Wearables Natural Hair Wigs for BIDs

My BIDs are all Black. While I can find natural hair wigs (as in Type 3-4 hair) it takes careful searching. More often than I'd like, I find wigs with curly hair but straight roots, as if someone had taken a curler to Type 1 hair. Braided or dreadlocked styles are either too big to fit or more than I'm willing to spend.



I've decided to take matter into my own hands. My first attempt consists of unraveling black and blue yarn and braiding them together, with two black strands and one blue.



After making dozen of these skinny braids, I sorted them by length. Many have stretched during the braiding process. The yellow strips list approximate sizes.



(More below)

 

I marked a line down the back of a pre purchased wig cap



Folded braids in half, and sewed them along one side of the part.





This used almost all the 25cm braids I had. There was more work to do.

 

I bought it from Dollmaking Supplies | Doll Repairs & Restoration | Audrey's Dolls. They're a retailer for Doll Wigs, Doll Shoes, Doll Making Supplies - Monique Trading Corp. if you prefer buying directly.

 

I decided the braids were way too dense along the part. I unpicked the stitches, divided the braids, and ended up with this:







I ran out of braids of my preferred length, and needed to make more. I'm also not a fan of how wide the part is, meaning another unpicking and resewing. It's been over 18 months since I started this wig, another break isn't going to make much difference. I'm going for faster gratification.

 

I completed a wig within six weeks! It would have been done sooner, but crochet aggravates an old repetitive strain injury. Slow and steady is best.

I forgot to take in progress photos. Here's the completed wig cap, modeled after Antique Lilac's 6 inch wig tutorial:


The "braids" are chain crochet, inspired by @AdanneO 's i-cord wig. The top layer is stitched down to mimic cornrows. To hide the wig line, I whipstitched two braids against the edge. The lower hair is free hanging, and sewn down about one centimeter under the row above it.

 

I developed tendinitis in my forearms. I had to go much slower, wear arm braces and take things very slowly with my next wig. Here's the cap, crocheted from the last of a ball. It took a few tries to get it to fit, and all that crochet, unravel, repeat did my amrs no favors.

Up close:


At a distance:


In the meantime, I turned several types of yarn form the stash into braids:

 

The second completed wig! It makes me think of lions:



Includes a streak of black and purple:

 

Alternate style, with partial tieback:

 

Dusting off the journal to document two wigs I made recently. One was inspired by a ball of lavender boucle in my stash. I dug out a pre made wig cap and marked some lines:



Then I cut lengths of yarn, folded them in half and stitched them on to represent dreadlocks. Longer pieces went along the hairline and crown. Here are some in progress images:

 

I'm more familiar with crocheting than the methods used to make hard caps. I also have crochet hooks and yarn on hand, so i don't need to buy new supplies.

 

Showing off the completed wig. Not too full, but still abundant looking:

Front


Side


Back
2022-06-17 21.44.06

 

I decided to use my remaining premade wig cap to make another dreadlock wig. This time I used what I think is homespun yarn from my mom's crafting days. I alternated colors for variety.





I added some of the purple dreadlock yarn around the "kitchen" (hair by the nape) as a bonus.