Wigs Stupid question: how do you keep wigs in place while styling?

There are no stupid questions!

I just got a silicone wig cap from Alice's Collections, but they're available for under $5 each from lots of different places that sell BJD stuff. That gives plenty of friction on the doll's head. I can braid with no problems.

BUT! Before the silicone cap came in the mail, I just used a regular rubber band knotted to fit snugly around my doll's head. It's not the most glamorous solution, but it provides decent friction, and it's hidden beneath the wig anyway.

 

I have the same issue! And even with silicone caps, rubber bands and other methods I've had slippage issues while braiding and styling wigs on dolls - I've considered getting a styrofoam ball, attaching it to a stand of some sort, and pinning the wig to it, but never gotten arround to it... I've also condsidered a sacrificial head in each size that I could temporarily glue the wigs to in order to get them styled on something more head-shaped than a ball.... but again never gotten beyond the theory stage.

Teddy

 

Some people glue a very thin strip of velcro to the top of the doll's head and then the other side of the strip (furry/hooked) to the inside of the wig. I haven't tried that, but maybe it might help? I use doll velcro for small embroidery projects (you might need to search it as "hook and eye strip" because of the velcro trademark) and it is very thin.

Another thought that came to me is - maybe you could glue two lengths of fine thread/cord to the inside of the doll wig and when you want to style the wig, tie the lengths under the doll's chin (sort of like bonnet ribbons). After the wig is styled to your taste, you can untie the bow and either trim off the cord or tuck it up under the wig for the next time. If you glue the cord so that the center of tension is right at the crown of the doll's head this might help quite a bit in keeping it in place during brushing, braiding, etc.

 

If my wigs come off with a gentle pull I consider it not a good fit, and my typical answer to that, when the fit is minorly large, is the stick on velcro. I think it is really helpful to stick it only on the head and it's not needed on the wig provided it is the type with elastic cap that can otherwise attempt to hold itself on.
Back to the first question, I do absolutely style wigs right on my dolls' heads when needed and I just try to be very careful. They are usually sitting on a table in front of me and I move their head to different angles like you would while doing a person's hair (I do a lot of doll hair cutting at least.)

 

I hold her between my knees, but I am doing pretty simple stuff compared to what other people do. There's some good tips in this thread!

 

I will say my experience with silicone wig caps has been somewhat inconsistent, as on some dolls it keeps the wig from slipping from side to side but it still peels right off if you try to style a tight high ponytail or if the wig is long and heavy. It can definitely work for simple low ponytails or loose braids on shorter or lighter wigs though. In general though I find it hard to style hair on a BJD head as they're prone to moving around a lot and are very delicate.
In my mind the best possible set up would be taking the wig off the doll and putting it on a styrofoam/some other solid enough material piece the same size as the doll's head that is stuck firm and immobile onto a stable surface like a table you can sit at to create a styling dummy. then you can secure the wig to the styling dummy with either strong velcro as suggested previously or strong magnets applied the same way as velcro, and once you carefully style the wig on the dummy you can then secure it on the doll's head with the same magnet/velcro method or silicone cap to keep it in place while posing/displaying/handling the doll.

 

I use a few pieces kneading erasers from the brand Generals, I use the size I need for any particular sized doll, it's easy to form and shape because that's what it is meant to do. It holds like a putty (or better) but without any oils, or residues left behind. I use it to hold eyes (and OT optional parts on figures, without ever losing any yet). I make my own wigs nowadays and style them in boiling water to preserve the style I want for longer, so I don't usually need it to hold the wig in place for styling. However, my most recent doll has a hyper-smooth cranium, making it a pain in the gut-hole to keep any wigs I've made for him in place, without them slipping right off. The pieces of kneading eraser come off from the resin and wig without any issues, and I can reuse the pieces of erasers as many times as I need (all my BJD go into their boxes, nude and wigless for storing in my closet).

If you are using a stretchy cap wig, a line of hot glue around the inside of the wig just above the elastic, will also help to keep the wig in place without it slipping off. I own a lot of stretch cap wigs I purchased for my earlier dolls; the hot glue helped with the ones with smoother resins. You don't place the wig on when the glue is still hot, you have to let the glue cool down completely so you can still change wigs but have the added friction of the hot glue already stuck to the wig cap. The glue can also be easily removed from the wig cap, if you ever chose to do so or the glue crumbles away from old age, it is easy to fix/redo. Hope that helps and good luck! (:

 

True enough.

But given that I have a couple of heads that came on dolls I bought just for the bodies, and I've never bothered to sell-on the heads so they're just sitting unused in a cupboard, I should really give it a try using them as sacrificial wig-heads.

Teddy

 

How do you find these caps?

 

@Sanjilee - Here's one link from Alice's Collections: BJD Accessories, Dolls - Alice's Collections

 

{laugh!} probably only one head at a time, rather than a row of them.

If I ever get around to doing it, I'll probably rig one stand that each head can be put on as needed. My husband alreayd refers to the sewing room as Herr Doctor's Laboratory at times, without adding a row of heads on sticks to the mix.

I'd be tempted to go for one a tad bigger than the wig size and roll the ball under my hand against a hard surface to squish it into an oval (more head shaped than a sphere) of the right size, but perhaps I'm overthinking it.

Thanks for doing the maths - it's the sorty of thing tht generally defets my maths-adverse mind.

Teddy

 

Hmmm... Now, there's a thought - perhaps I'll make some "Waldorf doll" type heads instead of using polystyrene balls. They can be pinned inot to o the wigs could be firmly attached while being worked on and unpinned when done.

That's a good plan.

Teddy

 

I use self-adhesive cloth bandages to make a "wig holder"

 

I haven't tried compressing them, but I have used styrofoam craft balls before, and I find I destroy them pretty fast, especially in comparison to my human sized wig heads that have been through a lot more use. Compressing the balls might help them hold on a little longer.

Instead, I found an appropriately sized wooden craft ball from Hobby Lobby and made a wooden stand. I've made most of my wigs, and most have hard caps, but I love the 'hot glue method' of putting a line or two on the inside of the wig to keep it in place. I've also used double sided tape successfully before. For hard cap wigs, you can also use eye putty, but I wouldn't recommend that for elastic/fabric caps.

 

I have a silicone wig cap to help with holding with wigs one but it now seems to just slide off with the wig as well, and the velcro trick just came straight off the dolls head, all the velcro attached to the wig still. Maybe my dolls heads are just too smooth.

 

I've got one that does this too, and I think I need to go down a size of silicone cap as the oen that slides is too close to the actual size of the dolls head to have enough grip. I think it needs a bit of stretch to provide tension before it will grip, I'll experiment with one of the caps from a smaller dol to see if a smaller oen works better.

Teddy