If there’s anything that many ladies today dread, it is for their wigs to look “wiggy,” or for their sew-ins to literally scream “this-is-a-sew-in.” This has led to most women seeking wigs with the illusion of a natural hairline because, at the end of the day, nobody wants to look ratchet, right? So, lace frontals vs lace closures, which should you go for?
You’ve probably heard of lace frontals and/or lace closures (if you haven’t, then you haven’t checked out our hair weaves and extension glossary. Click here to read it now). For some, the terms are self-explanatory while some others are just like “huh?” Whatever category you fall under, today’s blog post is going to be unearthing everything you need to know about these different hairpieces. Plus, we will also be giving you our candid advice on which to get to give your look a flawless finish.
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Lace Frontals and Lace Closures — They Are More Alike Than You Think
Before we go into the meat of today’s article, it’s important to establish a basic understanding of these hair pieces. Although they are different, lace frontals and lace closures, at the very core of their purpose, are quite similar. They are both used to close off an install, thereby, eliminating the need to blend your natural hair with your weave.
Usually, you want to avoid making leave-out styles frequently as it is unhealthy for your natural hair. With the constant heat manipulation and dyeing in the bid to blend your natural hair with your weave, your hair could suffer heat damage over time and begin to look ugly and dry.
This is why lace closures and lace frontals are really nifty little things. You can still snag a glam look without having to sacrifice the health of your hair on the altar of beauty.
Lace frontals and lace closures are both made of the same material which can either be French lace or Swiss lace. They make great go-to styles as you’d be able to part your hair in many ways while flaunting a natural-looking hairline. If you want your look to have even more zhoosh, you can even add some baby hair at the edges!
Pro tip: If you want the most realistic-looking scalp illusion, you might want to bleach the knots. To learn how to do that, click here to read our extensive guide on bleaching knots. This will help to reduce the appearance of the lace. That said, let’s get to understanding these hairpieces individually.
What Is a Lace Frontal?
A lace frontal is a hairpiece with a strip of lace material that runs from one ear to the other. Typically, it measures 13 inches from end to end and stretches about 4 to 5 inches back. This gives you a half wig of some sorts.
So, usually, because the lace frontal is made from a lace material, it blends into the natural hairline. Sometimes, they also use silk too. Now, obviously, lace and silk will look differently when placed on the scalp. Hence, the material you choose will depend on the look you’re going for.
The biggest perk of the lace frontal is that you get to part your hair almost any way you want. This is because the frontal runs the entire length of your hairline. So, deep-side part, center part, full ponytail, or half ponytail, your hairstyle will always look natural once you install a lace frontal.
So, if you like to switch up your style frequently, a lace frontal is a great idea. But, of course, you can only expect that it would be the more expensive hairpiece, right?
Lace Frontal Pros
1. Installing Lace Frontals Takes Less Time
Lace frontals are quite easy to install and don’t take as much time to install as regular sew-in weaves. Typically, your stylist should be done installing your frontal in less than an hour if it’s a wig or an hour and half if it’s an extension with a frontal. In comparison, if you’re doing a sew-in ponytail style, that could take anywhere between two and four hours, depending on the style.
So, if you want to spend less time at the beauty shop and less time preparing every day as well, the lace frontal is great. Plus, it also protects your natural curls as well.
2. Lace Frontals are Versatile
This is perhaps the biggest advantage of wearing a lace frontal. It is highly versatile and you get to style your weave and wig in several different ways. It’s pretty much like styling your natural hair. You’re only as limited as your hair styling prowess.
3. Lace Frontals Give Your Natural Hair the Needed Time to Breathe
Especially if you stay in sub-Saharan Africa, you know that it can get really hot wearing sewn-in weaves or wigs all day, thanks to our really hot climate. Lace frontals make things more comfortable for you as it allows the flow of air onto your hair and scalp.
4. Lace Frontals Save You Some Bundles
Not bundles of money, definitely. First, because lace frontals are not that expensive and secondly, because lace frontals are more expensive than lace closures. What lace frontals will save you are weave bundles. You’d typically have to buy fewer hair bundles when using a lace frontal.
5. Lace Frontals are Great if You Have Thinning Edges
Lace frontals are ear to ear, so they mimic your natural hairline. So, if your edges aren’t exactly full, lace frontals will do a good job of concealing that for you. Plus, you can use lace frontals to make fantastic, affordable wigs.
Lace Frontal Cons
1. Lace Frontals Might Damage Your Natural Hairline
Yeah, we know we said that they conceal thinning edges in our final point on the pros of lace frontals. However, they might actually also contribute to the thinning of your edges in the first place. Here’s why.
When installing sew-in lace frontals, lace tape or glue has to be used to make the frontal stick to the scalp. Usually, these things stick for as long as 4 weeks before they need a retouch.
Now, the longer the lace frontal stays installed, the higher the chances of your hairline getting irritated. It could also damage your hairline.
So, yeah, lace frontals are cool, but, please, don’t install them all the time. Give your edges the time to breathe and bounce back stronger.
2. Lace Frontals Involve Some Work
Now, the first time your lace frontal is installed, the stylist is going to have to do a number of tweakings to make the hair look as natural as possible. So, expect a lot of little things here and there like tweezing, bleaching knots, tinting, trimming and plucking baby hairs, and possibly other activities to achieve a snatched, realistic hairline.
If you’re choosing a sew-in style for your lace frontal weave, you’d need to touch it up weekly so it keeps looking natural.
You can avoid all this brouhaha, though, by going for a lace frontal wig. Those are much easier, especially for busy people, as they are low-maintenance.
3. Lace Frontals are More Expensive
As you can expect, since lace frontals give a more natural look than lace closures, they cost more. Yes, they typically require fewer hair bundles to make. But upfront cost for lace frontals, when compared to lace closures, is higher.
What is a Lace Closure?
A closure is like a lace frontal but with more limitations. So, it does not run from ear to ear like lace frontals do. Instead, lace closures simply cover the middle part of the wig or sew-in weave. They typically measure 4 by 4 inches. But that’s about where the differences between both hairpieces stop. Both create an illusion of a scalp and can also sometimes come in silk material rather than lace.
Of course, this difference in dimension has a few implications. For one, you can’t part your hair a zillion number of ways like you can with lace frontals. So, you’d be able to achieve a side part, middle part, and bangs with lace closures. However, styles like half ponytails, or up-dos will be impossible with lace closure wigs for obvious reasons.
While many might see the limited versatility of the lace closure as a problem, if you don’t care for switching up your hairstyle 24/7, lace closures are fantastic.
Lace Closure Pros
1. Lace Closures are Low-Maintenance
Lace closures do not require the experience and time required by lace frontals to maintain. The most you’d have to do for your lace closure is to wash, condition, and style it.
If you’re using your lace closure for a wig, all you need to do is to take it off at night and then put it back on the day after.
2. Lace Closures Last Longer
Both sewn-in and as a wig, lace closures last longer than lace frontals, provided you do your bit in ensuring proper maintenance. Also, in warmer weather, lace closures are more suitable since you don’t have to glue and customize as much with lace closures as with lace frontals. In about two to three weeks, the glue eventually weakens and then the closure gradually pulls off at the edges.
3. Lace Closures Protect Your Natural Hair
Just like lace frontals, you won’t be leaving your hair out and that helps to protect your hair from heat damage.
Lace Closure Cons
1. Styling Options are Limited with Lace Closures
Lace closures are not nearly as versatile as lace frontals. You have only three styles to experiment with which are the free part, the three part, and the middle part. You can also do bangs but, of course, once you do bangs with your lace closure wig or with your sewn-in weave, there’s no parting to be done anymore.
2. Sometimes, Lace Closures Don’t Fit
Most times, lace frontals fit snugly when you put them on. It’s not always the case for closures. If you don’t measure your head accurately, you could end up with a lace closure wig that doesn’t give a perfect fit.
3. Your Hair Will Grow Out
Here’s what we mean. After the first install of your lace closure wig or weave, your hair will gradually grow over time, right? Now, as your hair grows, it will gradually push up the wig or weave until it eventually pushes it out of the way. So, you have to make sure that you go in for your touch ups every 4 weeks if you want your weave to stay looking snatched.
Lace Frontals vs Lace Closures — Which Should You Get?
So, the time has come to choose between lace frontals and lace closures and here’s what we think. First off, it’s a matter of personal preference. In the end, don’t they say that the looks of the hair is in the wearing? Yeah, they don’t. We just made that one up.
Anyway, here are a few things to ponder on.
First, if you’d like to be able to pack your hair into a ponytail, then go for a lace frontal.
If all you want is a natural-looking scalp and you don’t care about styling versatility, then save the bucks and go for lace closures.
Again, if your edges are thinning, you might want to stay away from frontals for now. All that glue on your edges will damage the little hair there. So, preferably, go with a lace closure for now till your edges begin to flourish.
Lastly, what’s your styling prowess? Are you dexterous with your hands when it comes to styling your hair or styling hair just doesn’t come to you naturally? If you answered no to both questions, get a lace closure. No point spending more on a lace frontal if you’re not going to fully maximize all the styling potentials that come with it.
Now That You’ve Made Your Choice
You have several choices to pick from, both lace frontals and lace closures, when you shop at our hair store at Spreadit Global.
We also have a wide selection of virgin hair bundles of different textures and lengths as well. They are the highest quality you can find in the market since we source them straight from the manufacturers in China. Click here to begin shopping now and your hair will get to you in perfect condition in three weeks or less!