#wig stuff

Some shots of the finished styling of my Merle wig + facial hair.

Ahh I’m so glad you think they’re perfect, because I legit hunt through Amazon for cheap(er) wigs that’ll get the job done! I currently own three wigs: silver, red, and blonde. I’ll link the exact ones, just in case you want to get a feel for where I buy through!

My silver/white wig (used for Megagirl and Prof Hidgens) was $7, and is certainly a bit itchy sometimes, but it’s well worth the price!

My red wig is definitely in need of a wash, to try and get the curls back (it’s a heavy wig since it’s fairly thick and long), but it was ~$18 when I bought it if I can remember correctly, another Amazon purchase. I made it look short for Black Widow by braiding it and then bobby pinning the braid in the back to replicate Nat’s curls! It’s all in the styling with this one.

Then the blonde wig, which I’ve certainly used the least, is actually my favorite. It’s got nice little clips in the front to keep it in place, and it’s very soft and not too shiny (the red one is deffo a bit shiny). The bangs are kinda long, but since all of my wigs are cheap, they aren’t lace front, and so the bangs often help disguise my super dark brown roots. The curls have stayed in nicely so far, which is good, too!

I also have these clip in bangs, which are very useful for when I just need my hair color but with bangs, which I highly recommend! It’s hard to pick the exact color you need, but it’s still a great buy for the price.

My whole shtick when I search for wigs is the reviews—specifically the recent reviews. And look for pictures. If most of the reviews are good, especially the recent ones, then go for it. Also, if it’s cheaper, then you can hopefully risk it just a bit more! I have some other wigs on my list that I want to buy eventually, just for more range, but it’s good to have at least the popular colors that your hair isn’t. I also want to get at least one “male” wig soon, I’m just trying to decide which color I’d use the most given who I usually like to cosplay, vs what I can do with my own hair (see Hot Chocolate Boy and Harry Potter, both of whom I just use my own hair pinned up in a specific way).

Initially, I had planned on making a video walkthrough, but it’s been over a year and I’m just not sure I’m comfortable with the old footage, lol.

Anyway, the gist of it:

I started off with a basic, long lace front, plus a pack of extra wefts

Pinned it up to cut off the sides, making sure to save the loose hair

I made wefts from the loose hair using this guide

I added the wefts to the “undercut” sides of the wig, using sewing and some hot glue; one or two between each already existing weft

I added one row of weft to the border between the undercut and the mohawk, facing upwards so I got a tidy edge between the two

Using hot glue I added a strap of fabric to the neck of the wig, hotgluing on the extra wefts to create the mullet

Section off thin sections of hair all along the outer edges of the soon-to-be-mohawk

Begin the teasing, this is the way I found most efficient:

Grab a section of hair

Spritz with Got2B Glued

Backcomb

Fix with a blowdryer on hot

Comb the hair back out, giving it a fluffier and coarser texture than it’d previously had

Repeat step 1-4

Using your hands (and a comb if neccessary), pull out the teased hair so it will be fluffy and not compact, pull into the shape you need and make sure the volume goes all the way to the base

An easy misstep is to comb the sections too tight and... sectioned off, to help this, I would fluff them up, spritz everything with hairspray, and then attack the hair almost like needle felting using the back end of my rattail comb; weaving the wefts into one another to avoid separation, attacking with hairspray and a blowdryer to fix everything into place

As I got to a point where my mohawk had the shape I wanted, I took the outer, sectioned-off parts, teased using the method described above (only combing them out somewhat more), and then spreading the hair over the mohawk. This may lead to some separation between the outermost layer and the rest of the ‘hawk, so to avoid that I used plenty of hairspray on both sides of the surfaces, as well as the outside of the ‘hawk, then running the blowdryer close with a diffuser to keep everything smooth. I also combed the tips of the outer layers together at the top

I really should invest in better quality products...