lacie? Bursting into laughter, owning the moment with pure grace. It’s a story of resilience, humor, and the unexpected ways we cope with hair loss—a challenge Lacie’s faced since college, battling thinning hair that refused to bounce back despite the odds and medical reassurances. Intrigued by how alternative hair solutions are reshaping confidence and self-image for people like Lacie and many others? Let’s dive into this fascinating journey where hair toppers aren’t just accessories—they’re life changers. LEARN MORE

It was a hot day in Mexico in 2021 when Lacie Rodriguez and her family decided to take a dip in a natural swimming hole while on vacation. Rodriguez wasn’t planning to go underwater, but her daughter asked her how to float, and so without thinking, the mother of three lay back to demonstrate, and her topper — a hairpiece designed to cover thinning hair or bald patches — got waterlogged. The glue at her hairline started to come unstuck, and suddenly her bouncy, voluminous topknot began to topple over, “ just like a bad toupee in the movies, ” she tells Yahoo. Her husband looked worried, her brother-in-law quickly looked away as if he didn’t see it, and Rodriguez began to burst out laughing. “Once everyone noticed I wasn’t devastated by the mishap, they all started laughing too.”

Rodriguez, 39, is an alternative hair educator and consultant who started experiencing hair loss in college. “The extreme stress caused my hair to start thinning all over but especially in my crown area,” the Utah resident says. Her doctor assured her that since she was young, her hair would likely grow back and advised her to “stop stressing so much.” But Rodriguez’s hair didn’t grow back, and the shedding worsened between the ages of 25 and 34, particularly after the birth of each of her three children.

“I spent a lot of time and money trying to get my thin hair to look fuller,” the content creator says. She tried scalp concealers, spray-on color, hair fibers, Rogaine and all manner of volumizing products, but nothing produced the results she was after. Then, at 32, she got some life-changing news: Her routine bloodwork showed she had hypothyroidism, and her doctor diagnosed her with androgenic alopecia, aka female pattern baldness. “I felt completely powerless and frustrated when he told me there was no cure.”

At that point, Rodriguez started looking into alternative hair. Every stylist she went to would recommend extensions, but she knew that wouldn’t solve the problem on top of her head. That’s when she stumbled upon a YouTube video of a woman applying a hair topper that covered her thinning hair and added all-over volume. Rodriguez finally felt hopeful. “It was exactly what I’d been dreaming of for over a decade,” she says.

The mane attraction

According to celebrity hairstylist Angelo David Pisacreta, toppers are popular because they “mimic the look and movement of natural hair.” Most can be attached to a client’s existing hair (often referred to as “bio hair”) using pressure-sensitive clips. “They’re lightweight, comfortable and designed to integrate seamlessly with your own hair,” adds Pisacreta, who offers toppers as part of his thinning-hair services at his Angelo David salons in New York City, “offering a discreet and natural-looking result that restores both appearance and confidence.” Rodriguez swears her topper is “completely undetectable.”

Not that she minds telling the world that she’s wearing one. Whereas wearing a hairpiece used to be obvious or a source of embarrassment, social media is now rife with men and women showing off their nonsurgical solutions, from toppers to advanced “hair systems” that are a far cry from the plop-on-your-pate toupees of yesterday. According to GQ, we’re in the midst of a “rug-aissance.”

Jared Klotz is happy to be swept up in it. “My dad lost most of his hair in high school, so I knew my follicles didn’t stand a chance,” the health care educator in Orange County, Calif., tells Yahoo. Klotz was in his mid-20s when he first noticed his hairline receding. By 28, he was wearing hats all the time to cover it up. “I was hiding from my reflection,” he says.

It took Klotz, now 39, another decade to discover the Toupee Queen. The TikTok sensation’s hair transformation videos have captured over 50 million views on the platform. “I love my job,” the creator, who has studios in Utah and San Diego, gushes in one caption as a client beams at his new ‘do.

Klotz was hooked. He spent about a year watching Toupee Queen videos and following Reddit’s Hair System forum before he made his first appointment. “When you’re in a ‘protect-at-all-costs’ mindset with your hair, the thought of willingly shaving the top of your head [as part of the toupee application process] is incredibly scary,” he admits.

It’s been roughly five months since Klotz got his first hairpiece installed; along the way, he’s built a social media following by documenting his hair transformation and tips. “I knew hair loss could feel very lonely and isolating, and I wanted to start talking about it out loud and in the open so that way, more men would see that there are options, and toupees don’t have to be a ‘dirty little secret,’” he says.

He also knows firsthand that there can be a learning curve when it comes to hairpieces. “Most men go to the salon about every two weeks to remove the old glue, wash/condition and reglue their new addition,” he says. “I got a little overconfident thinking I could do it myself at home after watching some YouTube videos.” It wasn’t until after the glue had completely dried that he realized his toupee was completely crooked. “Not only did it look like it was applied by my 9-year-old, but it was on there for the next two weeks. I had to do my best to hide what I could with a strange combover.”

Aaron O’Bryan, a TV personality and celebrity hairstylist in Canada, has had his own version of trial and error. Before turning to alternative hair five years ago, O’Bryan tried laser helmets for hair growth, Rogaine, a Finasteride (aka Propecia) prescription to treat male-pattern baldness and not one, not two, but three hair transplants. “I gave it all time, stayed consistent and kept hoping I’d see a turnaround,” O’Bryan, 43, tells Yahoo. “But the reality was, none of it worked for me in the way I needed it to.”

Nonsurgical hair systems turned out to be the answer. “I can style my hair exactly how I like, switch up the look and feel confident walking into a studio, onto a stage or just out to dinner,” says O’Bryan, adding that he removes and reapplies his system every two to three weeks, depending on the season. (“I sweat less in the colder months, so the glue doesn’t break down as quickly.”)

Philip Ring, 37, has a New York City salon offering nonsurgical hair additions for hair loss to about 60 customers a week. As someone who lost 50% of his own hair following chemotherapy treatment for his stage 3 testicular cancer, Ring knows the power hair replacement can hold. “That experience really shaped how I see this work,” he tells Yahoo. “It’s never just about the hair. It’s about helping someone feel like themselves again after something life-changing.”

While Ring mostly wears a hair system that offers more full coverage, he sometimes likes to add toppers to add dimension or shape to his hairline. One TikTok demonstrating his process racked up over 3 million views. And many of his clients — including a Broadway actor with hair loss who found that wearing a wig onstage was at odds with his hair system — appreciate the flexibility and minimal effort of a topper, Ring notes.

Rodriqguez echoes that sentiment as a woman with a topper. Before getting one, she was stuck with the same hairstyle: a short bob. She now experiments with a range of styles and — after a social media follower told her she’d pay her to help her figure out which topper to buy — has spent the past few years as a professional consultant advising clients ranging in age from their late teens to their late 70s.

“I think the normalization of toppers is happening because of so many younger people on social media talking about and demonstrating how they work,” she says, adding that those posts help reduce the stigma around both hair loss and alternative hair. “I always look at hair toppers like an accessory, no different from earrings, makeup or a push-up bra. There’s no reason to feel weird about it or give in to some ignorant stigma. Most people don’t feel weird about [hair] extensions, so why should we feel weird about toppers?”

Even on his “bad hair days,” Klotz has no regrets. “I saw my crazy hair in the mirror the morning after getting my topper installed and couldn’t help but smile that I actually had enough hair to even have bedhead again.”