Down under (the toupee!).

As many of you will no doubt be aware, the William Shatner School of Toupological studies has an unrivaled global network in place, whose sole function is to gain knowledge of and insight into the crucial subject of William Shatner's toupee. But asides from our thousands of staff positioned at key "Sites of Toupological Interest" (STI) around the world, we also have the crucial assistance of you, our valued readers.


Which brings us to an "Amateur Toupological Field Report" (ATFR) that we received from one of our readers stationed in Australia, fortunate enough to be able to conduct some discreet* (see note at bottom of page) but direct toupological analysis.


Bill Shatner fans will no doubt have heard about the actor's recent trips to Australia and New Zealand as part of his "Kirk, Crane and Beyond" one man shows. Yet - and perhaps curiously - no complete schedule was released by Bill Shatner to account for all of his time in Australasia. That, coupled with the fact that Australia contains numerous unique furry creatures such as the Koala, leads one to wonder whether Bill Shatner wasn't also conducting some of his own studies while down under...

Did Bill Shatner take time out to study or honor the fur of Australia's unique animals?

But anyway, back to the field report from our amateur toupologist, Jason:

Hi there,

Just thought I'd share some personal observations on William Shatner's toupee after meeting him this past weekend. I am both a big fan of Shatner's and your blog...and had the awesome opportunity in meeting the man himself over the weekend.

The possum also has very "Denny Katz-like" fur. A coincidence?

Bill, along with Scott Bakula and others came to Sydney, Australia for a convention, and I was lucky enough to have a ticket to personally meet all the actors. This meant I got to spend some minutes within an arms length of Bill Shatner, which gave me ample time to get a very close look at his toupee - or what I'd probably call a wig now.


So these are my observations:

If we are to believe he is wearing a 'Katz' piece, which I will argue he is, it is one that covers (almost) his entire head. As mentioned in your posts previously, the thickness on the sides of his head is a give away to it not being quite natural.

He doesn't seem to grow his own sideburns as the consistency and colour match the hair on the side of his hair far too closely, leading me to believe that whatever small sideburns he has, are actually an extended part of the overall hairpiece.

"Traitor!"

Even though his 'hair' is very short, it seems to be combed in a way that you can't see the hairline. That is, you can't see hair actually coming out from the skin, as you see on non toup-users.

A rare case of the frontal hairline turning slightly upwards.

There also appears to be a barely visible line around his frontal hairline that's probably about a 1/3 of an inch thick where the hair appears to be ever so slightly thicker than everywhere else. This wouldn't be noticeable to most, but it was something I noticed, and perhaps acts to cover up the exposed hairline making it less visible as being fake hair.

Apart from his hairline, his scalp is actually visible, and is what makes his hairpiece very believable. However, the consistency is exactly the same all over the top of his head with no visible crown where the hair swirls to a point - which could be another give away to it being a toup.(Make no mistake, this is a seriously good toup - the best I've ever seen, and to be honest people might make fun of it, but it looks very good on him).


And another point often spoken about is that little tuft of hair at the back of his head - and this I did notice as the consistency is different to the piece he is wearing, as it is definitely real hair...


I say this because it is the only part of his hair which seemed to act like natural hair in that it would get messed up, and he'd correct it as well with his hands.

More info here.

But more importantly, at one point it was sticking up slightly and I noticed something very important and that was hair actually coming from the skin of his head. I believe that small tuft is his only real piece of hair, and it seems to blend into the perfectly placed Katz toup. I seem to think this area of hair was kept as it heightens the believability factor, certainly in comparison to the front of his head, which doesn't have a natural transition from baby hairs and thin hairs into the adult hairs of a normal male hairline.


He also scratched his toup many times during parts of the day. So my conclusion is thus:


He shaves whatever is left of his natural hair completely bald. (He is also always perfectly shaven - there is not a single hair on his face, head or neck - so much so, that it looks like he may have had work done to get rid of any stray hairs which might detract from the toup believability factor). He is wearing some form of entire head system - sideburns included. That tuft at the back is definitely all that is left of his real hair. It is very believable. He is also a nice guy. Hope this offered some insight!

Regards, Jason

William Shatner in Australia, video here.

Our sincere thanks to Jason for a truly fascinating field report!

*One of the most sacred tenets of The William Shatner School of Toupological Studies is the "Prime Toupological Directive", which stipulates that staff must cause "no interference with the natural development and evolution of William Shatner's toupee and studies must be conducted in such a manner as to not directly infringe on the right of William Shatner and his toupees to carry out their normal activities."