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There is a particular exhaustion that comes from managing your hair every single day. Choosing the part that hides the most. Avoiding certain lighting. Deciding whether the wind is a problem. Thinking about your hair before you think about where you are going.
For some women, medical treatment and time restore what was lost. For others, female hair loss follows a different course, and women living with it often learn that the density is not coming back on its own, or not fast enough, or not everywhere.
Hair replacement is for those women. Done properly, it is not a compromise and not a concealment. It is a solution for thinning hair that behaves like natural hair, matched to your color and texture, that you stop thinking about.
This work is performed by Chanel Kwak, a Master Stylist specializing in custom CRLAB CNC systems.
Women’s hair replacement is not one product. What you need depends on how much hair you have lost and where it is happening. Full wigs and medical wigs remain an option for complete loss; the systems described here are for women who want a personalized, integrated solution that stays in place and blends with what they still have.
Full coverage, for moderate through complete hair loss, and a secure alternative to a full-coverage wig.
Targeted coverage for a defined area, most often the part.
An alternative to hair extensions, adding volume and length to hair that is thinning but present.
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CNC stands for Capelli Naturalia Contatto — Natural Contact Hair. It is a custom hair prosthetic and one of the most advanced hair replacement systems available, designed and handcrafted in Bologna, Italy by CRLAB, formerly Cesare Ragazzi Laboratories, and the product of five decades of development in medical hair prosthetics.
It is not a wig, and it is not a topper. That distinction is not marketing. A wig sits on your head. A CNC system is made from a three-dimensional map of your scalp, built to your exact scalp shape and contour, and worn as a second scalp rather than placed over your own.
CNC stands for Capelli Naturalia Contatto — Natural Contact Hair. It is a custom hair prosthetic and one of the most advanced hair replacement systems available, designed and handcrafted in Bologna, Italy by CRLAB, formerly Cesare Ragazzi Laboratories, and the product of five decades of development in medical hair prosthetics.
It is not a wig, and it is not a topper. That distinction is not marketing. A wig sits on your head. A CNC system is made from a three-dimensional map of your scalp, built to your exact scalp shape and contour, and worn as a second scalp rather than placed over your own.
Your scalp is mapped in three dimensions and a mold is created. Your hair is analyzed for color, texture, density, curl pattern, strand thickness and tone, so that the finished system blends with the hair you still have. All of it goes to CRLAB in Italy, where the base is formed from a thin, skin-toned medical-grade resin and each strand of virgin, unprocessed human hair is injected by hand to match your own.
The base itself is engineered for the scalp underneath it — antibacterial, antifungal, and breathable, so heat passes through rather than being trapped against the skin. It sits flat, moves with you, and carries a hairline and density designed for your face to create a natural-looking result rather than something manufactured to a standard.
Your scalp is mapped in three dimensions and a mold is created. Your hair is analyzed for color, texture, density, curl pattern, strand thickness and tone, so that the finished system blends with the hair you still have. All of it goes to CRLAB in Italy, where the base is formed from a thin, skin-toned medical-grade resin and each strand of virgin, unprocessed human hair is injected by hand to match your own.
The base itself is engineered for the scalp underneath it — antibacterial, antifungal, and breathable, so heat passes through rather than being trapped against the skin. It sits flat, moves with you, and carries a hairline and density designed for your face to create a natural-looking result rather than something manufactured to a standard.
Your scalp is mapped in three dimensions and a mold is created. Your hair is analyzed for color, texture, density, curl pattern, strand thickness and tone, so that the finished system blends with the hair you still have. All of it goes to CRLAB in Italy, where the base is formed from a thin, skin-toned medical-grade resin and each strand of virgin, unprocessed human hair is injected by hand to match your own.
The base itself is engineered for the scalp underneath it — antibacterial, antifungal, and breathable, so heat passes through rather than being trapped against the skin. It sits flat, moves with you, and carries a hairline and density designed for your face to create a natural-looking result rather than something manufactured to a standard.
Your scalp is mapped in three dimensions and a mold is created. Your hair is analyzed for color, texture, density, curl pattern, strand thickness and tone, so that the finished system blends with the hair you still have. All of it goes to CRLAB in Italy, where the base is formed from a thin, skin-toned medical-grade resin and each strand of virgin, unprocessed human hair is injected by hand to match your own.
The base itself is engineered for the scalp underneath it — antibacterial, antifungal, and breathable, so heat passes through rather than being trapped against the skin. It sits flat, moves with you, and carries a hairline and density designed for your face to create a natural-looking result rather than something manufactured to a standard.
Your scalp is mapped in three dimensions and a mold is created. Your hair is analyzed for color, texture, density, curl pattern, strand thickness and tone, so that the finished system blends with the hair you still have. All of it goes to CRLAB in Italy, where the base is formed from a thin, skin-toned medical-grade resin and each strand of virgin, unprocessed human hair is injected by hand to match your own.
The base itself is engineered for the scalp underneath it — antibacterial, antifungal, and breathable, so heat passes through rather than being trapped against the skin. It sits flat, moves with you, and carries a hairline and density designed for your face to create a natural-looking result rather than something manufactured to a standard.
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Not every woman needs full coverage. A great many need coverage in one specific place.
Where loss is confined to a defined area — most commonly a widening part, but also the crown, the temples, or a patch left by alopecia areata — a CNC system can be made small. The same three-dimensional mapping, the same medical-grade base, the same hand-injected virgin hair matched to your color and texture, built to cover only what needs covering and to blend into the hair you still have.
This is often the right answer for a woman who is early in her hair loss, or whose loss has stabilized in one region, and who does not want or need a full system.
Daily wear and bonded wear are both available for small-area systems; your fitting determines which suits the area and your routine. Because the same handcrafting process applies, production follows the same four-to-six-month timeline.
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CNC XT addresses a different problem entirely.
If your hair is thinning but present, and what you want is volume, fullness or length rather than coverage of loss, XT is the answer — and it is fundamentally different from traditional extensions.
Conventional extensions attach to your own hair. Tapes, wefts and microlinks all place mechanical tension on individual strands, which is precisely the wrong thing to do to hair that is already fragile. Over time that tension causes its own loss, and we see the results of it regularly.
XT uses the same three-dimensional precision as the CNC system to deliver density and length with no tapes, no wefts and no microlinks. Premium virgin hair, custom-matched to your natural strands, giving you the freedom to style and move without the damage.
For women with fine or fragile hair who have been told extensions are not an option for them, this usually is.
Custom hair systems are usually fitted in salons and studios. The craft is real and the artistry matters — but there are things a salon structurally cannot do.
A woman arriving for a system may have an untreated thyroid condition, a ferritin level well below what a follicle needs, or an active scarring alopecia that will keep progressing underneath whatever is fitted over it. Here, that evaluation happens first.
Many women wear a system while medical treatment works on the hair beneath it. Those two things belong on the same plan, managed by people who talk to each other.
Where a plan reimburses for a cranial prosthesis, it wants documentation from a physician. We provide it.
The result is that the artistry and the medicine sit in one place, rather than requiring you to assemble that team yourself.
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Every solution begins with a private consultation. Its purpose is to determine whether a system is right for you, which one fits, and what to realistically expect in terms of maintenance, timing and outcome — including telling you when a system is not the answer.
For comparing custom toppers, partial systems, women’s hair pieces and wigs. You see and handle the options, discuss customization and maintenance, and leave with a recommendation. Start here if you are not yet sure which solution fits.
TOTAL COST
The CNC consultation specifically. Suitability, lifestyle considerations, timeline and investment. Book this if you already know a CNC system is what you are looking for.
TOTAL COST
Ongoing maintenance for CNC systems and toppers — cleaning, adhesive removal, scalp cleansing, refitting and rebonding, color adjustment, precision cutting and styling.
Priced by service
CNC pricing varies with size, length and the degree of customization, and is given during your consultation.
Are available through Cherry, with flexible monthly options.
Some plans reimburse for medical hair prostheses. Where yours does, you pay directly and submit the invoice to your insurer for reimbursement. Because this program sits inside a physician practice, we can provide the cranial prosthesis prescription and supporting documentation your insurer requires — which a salon cannot do on its own. We will also tell you honestly when your policy is unlikely to cover it.
Hair replacement is not the end of the conversation, and choosing it does not close any doors.
Many women wear a system while medical treatment works on the hair underneath. Some use one while new hair is growing in after a transplant. Others use a system for a season of life — through chemotherapy recovery, through a postpartum shed — and stop when it is no longer needed.
Because your care is coordinated across trichology, medical management and surgery, the decision is never permanent and never isolated. Where a system overlaps with surgical planning, the two are sequenced together rather than separately.
CNC consultations are available at both locations. Fittings, maintenance and all ongoing care take place at our Deerfield studio.
Capelli Naturalia Contatto — Italian for Natural Contact Hair. The system is made by CRLAB, formerly Cesare Ragazzi Laboratories, in Bologna.
Four to six months from the date your measurements are taken. Each system is handcrafted to order in Italy.
No. A CNC system is built from a three-dimensional map of your scalp, with a medical-grade base and hand-injected virgin human hair matched to your own. It conforms to your scalp rather than sitting over it, and it stays secure through sleep, swimming and exercise.
Roughly one to three years, depending on wear method, daily use and maintenance, with up to two repairs possible across its life. Systems described elsewhere as permanent are not.
No. CNC is designed to be gentle on existing hair, which is a meaningful difference from traditional extensions that place tension on individual strands.
Yes. Small-area CNC is made for exactly that — a targeted system covering a defined region and blending into surrounding hair.
Yes, by a professional colorist.
Pricing depends on size, length and customization, and is given at your consultation. Payment plans are available through Cherry.
Some plans reimburse for medical hair prostheses. You pay directly and submit for reimbursement, and we provide the prescription and documentation your insurer requires.
Yes. Wearing a system does not affect your candidacy for surgical restoration.
CNC replaces hair where it has been lost. CNC XT adds volume and length to hair that is still there. If you have coverage but want fullness, XT is the one.
Consultations are available in Chicago and Deerfield. All fittings, maintenance and ongoing care take place at our Deerfield studio.
