Wig Question (Chihaya)

Answered my own question. Put in 6 cups of water with a cap full of the Woolite intended for delicate fabrics and the water started to turn blue within about 15 minutes.

I got a Chihaya recently and had her wig on for a short time and after removing it I discovered a number of stains where the hair fibers touch the head. She even had a blue stain on her chin. The hair fibers themselves don't touch her chin in any way, and the stains there are the same color as the other wig stains. The only way I can think that happened was from me handling her hair while putting the wig on and then handling her chin and transferring excess dye from my fingers to her chin. I'm always careful to wash my hands before handling them too, so i know nothing was on my hands before I worked on her wig. The stains are all pretty light, and none of them are on her faceup, so I am hopeful that the volks stain remover will remove them.

 

As long as she is going to be headless for a few days I may as well try and get the excess color out of her wig. I was wondering if using woolite on the wig will work as well as shampoo to get the excess dye out?

 

I can use shampoo, but I would probably have to go buy something that doesn't have any excess chemicals, whereas I already have woolite. Since laundry detergents are supposed to be color safe on clothing I'm not sure it will have the desired effect. Other than the excess dye her wig is in beautiful shape, and doesn't need to be cleaned or defrizzed.

 

When I first handled my Chihaya wig my doll also got a light stain on her nose. The color really transfers easily.

I agree with Talolili. The color transfers onto your hands easily and then onto anything you touch. This is probably why we see Volks personnel handling DDs with white gloves.

The good news is the Volks stain cream cleaned her up really nicely. There is still a spot on her ear that I'm going to try Oxy10 on, but before stain removal her whole head other than her face had a blue tint and now it's back to normal.

 

I washed the hair in Woolite for delicates for two days and then left her foot on it with no stains after 24 hours. To answer an earlier question I think the hair is the same shade of blue it was before I washed it, and the water itself turned blue for the first three washes. I changed the water every 4 - 8 hours. I would say that the wig might be a bit less vibrant afterwards, but before washing the wig is totally useless unless you want a stained doll head. I highly highly recommend washing her wig if you get a Chihaya, and in fact i think I will wash the wigs of any future Dollfie I get before putting them on.

 

I have had no hair fiber staining issues with my Sakura Shingugi, Makoto Kikuchi, or Kos-Mos, but better a few days with a bald doll after they come out of the box than trying to clean up a stained custom head.

 

One of the reasons this bothered me as much as it did is her face is really pretty and perfect for a short hairstyle, and I was really looking forward to putting a short wig on her if I can find one in her hair color. I love the doll, and recommend her if you like girls with pretty/cheerful faces. I just wish Volks had managed the hair dye element better.

It's great that you got her cleaned up ^^

 

I have had no hair fiber staining issues with my Sakura Shingugi, Makoto Kikuchi, or Kos-Mos, but better a few days with a bald doll after they come out of the box than trying to clean up a stained custom head.

The reason why Chihaya's wig stains is because her hair has multiple colours, rather than using fibres that are a single colour,

 

Chihaya~ by unknowdata, on Flickr

 

Also, Volks was really, really dumb.

 

FWIW this wig below doesn't stain, because it uses two sets of fibres of different colours.

 

She makes everything cute! ( ˃̶ω˂̶ ૃ) by bodolza, on Flickr

 

It's common to use powders to add gradients and other effects to a wig; those will stain DDs.

It's great that you got her cleaned up ^^

 

Thank you, and I'm really happy about that.

 

The reason why Chihaya's wig stains is because her hair has multiple colours, rather than using fibres that are a single colour,

 

Well pretty sure the gradient is gone, but I don't mind since the wig has now been on her for 24 hours with no stains. She much nicer looking with hair.

Aw, it's too bad the gradient's gone. While I think washing Chihaya's wig is important, in general I would avoid it for other limited wigs because there may be glues and stuff that you may not notice that keep it in shape. For example, like KOS-MOS's ahoge.

Well pretty sure the gradient is gone, but I don't mind since the wig has now been on her for 24 hours with no stains. She much nicer looking with hair.

 

Once you get to 20 posts, would it be possible to see what her wig looks like now without the gradient? I'm getting a Chihaya in the next few months and I'm currently a bit worried about her wig.

I don't remember my Chihaya's wig having that much color variation. But mine also didn't shed dye when I washed and soaked it like other folks have, either. I was still paranoid about it even though it never stained, so I've since sold it.

Aw, it's too bad the gradient's gone. While I think washing Chihaya's wig is important, in general I would avoid it for other limited wigs because there may be glues and stuff that you may not notice that keep it in shape. For example, like KOS-MOS's .

 

Correct me if I am wrong here, but can't you redo that with wig wax? Makoto Kikuchi has the same feature on her hair too. The default ahoge on both their hair is a bit poor, and I was thinking if I got some wig wax I could redo it. If that isn't true I won't mess with them. Makoto has two and one of them was split into two part way through when it arrived. She's also cute and I want to make her hair look perfect.

 

Once you get to 20 posts, would it be possible to see what her wig looks like now without the gradient? I'm getting a Chihaya in the next few months and I'm currently a bit worried about her wig.

 

I can do that for sure. I will take some pictures of her with the wig this weekend. I think her wig looks great as it is, so I would just recommend washing it well when you get it. Just FYI I don't have any wig mist or oil so her hair probably won't look as nice as it can.

 

Someone posted a procedure for washing wigs on the forum, and I followed that except I did five soaks - four x four hour and one overnight - instead of one. I used Woolite instead of shampoo.

 

It's been on her since Sunday now with no stains.

 

As a side note I think the Volks stain cream continues to work for awhile after it is removed. I did wipe it off with a wet towel and wiped the areas down with a wet towel after the cream was gone then dried them. I just checked the ear that still had visible stains on Sunday and they are almost invisible now. I think I got really lucky on this personally.

 

She's a beautiful doll so I would say don't let the wig concerns stop you from getting her. Wash it or get an alternate wig third party. She would look great with a variety of hairstyles and colors.

 

If she has a drawback for me at the moment it's that none of the clothing I have really fits the SS bust nicely. Pretty much everything I have is for S - M. Even Makoto's strawberry outfit doesn't really fit Chihaya's bust well. That said I wouldn't change her bust size - I think it suits her perfectly - I'll just get some clothing that fits it. Some of the doll clothing stores on taobao have some outfits that looks perfect for an SS bust.

Correct me if I am wrong here, but can't you redo that with wig wax?

You may be able to fix it, but they don't necessarily use wig wax. I just learned this the hard way with Yaya's wig I didn't even notice that there was any glue/whatever used. I decided to let the wig soak in water overnight because the black wig cap stained her ears and stuff. It seemed like a safe thing to do, but there's two parts of her wig on each side that are bundled together, tied with black threads so you can attach the hair clips securely. You can't see the threads here but you can see that there's a bundle of hair going over the shoulder on the right,

 

 

Anyway, they weren't just tied up, glue was used too. I know because I can compare her righthand side of the wig which still has the glue but the lefthand side lost it The area is also 'clumpy' so I can tell the glue used to be there. The thread that tied it together came loose so I had to take some time to re-tie it up with some new thread and fix the wig. I think I got it right...

 

Looking at Miku's wig, there's quite a bit of styling in it. I wouldn't be surprised if her hair turned into a Beetles-style mop if it was dunked in water for a long time.

 

She's a beautiful doll so I would say don't let the wig concerns stop you from getting her. Wash it or get an alternate wig third party. She would look great with a variety of hairstyles and colors.

Chihaya is gorgeous, one of my favourites ^^

Chihaya is gorgeous[/url], one of my favourites ^^

 

Kos-Mos is the most beautiful of the four I have. Her face sculpt is amazing. I'm planning on getting a Saber at some point, and I want to see which of the two is prettier. Sakura and Makoto are very cute, Kos-Mos and Chihaya are beautiful. One isn't necessarily better than the other. I like all four of them.

 

I will keep that in mind about the glue. It does make sense they would use something that would be more permanent. I was thinking it might be wax, but I haven't really messed with it to see. I guess I can always test the wigs for color fastness with a hand or foot and then decide if I need to wash them. I just don't ever want a custom head to be stained like that again.

I can do that for sure. I will take some pictures of her with the wig this weekend. I think her wig looks great as it is, so I would just recommend washing it well when you get it. Just FYI I don't have any wig mist or oil so her hair probably won't look as nice as it can.

 

Someone posted a procedure for washing wigs on the forum, and I followed that except I did five soaks - four x four hour and one overnight - instead of one. I used Woolite instead of shampoo.

 

It's been on her since Sunday now with no stains.

 

She's a beautiful doll so I would say don't let the wig concerns stop you from getting her. Wash it or get an alternate wig third party. She would look great with a variety of hairstyles and colors.

 

If she has a drawback for me at the moment it's that none of the clothing I have really fits the SS bust nicely. Pretty much everything I have is for S - M. Even Makoto's strawberry outfit doesn't really fit Chihaya's bust well. That said I wouldn't change her bust size - I think it suits her perfectly - I'll just get some clothing that fits it. Some of the doll clothing stores on taobao have some outfits that looks perfect for an SS bust.

 

Thank you so much, I'm really looking forward to getting her and I really don't want her stained within the first few days ^^; I'll see what I can do to wash her wig as soon as I get her. I'm looking forward to seeing what washing the wig does to its colour. And thank you for the advice c:

Compared to the image in your signature the hair looks darker, but I'm not certain if that might not be lighting. In the official Volks images her hair is much lighter than her hair is now, but in some other images i pulled up with a google search her hair is the same color as the hair on mine. Of course the people who made those images may have washed the wig too.

 

I did a quick comparison under both sunlight and incandescent lighting and I'm going to go out on a limb and say washing it removed the lighter blue highlights and overall the wig is a bit darker. I will post photo's as soon as I can.

 

I would say the hair is a good match for the color of her hair in the anime, but I've never seen the games themselves so I can't say there.

 

I'll photo her in natural light and under tungsten spots, and use color calibration on the images. Depending on differences in your computer screen and mine the colors won't necessarily look exactly the same on yours as they do on mine of course.

 

One other thing I would say is the default outfits that Makoto and Chihaya come with are all lined with white, and that includes the boots. I've had no staining issues with their default clothing. They also worked it so there is only white thread on the inside of the outfits. Makoto's Strawberry outfit is also lined with white as well, but there are a few pieces like the boots that have red thread inside and a glove on one wrist that has red fabric and is only lined with white part way through. The boots also have a red ribbon and red leather that touch the skin of the doll directly.

 

I think Chihaya's Strawberry outfit has the exact same boots as Makoto's, but I can't speak to the rest of it. I have that on layaway along with some other clothing and a Saber Extra. Going to be a awhile before I have that outfit in hand.

 

Makoto's Check My Note outfit is also fully lined with white except the garter, armband, and her leather choker. I used tape under those to prevent staining. The body for check my note is a bit oversized on Makoto, and I haven't tried it on Chihaya because I think the fit will be worse. You can't really see Makoto's bustline with that outfit on. It fits my Sakura Shinguji better than it fits Makoto. She's a DD3 and the larger body with an M bust fills the outfit out better.

 

I hope they make more outfits from the games, and make more specifically for Chihaya.

http://i.imgur.com/rlt5Gsk.jpg

 

I chose not to resize this image so you could zoom in and get a really good look at her. The image was color calibrated using an xrite color checker and on my screen is an accurate representation of the wig color as it is now post washing. If you calibrate your own monitor using the OS tools it should be pretty close, but you sort of have to know what you are doing to do that. It's not hard on a mac using built in tools, but understanding what things like white balance do is important.

 

I opted not to do the artificial light because one of my spots has a bulb out, and I didn't like the shadows that resulted with just one spot. I had wanted to see if I could recreate some of the highlights in the Volks images from a lighting standpoint. She's was photographed indoors using only light from my window.

 

I have no hair products for Dollfie so blame the poor styling on me and what I could do pushing her hair about with my fingers. Her pose is sort of meh too.

 

Edit: I should have said the composition is sort of meh. The pose is fine. I'm not a portrait photographer, so it's not exactly an inspired image.

She's so gorgeous! I think the wig still looks lovely, it is slightly darker but it's not really noticable. I'll definitely be washing it when it arrives. Thanks for taking the photos. c:

Compare the wig when it arrives to the image, and see how they match up. I can't recall the exact color of her wig pre-wash, but I can say that the volks product images of my Kos-Mos match her wig color perfectly.

 

Be really careful not to touch her after you handle the wig pre-wash. I think I touched her chin once and it transferred the blue on my hands to it.

Definitely. It won't be arriving until early May but I'll see if I can post both before and after pictures of the wig side by side.

 

And thank you for the advice. I'm going to be very wary of that wig as soon as I open it.

I originally created this thread, I can say after all this time owning the doll that the wig does absolutely stain out of the box, no question and it will stain bright blue anywhere it touches in under an hour. I had to soak the wig in a sink for a day or two with human shampoo and I drained it a couple of times to refill it with hot water. The water was very blue the first couple times. After the wash it no longer stains.

I originally created this thread, I can say after all this time owning the doll that the wig does absolutely stain out of the box, no question and it will stain bright blue anywhere it touches in under an hour. I had to soak the wig in a sink for a day or two with human shampoo and I drained it a couple of times to refill it with hot water. The water was very blue the first couple times. After the wash it no longer stains.

 

I can say I have zero regrets buying her. I would have been sad if the stains hadn't come out, but more because it's sad to see something beautiful ruined. She doesn't have a stain left on her though, and she's looking pretty in my display case.

Just a solemn reminder that Chihaya's wig is dangerous T_T

http://page4.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/d168800825

 

Poor gal!

Just a solemn reminder that Chihaya's wig is dangerous T_T

http://page4.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/d168800825

 

Poor gal!

Oh wow that is the worst staining on a DD's face I have ever seen! It blows my mind that her wig was able to do that much damage It even stained her arm which I'm assuming is from touching the wig and then touching the doll. Gosh...