Styling a wig - total noob questions.

So yay! My Miruya wig came in the mail, and its preeeecious. Problem is, her pigtails aren't quite the same as my character concept. That's a-ok b/c it's cute enough, just her pigtails are a bit too long. Are there any tips for styling, like should I try to recurl it so the curls lift the hair up more? I should note that these pigtails are detachable, but uh... I haven't tried to do that yet b/c they just look so cute. XD

 

Not entirely sure what wig wax is for either, is that used to hold more complicated styles?

Since it's so pretty... ugh I'd really not want to cut it... o___o cause you know how that goes, that's just inviting disaster lol.

 

here's the pic of the wig btw. I read these wigs are heat resistant fiber, but, not super sure what that means either... ^^;

 

 

any sage advice is greatly appreciated : )

heat resistant fiber means it won't melt with heat like synthetic wigs. This doesn't mean "go plug your haircurler" of course... but the wig CAN take some heat

 

One way to style a tighter curl is get fat straws (like ones for bubbletea) or roll up the hair in paper strips ..I think human-size haircurlers might be too big... Anyways, roll from the bottom up, secure, and then get the ponytail wet with HOT water (not boiling, but hot)

then leave to dry. When its dry and you carefully unroll the things, it should hold the new curl

 

I kinda styled my cosplay wig that way, and it worked well

hmm okay okay. I got to thinking about it, and the kind of curls I want might need some kind of support under neath? Anime curls kind of defy the laws of gravity... right?

 

Has anyone tried to do this method on any of their wigs to make firmer and air defying curls?

 

http://classewig.com/wig/blog/?p=1287#more-1287

 

I'd hate to ruin a wig trying it, but at the same time I'd like to at least try to get the wig to look as close as I can to my original concept (going to try to have her be eye candy at art tables at conventions... but under a plexiglass box of course ... cause people like to touch things too much o__O) lol

 

I mean if worst came to worst.. I think i could just order another similar wig from Miruya that has the twin tails to replace these if i mess them up.. still... not a fan of wasting money either yknow? XD

 

 

**edit**

Ok... so I'm pretty sure now if I ... gulp... shorten the pigtails I can get some more lift - I think that's whats weighing them down is that they are just so long. I might do one of those things where I only take an inch at a time... o___o Some of my apprehension might also be because I have curly hair, and know how often people F'it up b/c once you cut it wet, its going to shrink lol. I mean god forbid if I mess it up I can straighten it with hot water then reset it right? Not like once the curl is lost I can never get it back?

 

Right...? TT^TT (asking so I don't feel so freaked out by trying to mess with it lol)

since dolls are sooo much smaller than humans, you might need slightly less support for defying gravity

 

...ok.. the only thing I did on a doll before was ahoge, but that sticks up pretty well! Get hair, paint with either white glue (dilute a bit with water, will dry clear) or hairspray (yes horrible person that uses her own hairspray on wigs, even tho everyone says you shouldn't) roll into shape while wet and leave it to sit there

 

Unroll whatever support (mine was paper and hairclips) couple hours later - gravity defying hair!

 

AND, since hairspray is so non permanent, if you failed or the style isn't looking right - simply rinse it out and try again

 

 

EDIT: errr.. not sure if there's that much weight on that ponytail... but if u want to cut - good luck!!

Just be sure to hold your scissors vertically and not horizontally. Better control this way

okay okay -is it right to assume that glue isn't as easy to wash out? o__O I'm for whatever method that I can undo if I can't get it to look right lol. I'm trying to fiddle with one of the pigtails right now, and see if I can just somehow put another band on the pigtail that will be tight enough to maybe give some lift that way too - I just want it to kind of lift out and away from her head a little. I think it would be alot easier if I had a wig that had the pigtails that weren't detachable, but I couldn't find any that really looked like it would have enough hair to do any styling.

 

Thanks for the tips Chise >:D i'm going to try it out, and take pictures

yeah, I think hairspray would be much easier to wash out. Since its _meant_ to do that in real life

 

Since your pigtails can detach, you can at least keep away from doll's head with all this messing about ^__^

Hmm, I wouldn't use normal hair products, only wig-specific ones.

 

That said, I've had luck styling wigs using aluminum foil and a hair dryer. Just shape the foil, wet hair and arrange around the foil, then heat it well with the dryer. Maybe adding some wig wax could help the curl hold.

waterwax works well for the curl on my sakuya

Hm interesting. I've always wanted to style Kihona's hair to what it's supposed to be. I'll have to buy a wig or two to practice first.

OK. I'm another noob.

 

Lily's wig has a little bit of "flyaway" hair on the sides. I'm also having trouble keeping hair out of her eyes. (I don't want to cut it.)

 

I purchased some Water Wax from Volks but don't know how to use it. Anyone have experience with this stuff. Photos would be appreciated if you have 'em.

I purchased some Water Wax from Volks but don't know how to use it. Anyone have experience with this stuff. Photos would be appreciated if you have 'em.

Yeah, it would be nice if they explained how to use it (~_~') Eventually they posted this on the Miku page,

 

http://www.volks.co.jp/miku/en/special_advice01/

 

Basically, make your hands wet, rub the hair so it's wet, then apply the water wax.

So. Just the ends of the hair.

 

I may have to get a couple of inexpensive wigs for practice.

 

Thank you for the help!

Has anyone tried to do this method on any of their wigs to make firmer and air defying curls?

http://classewig.com/wig/blog/?p=1287#more-1287

 

Sorry for resurrecting this thread, but for anyone who wants to know, this is a reasonable way to make "drill curls" for a wig. I've never done it on such a small scale, but I did do it a few years ago when I went to Katsucon and cosplayed Catherine. I ended up using rubber cement to bind the hair to the plastic/packing tape because it's flexible and kept the hair from scrunching up when I was shaping the curls. My drills weren't sewn or clipped to a wig-- they were attached to a headband instead-- but they held up well for the entirety of the con and I still have them stored carefully in a box somewhere.

 

My only recommendation is to get more wefts than you think you need... it took me 3 tries to get the result I wanted and by attempt 3 I was pretty much out of materials so failure was not an option

Oh thank you for the info, this is all really helpful to me as I just love curly wigs.