Wig styling tips?

Katie Blair has some really great tips on styling wigs. Download the .PDF file in the Wig Faqs for more specific details on what you can and shouldn't use on wigs.
http://www.katiebair.com/wigs.html

Specifically for straigtening wigs:
http://www.katiebair.com/wigtutorial_straightening.html

Maybe you just need to do the wtaer-treatment several times? if it's really curly, it might just need a bit more work to get it straight. I've also heard of people getting a wig wet and then flattening it between two heavy books while it dries, but I haven't tried this myself. XD;

 

Plain water works for mild styling, but for some cool effects and a lasting style, I use Gatsby "Long-Keep Gel Super Hard". It washes out when you're done and you can achieve some very nice effects, I've also seen it used to style a short wig straight up into a sort of mohawk. Here's a less drastic example. ^^

 

LIke katie's site says, if you use hot water on it it *will* strighten, it takes some work.

in a nut shell what you have to do is is pour hot water on the wig, then let it hang to dry and repeate. After a couple of times it should go stright, if not stright then it should only have a slight curl.

one thing I learned the hard way is DON'T use boiling water on the wig if it's being stubborn. On my wig that was being stubborn it not only semi melted it, it stripped soem of the pink cooour from it >_<

 

Will these techniques work for a wig that's gotten a little ... umm... kinky from being played with? (Geeeez, that sounds AWFUL!) I've had my doll's wig on and off for the past week or so taking pictures and putting on new outfits and so on, and some of the fibers have gotten twisted and out of joint. I can't seem to brush the kinks out, and now she has tons of flyaways! Has anyone solved this problem by using the hot-water method?

Rae

 

I've seen the Volks hair spray "Sarari" do wonders for wigs like that. =) A friend I know who has TONS of long wigs goes thrugh a can a month at the very least. XD

 

Another technique that I've seen done (though I wouldn't recommend unless the hot water didn't work) is: Getting a straightening iron and straightening it that way, BUT with a medium thick-thick towel between the irons and the wig to protect it from actual contact with the iron so you get the heat from the iron only.

Straightening irons are pretty bad news to wigs if you don't know what you're doing. ^^;

 

Shan... is that gel special in anyway? Like water based or something? If it's just regular hair gel I need to try some!

 

Hi Lyn, yes, it's water-based, washes out with water, and restylable with water, too. I use it on my own hair. XD;; The brand Gatsby is a popular brand with Japanese boys for making punk hairstyles and stuff like that.

 

Hair gel for humans can work well for small things, but I would suggest that if you want to do something really complicated, to pick up some clear caulking (from a hardware store). Most hair products are made to work with the oils and whatnot in your hair, and obviously synthetic wig hair lacks that, so working with another synthetic material makes sense. You just have to never want to take out the style. ops:

 

I have a Volks wig style 5. It is the default wig of one of my boys, and I like it very much. However the bangs are always untidy! It doesn't matter what I do, there are always a few stray hairs in his face. The problem is that, while it's hardly noticable in real life, the camera picks up on it a lot (it dark red against white skin), so the photo's come out looking awful. Anyone have any ideas as to how I can prevent this?

Thanks in advance!

 

>_< I get the same problem - Kitori's hair is uber annoying, especially as it's so long, and flys around everywhere. I've somewhat given up on it.

If it's just the bangs however, I'd suggest dippping the tips of your finger in some water and just gently sort of styling it with that. If you don't use too much water, it won't look all wet, but it will hold the hair in place at least for a little while as you take photos. I don't know if it'll work for you, but it worked for me.... anyway, good luck!

 

I suggest using wig spray and not the Volks one. I find the Volks wig spray dries out my wigs and gives flyaways more often. I use wig spray I buy at a hair store and also use my own hair gel on the few strays to get outta the way when taking pics. If you comb it outta place, don't use a regular comb. I use one of those barbie combs to style the wig.

Photoshopping the hairs out of the way is a pain!

 

You can also try using your own breath to keep the floaways back. Hold your hand up to your mouth and go "haaaa" softly so you get warm almost steamy breath on your fingers, then gently touch the area with flyaways and move them where you want them to be. I know this works on regular wigs, but I've never tried it on a SD sized one (as I don't have any yet, I can't test it for you ^_^;;

 

O_o Djinn and I use the Volks wig spray Sarari religiously and that's never happened to us.

My report of Sarari is that it's effect is somewhat like water - it keeps the hairs down, but the wig stays dry. XD They also make a wig more silky, and a lot easier to comb through. It works super on the wigs that we have. XD

If there are a few uneven strands though, and you just SIMPLY can't get them out of the way, then don't be afraid to pull them out. XD;; There's sufficient hair in the wig, so don't worry about losing hair. XD Just don't overdo it.

 

I have a few questions about wigs. I just want to know what personal preferences you guys have from experience. I'm a little inexperienced with my own hair's upkeep (just got rid of dreads) let alone my doll's. ops:

1. What do you use for a wig stand that will work well for styling and general upkeep (brushing)?
2. What is the best product to use for styling?
3. My straight wig is getting a little messy- what product will keep hair silky and not full of flyaways?
4. What kind of brush and/or comb do you use?
5. When washing a wig do you use wig shampoo, dish detergent, regular shampoo? And would you recommend conditioner?

Thanks for the advice in advance!

 

1. Hmm, I don't have a wig stand, I just put the wig on the head and then style it. Otherwise, I put balled up paper inside the wig and put back in the stretchy mesh nets to keep them in place when not in use.
2. I've only styled one wig and it's an Acquire wig. I used some of my own hairgel and a little of this styling lotion that's more liquid than creme to give the wig a more tousled look that would hold while taking pics.
3. Use actual wig spray that you can buy at a hair store. Here is a pic of it: http://www.jellykiss.com/blog/archives/wigstuff.jpg It conditions the hair very nicely and keeps it from having flyaways. It's far better than the Volks wig spray and costs much less,...only $2.79 for a big human size bottle. LOL!
4. I've been using a barbie brush,...the kind that has 2-3 rows on one side and comb on the other side. It doesn't pull the wig hair out as much as a regular human brush would. I also use this on my 1/6 dolls.
5. I've actually not washed any of my doll wigs but I saw wig shampoo and conditioner at the hair store.

Hope that helps!

 

Okay, so I have a long CP wig that's wavy at the ends. I love it, but the ends are getting uncontrollably frizzy. :cry: Does anyone have a suggestion on what works to de-frizz a wig? Thank you!

 

Just do take care of your wig as you treat hair dolls(not barbie hair!): does your wig is in Fantasy colors (such as pink, blue or red?) In that case sometimes the hair quality couldn't allow you to do a lot of things: that's easier to curl than to "de curl". the best way is to test on the bottom of the wig ( near the neck) wet with hot (but not very very hot!!!!) water, brush softly, wrap in a towel and put something heavy on it!Let dry and ...Voilà! Well I hope it will work with yours!I do it for dollfie plus wigs (I have to do the step twice or more) but I have a near straight result not bad at all... You could also just buy some wigs conditionners !But some are a little "oil"...

@^-^@
Julie.

 

i believe volks sells a wig conditioner.. which is supposed to keep down frizzies. i need one for my poor Azrael- his hair is a tangled frizzy mess and it's straight! but its knee length..

 

Katie Bair's wig conditioner is awesome for things like this (and it smells great too!) - just squirt a little on and comb through with your fingers. It should help release some (if not all) of the frizzies ^_^

 

I was just going to ask if anyone knew how to tame flyaway wig hair - thanks, Nikita!

I'll look for some of this stuff!

As for doll brushes, I have two - one that came with my FCS boy from Volks, and a similar one from Tallina's doll supply. ^_^

They're small, and have coated metal teeth, so they don't snag!

 

I know absolutely nothing about how to go about styling a wig, so I'm looking for help. I've finally found a wig in the right color and the right length, :grin: but about halfway down, it starts to curl, and by the bottom, it's really curled. Is there a way to get the curl out? I know I've seen people discussing this sort of thing, but now I can't find it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

~Ann

 

Katie Bair has a tutorial on straightening human-sized wigs...it will probably work the same for doll wigs: http://www.katiebair.com/wigtutorial_straightening.html

 

Eee... try the water before the iron, as it's safer. ^_^;;;

if you don't want to drench it, mircowaving a coffee mug of water to almost-boiling, then dipping a toothbrush and brushing it over the curl also works. Or could be used to touch up any still-curly areas. ^^

 

This is how I do doll hair and how most of the people on the doll group "Customdolls"
Does it.
1. Make a wig stand for wig, by rolling up a ball of ammonium about the size of the doll head, cover with masking tape, or that plastic upholstery tape.

2. Set wig stand on a cup or glass big enough for the foil ball to fit the bottom of ball in. Make sure your glass can handle boiling water.

3. Put on the wig on the foil ball just as you would on the doll, make sure wig is clean and tangle free. (I have methods for cleaning wigs and doll hair also).

4. Put the cup with foil ball and wig in the kitchen sink. Hair needs to be hanging straight down. So you may need to put something heat proof under the cup so hair is not touching the sink.

5. Boil about 3 cups of water in a pan. Take off the heat as soon as it starts to bubble.

6. Poor water from pan over the wig being sure to get all the hair good and wet.

7. Then poor 3 cups of cold water over wig. Do this pretty quick.

8. If there is any water in your cup, poor it out. Then set the wig some place to dry, keep wig on wig stand.

9. When it dries it should be straight.

If the wig has bangs some times I roll up a paper towel just big enough to fit under bangs, about a 3/4" thick and wide as the bangs. Then I Tape it on the foil ball where the bangs will be resting. Do this before poring water on wig. I take a piece of saran wrap and wrap it around the head in the bang area. Clamp the saran wrap with a pin or paperclip. This keeps the bangs from lying to flat looking on the dolls head. You can skip this, and after you have straighten the wig and put on the doll, if you don't like how the bangs look. You can do the whole procedure over again just doing the bang area.
You can make straight wigs curly using this same method by putting curls in the wig hair
While it is on doll. Then put the wig on the stand and do the boiling water theme.
Wrap each piece of hair that goes on the curler with saran wrap. Like they do when you get a perm. You can also braid the hair in tiny strands all around the wig (again while on doll. This will give you a crimped looking hair style. You take out the curlers or braids after doing the water thing, or wait until the hair dries. It is a softer curl if you take out the curlers before drying wig.
If you want to do a practice before doing the wig, get an old Barbie head with long curly hair put her head on a bottle or narrow cup and do the boil water thing.
It is not as hard as it sounds, but I wouldn't iron it, it can be really tricky to do with out ruining the wig.
DO NOT DO THIS WITH A MOHAIR WIG .

 

n/a

 

i want to make a fur wig for joel, but i need a pattern.

not the one under genie at den of angles pattern cave, but one that has it so can cut out. >_< i just mark joels head with sharpie marker trying to make one, it's not work. so, if anyone konws of one where is, i will love you. *kissey* ^_^

thanks.

 

I never realized how many wigs I'd gotten Yoarashi until I decided to make a stand for them...

Just styrofoam and wooden dowels. ops:

 

Also try the pressd-pill kinf of styrofoam - it doesn't catch the wig hairs and the wigs can be held on with pins if they slide off (I've got a ton in the other room) Size 3 is what i've been using ^_^

 

Hey guys. I recently made my first wig from scratch, was a mohair wig for a dark elf OOAK sculpture, I hand sew the entire wig by hand...(ouch), it didnt come out too bad, and now I want to try to hand make another wig but for El, anyone here tried that before? any tips? suggestions? I used wefted hair as it is easier to sew.

 

I've been interested in trying to make my own doll wigs. I've been looking at a PoshDolls wig, trying to figure out how she created that natural-looking place at the top of the head where the hair parts. It seems like she used some kind of natural-toned material and actually hand-rooted the hairs in it just on that part of the wig only, then sewed the rest of the hair in rows after that.

Did you try anything like this on your wig? Do you know what material she used on the crown, where she hand-rooted the hair? Man, I'm sure trying to figure this out, because $20 doesn't seem like a lot to spend on a wig until you decide you want to buy 3 or 4 of them. The money sure adds up quickly! I've spent $60 on my Super Dollfie Kun already and haven't even ordered her yet!

 

there should be some older topics about it... not sure tho. There's a how-to on fur wigs in the links/faq I think. That would work for how to make a head cap. Your main challenge is going to be doing the center part or skin top. I've never figured that one out. :/

 

that's the skin top. :3 It's a piece of plastic skin or micro fiber that three to four hairs are rooted through at a time. It takes a long long time to do it... and it's frustrationg. >_< You can "make" a skin top by covering a peice of nylon(like your pantyhose) with latex rubber or rubber cement.

 

Dug in some older topics and found a few links
http://www.dollmakersite.com/tutorials.htm
http://bjds.doublesupafantastico.com/subpage3.html

Making wefts
http://www.cely.com/doll/weft.html

Hope that helps. I remember there was another good one, but I can't remember the url..

 

well with sore fingers I finally completed the wig. It actually came out pretty good. not bad for my first wig. I did some reading to try and figure out how to "close" the wig. This wig was made with mohair so it looks a little 'fluffy' but I plan to try and make a wig to fit Ash (tried one already but the wig cap isnt right so it wont stay on), using some wefted blue and black hair I got at the local beauty shop. the hand sewing takes so long! finger soooo sore! but its a really neat feeling to get it done. Now I just have to figure out how to make a decent wig cap for Ash that will stay on his head snug without slipping off...oh fun...

 

Wow. I loved the tutorial about wefting hair at http://www.cely.com/doll/weft.html . That was great! I'm going to try that method using hair from an old black human-sized wig I wore at Halloween. Hey, Sylvrdragon, we'd love to see photos of the wig you made, by the way.

 

I'l try to take some photos tommorow or this weekend, its kinda scary! hehehe but heck its my first homemade wig

 

I'd love to see the results! ^^

I LOVE that wefting tutorial, too. But I find that you lose a LOT less hair if you weft the hair in, um, half-lengths, meaning;

Do the three lines of stitching down the middle of the hair, tear off the top piece of tissue, then fold in half and stitch the two halfs together before removing the second pieces of tissue paper. It does make the weft a little more bulky, though, but keeps the hair more secure. ^^

*peers at tutorial* ... maybe that's what she's done as well, it's kind of unclear, though...

 

theres lots of ways to get the top rooted nicely, and the easiest is to sew the top part backwards then turn it in side out and it makes a part, then glue it or sew it into the wig cap. that's the best way i know how to explain it x__x
maybe someday i can take pictuers or something

I did that for like a year until I learned how to root it directly into the cap and a couple other methods
but the first (easiest) way works really well also.

as for the wig cap,i sew elastic in and make them out of 6 seprate peices then machine sew it togetherr. and that's alittle harder to explain.

i can't see your pictures though ;__;

 

There are numerous ways to make wig caps.. but one easy and very well fitting way is to use a product called something like "wet and set".. hmm...

Go to the seeleys porcelain doll site - they will have it. But it is something you can probably purchase way cheaper at a fabric store.
It a fabric with size in it.. can be used for millinery too.. you wet it then shape it over the head in this instance (put glad wrap on the head first) and then cut to size around the edges... perfect fit and it stays in this dome shape.

I will search out another name and reference.. this is for making "bonded" mohair wigs.. excellent finish and you dont need to make a cap.. and the wigs are just as 'removable" as the purchased ones.

I am rather partial to rooting - but the one draw back is that its not interchangeable then.. but I am happy to decide what sort of hair my doll will have - and it can keep it. Rooting is an art... but its very achievable with a little practice. the best rooting can be done a strand at a time..

This is completely handrooted - so you can part it anywhere at any time.. you are not restrained to keeping the style and part that you first did - eg a centre or side part..



Sorry fro the heavy images.. but I LOVE rooted hair..LOLOLOLOLOL

 

MMmmmm... well, I don't know how to actually sew the hair to the wig, but what you can do to get the fabric part (the skull cap) is take your doll and cover the top of the head in plastic wrap... then use masking tape, cover the area where you want the skull cap to be. Then take a marker and mark off a wide rectangle strip from the forehead to the back of the head... you should be left with two half circle-like shapes on the sides of the head. Then take the tape/plastic wrap off your doll, trim, and cut on the two lines... then you can use that as a pattern (make sure you cut extra around the peice for a seam allowance). I hope that wasn't too confusing.... good luck to you!

 

Fur wigs are not made by sewing hair to a cap, one simply uses fake-fur fabric and makes a hat. Aziza makes hers from two semi-circles with a double rolled hem, while Cassiel uses a more complex design...

- Therese

 

-Using lightweight interfacing, tightly make a 'cap' over your doll's head
-Secure it in place with an elasic band indicating where the 'hairline' of the wig will be.
-Use pencil to trace the folds in the interfacing and along the edge of the elastic
-Remove interfacing and elastic from doll's head
-Cut along the lines you drew

If you have an MSD or DOD, I have a fur wig pattern already drawn up, that I use for my two DOD boys. I could e-mail it to you if you'd like that.

 

See pictures here

Um, what is the best way to keep his wig on because he's not cooperating. I heard somebody say velcro, but which side gets stuck to his head, the hooks or the loops?

 

I'd try velcro if you're not going to take the wig on and off since the velcro grabs little hairs of the wig and breaks them. That stuff that holds your carpet to the wood floor is a better thing to use if you like to take your doll-kid's wig off.

 

I put the hooks on the head and the fuzzy loops in the wig because if you put the hooks inside the wig, the hair can get caught on the hooks inside the wig and you could end up with a really brambley mess. =\

I found it really easy to put the velcro in too!

 

I sew a rubberband inside of the wig (using loops of ribbon to hold it in place) and that works fairly well...

 

If you could draw a diagram or show pictures, that would be awesome! I haven't heard of this particular technique before.

 

I know Vallen puts a thick rubber band around Jaede's hairline, which acts as traction to hold the wig on.

I use pieces of Dr. Scholes Mole-foam... the moleskin top adds traction, and the foam makes his head a little bigger so the wig has to stretch more and fits more tightly. ^_^

 

I tried this rubber band method recently after finding it elsewhere on DoA.. it really works wonders Joshu came from his previous owner with velcro, and that kept catching on things, but the rubber band's been great, especially for CanCan wigs, which seem a tad too big for Joshu.