Paula Young Wigs occasionally hit one right out of the park, but then inexplicably, they've canceled every one of these fabulous wigs! WHY!?!?!? Bizzarly, any wig that gets GREAT reviews is all but guaranteed to be discontinued within just a few months and go into the clearance section where they wait to sell out, and then that style is gone forever! This is the weirdest business model I've ever seen! Most of their wigs are are Betty Crocker-type, wiggy-looking looking horrors, but the gorgeous ones are shoved out the door!
The main thing that I loved about some of the discontinued wigs was their lack of that horribly itchy stuff that they call variously, "Perma-Tease" or "Perma Lift" that I absolutely detest. I think they would be better described as perma-scratch or perma-itch - but some people apparently like poufy, stiff, scratchy "hair," and this stuff certainly makes the grade in that respect. Paula Young seems to adore itchy, scratchy, poufiness, as it does seem to me that the wigs that are discontinued almost immediately after they are introduced are the lovely, natural-looking ones that DON'T have that itchy, scratchy, poufy stuff (see photo # 1: my favorite wig, the inexplicably now discontinued Paula Young "Sheer Vogue" which had rave reviews!). Sheer Vogue and several others that have been discontinued were hand-tied, full monofilament, very natural looking wigs made with very thin, realistic feeling fibers, and a lace front - AND Paula Young sold them at really ridiculously LOW prices (this type of wig usually costs several hundred dollars, but these sell for only about $60 (sixty - that's not a typo). So, maybe the manufacturer realized that they could sell them for a LOT more somewhere else, but this doesn't explain why they keep producing what is essentially the same wig in just slightly different lengths, and when they sell like hotcakes they're immediately discontinued! (Example: Sheer Heidi, slightly shorter than Sheer Vogue, and also discontinued. Both were part of the Couture Collection, and therefore, also had soft stretchy net caps that feel wonderful and fit everyone - even me, and I have a fairly large head!) One reviewer did say that these wigs tend to lose some of the 'hair' at the crown and along the part, but ALL wigs tend to lose some of the 'hair' at the crown and along the part. The itchy, scratchy, poufy stuff just covers this "hair' loss, so you can continue to wear your thinning wig a while longer - although you then look like you have a wad of dreadlocks under your part! (see photo # 2: it's a wig WITH itchy, scratchy, poufiness that has lost just a bit of the lovely soft, straight "hair" along the part, but it's already horrifying!)
I have to wear wigs due to hair loss after having had cancer twice, but I hated the itchy, scratchy, poufy stuff even when I had lots of hair and occasionally just wore wigs for fun. A hand-tied, full monofilament wig, with or without a lace front, can either be straight as a pin, curled into ringlets, or anywhere in-between, so why anyone would put the itchy, scratchy, poufy stuff in a curly wig is utterly beyond me. The curls maintain the poufiness all by themselves, and straight wigs that have that itchy, scratchy, poufy-stuff look utterly HORRENDOUS because you can see it where the "hair" is parted and it looks like you have a giant dread-lock on top of your head with straight hair hanging down on either side! I now have straight, wavey and curly wigs from Paula Young, none of which have that awful, itchy, scratchy, poufy-stuff in them, and they're all beautiful and I get loads of compliments about each one. I also have a couple of wigs with itchy, scratchy, poufiness that I purchased before I realized that there was a difference, and I hate them. I wouldn't know what other people might say about them because I wouldn't be caught dead in one. What does Paula Young have against soft, natural looking wigs?
Bottom Line: If you find a Paula Young wig that you love, buy several, and make sure to get the color, or colors, that you want, because they'll be gone before you'd usually even think of buying a second one!
PAULA YOUNG, PLEASE BRING BACK SHEER VOGUE AND/OR SHEER HEIDI AND STOP TORMENTING THOSE OF US WHO LOVE THEM! CHARGE A BIT MORE IF YOU HAVE TO, BUT DON'T TAKE THEM AWAY!