✼ The Official Wig and Hair Extensions Thread ✼

[BlueMermaid]

Iona, thank you for posting all this info!! I have been wearing wigs for years and I still learned a lot! Thank you!

I have had a different experience with human hair vs synthetic myself. I've had both the poor quality and high quality synthetic. Both get damaged by the water but the high quality are still usable for a while where the low quality get destroyed after just a few swims. I think it's a good point to have one for dry gigs, and one for swimming. I have used the same one for both many times but it seems like, once they have gone in the water a few times, they get tangled very easily even when wearing them dry.

My human hair wig seems to be doing great. The hair does not seem to get damaged by the water and is doing way better than my high quality synthetic. So personally I recommend human hair over synthetic if you can afford it. But that was just my experience, it may depend a lot on the hair. The downside to human hair is that it's nearly impossible to find in a fun color. If anyone every finds one in blue, please let me know!

One thing I think people should know is that if you are wearing a regular wig that is not a lace cap, sometimes the wefts are visible. I have pictures of me at events and when the hair is wet, they show through. Just something to keep in mind. This is why I just recently bought some lace cap wigs and I am excited to use them more.

Also I highly recommend practicing swimming in them a lot before you go to a gig. lol Even with practice we have had a few wig malfunctions at events, save yourself the awkwardness and practice a lot. lol

[AniaR]

Iona I'd love to adapt this like I did with your how to deal with chlorine thread, for my book. last time I paraphrased and quoted you with credit, would it be ok to do that again this time? I do have a lot of my own information from my own experience I'll be putting in, but just like the chlorine thread- you've done all your home work Let me know!

[AniaR]

My human hair wig seems to be doing great. The hair does not seem to get damaged by the water and is doing way better than my high quality synthetic. So personally I recommend human hair over synthetic if you can afford it.

My stylist says it depends on the circumstances though. If your human hair is constantly in chlorine, if the human hair wig was processed to look the way it does etc. My halo gets ruined anytime I get it wet and it's the highest quality human hair I could buy, but we had to process it to make it match my natural hair colour. Everytime I go for a hair cut she also gives my human hair halo's a treatment to keep them lasting. But I don't get them wet anymore. Just once was enough to almost ruin them.

[ylluria]

Wow, thanks SO MUCH! That post was chock FULL of great advice n' info! Thanks very very much again, Iona! ♥♥

[Winged Mermaid]

Iona I'd love to adapt this like I did with your how to deal with chlorine thread, for my book. last time I paraphrased and quoted you with credit, would it be ok to do that again this time? I do have a lot of my own information from my own experience I'll be putting in, but just like the chlorine thread- you've done all your home work Let me know!

Sure you can! Sounds good

[BlueMermaid]

That is so strange! I don't know why mine is doing so well then. I never colored it, maybe that's why?

My stylist says it depends on the circumstances though. If your human hair is constantly in chlorine, if the human hair wig was processed to look the way it does etc. My halo gets ruined anytime I get it wet and it's the highest quality human hair I could buy, but we had to process it to make it match my natural hair colour. Everytime I go for a hair cut she also gives my human hair halo's a treatment to keep them lasting. But I don't get them wet anymore. Just once was enough to almost ruin them. [/COLOR]

[Calizaire]

Was SUPER jazzed Iona took the time to put this together! Had been wanting to try a wig for awhile but really didn't know where to start. My first try was a total fail, (stupid tape!!) so I did some more research, watched a thousand wig tutorials on YouTube, and tried out some new products. Iona said I should post a review, so here it is! Hope it helps someone or at least spares someone ripping their baby hairs out like I did!
(Sorry for the bathroom selfies in advance)

So this is my wig. I got her at http://www.wigisfashion.com/. She's a lace front synthetic wig. She lives in my mercave and generally brings a creepy Silence of the Lambs storage locker type of feel to the place.


After the lame wig tape incident I came up with these three products which had great reviews on Amazon. Scalp prep, glue, and glue remover.

http://www.amazon.com/WALKER-C-22-Ci...ilpage_o02_s00
http://www.amazon.com/Walker-Scalp-P...ilpage_o02_s00
http://www.amazon.com/Walker-Ultra-H...ilpage_o02_s00

My wig’s lace was trimmed like this. I watched a few videos on the best way and this is what I came up with, I didn’t use the zig zag method. Time will tell if I did a good job or just royally effed up my wig.


Got this wig brush from Sally’s Beauty Supply. It’s bristles are looped, it works great for styling!


Step one, I put all my hair back and hairsprayed my baby hairs to try and get them back. I put my hair in a pony tail, but if I were wearing this wig at an event I would have put it in two braids and pinned them to the top of my head. I had a hairnet, I lost it in a hotel a few weeks ago, don’t ask.


I rubbed my hairline down with rubbing alcohol. Then I applied the scalp prep. What does scalp prep do? Your guess is as good as mine; I’m just following instructions here. Next I applied the glue around my hairline.


You know when you’re using E600 and you get these long strings of glue everywhere? And next thing you know it’s under your nails and all over your jeans? Take that annoyance and quadruple it and that’s how working with this glue feels. I got it EVERYWHERE.

Direction on glue say to use a blow dryer on it. Ok, whatever you say, so I did that. Then I put my wig on, tried to match the front of it to my hairline, pressed down and then tied a bandana around my head to hold it with pressure while the glue dried.

Walked past Hubby’s office. “If that’s your mermaid chola look, it’s really not working for you honey.” Ok, noted…

Patience is a virtue I wasn’t blessed with so 15 minutes later I took off the bandana and checked out the handiwork.
Ugh, what a gluey mess. I guess my wig got a little pushed back behind my hairline?



The glue wasn’t totally set so I decided to try again. I will NOT be bested by this wig darnit!!
So I scoot the darn thing forward, re-apply mer-chola apparatus and decide to go paint some shells in the mer-cave while I wait for it all to dry and try not to be annoyed and impatient.


45 minutes later I go check it out. BETTER!!Not great, but better.


And the finished product.


I don’t know, I feel like I look like that one jailbird Real Housewife of New jersey that has no forehead…maybe I’m just not used to seeing myself like this.
Oh, the remover stuff worked great. I just massaged it into the wig where the glue was and boom, glue just dissolved.

Takeaways and tips from my wig adventure today:

I think I would put my wig on MOST of the way BEFORE applying the glue. There were many stray hairs all gunked up in there. That happened when I put the wig on with the glue already on me. THEN I would scoot the wig forward with the hair brushed back away from the front.

Let the darn glue dry!

If you lost your hairnet in a hotel, just go buy another, they’re like $2. I think a hairnet would have REALLY helped keep my stray hairs back.

The glue has a brush built into its lid. The brush sucks, use your own brush. I will try that next time.
This glue WORKS! You couldn’t get this darn thing off me if ya tried! Totally recommend. Don’t mess with those tape strips.

Edited to add: While the glue remover works excellently to remove the glue from your skin and your wig, it is nearly useless to get the glue out of your own hair. Another reason to be careful about where you place the wig's hairline. Totally not the fault of the product, it wasn't designed to get glue out of hair. Also, if you DO get it in your own hair know that it will make your hair super greasy, so if you're planning on going anywhere after wearing your wig, be aware you're look greasy.

Hope this helps someone!

[Vicky Mermaid]

Just a tip. Be carefull with the walker ultra hold glue. It is meanth to be for women who wair there lace front wigs for a longer time. It is a very strong glue. If you want to wear it for just day or a few hours, it is better to use spirit gum or tape. Also be carefull not to put the glue in your own hairline. I've seen some pretty messed up foreheads and hairlines in my salon from woman who used too strong adhesive for their wigs.

[BlueMermaid]

I just bought some Walker Mighty Tight. Is that stronger or weaker than ultra hold? I only used it once so not sure how I feel about it yet.

Just a tip. Be carefull with the walker ultra hold glue. It is meanth to be for women who wair there lace front wigs for a longer time. It is a very strong glue. If you want to wear it for just day or a few hours, it is better to use spirit gum or tape. Also be carefull not to put the glue in your own hairline. I've seen some pretty messed up foreheads and hairlines in my salon from woman who used too strong adhesive for their wigs.

[Vicky Mermaid]

I just bought some Walker Mighty Tight. Is that stronger or weaker than ultra hold? I only used it once so not sure how I feel about it yet.

Same story... Also for a longer use.

[Calizaire]

I've found spirit gum and tape don't hold underwater; the ultra hold is the only thing I've tried that does.

[KaylinSilvermerr]

Hello Mers!

I just wanted to add another online/ physical hair extension shop that might be of interest, and that is Doctored Locks. (http://www.doctoredlocks.com)

They mostly do dreads, but do have an assortment of wigs, bulk synthetic hair and different methods (glue and shrinkies and linkies). Their customer service was amazing and their shipping fast. They also have hair cutting tools for synthetic wigs and extensions if you're a DYI kinda person.

Anyway, just thought I'd add this in as it hadn't been added yet.

~Kaylin

[Mermaid Arabella]

For anyone who likes Epic Cosplay Wigs, they just opened a sister store for lace-front wigs, called Pish Posh Wigs. I haven't tried them yet, but I like ECW's wigs so I'm definitely going to try them out at some point.

[Alinda the Reef Fish]

To add my own two cents, the past few months have been a fun wig-learning experience for me. My real hair is short but I invested in a mermaid wig for going professional eventually. Well, I actually bought two, one for in the water and one for out of the water. And it's been a wild ride with these things. These are lacefront synthetic with three clips on the inside of the cap, one on the each side and one at the front of the top of the head. While this does make it easier for the wigs to stay in my hair, the lace is very thin on these. Therefore, after I attempted using eyelash glue with the lace on these and it didn't go over very well. I think it was a combo of the wig lace being so thin, along with the eyelash glue being thick and white, the glue started to seep through into the hairstrands and looked terrible. Thankfully I was able to clean out the wig quickly enough after I had tried applying the glue to my head. I imagine that using real wig glue or wig tape would work much better, especially since it doesn't slide very far past my hairline when I swim with my water wig on. I have another lacefront wig that is completely unrelated to my mermaid costuming that has MUCH thicker lace, it's almost plastic, so I would consider using eyelash glue with a lacefront wig like that. That one I bought from Ardawigs and they specialize in cosplay wigs and accesories.

My real hair:

My mermaid wig (please ignore my obnoxious 21st birthday crown):


They look extremely real in-person, surprisingly. Friends have mistaken me for being a stranger while I've had these wigs on. The top part matches my natural hair color so it has an easier time blending into my hairline and I still get a bright appearance in the water. Here are some images for better perspective of the overall wig:

Wearing a lacefront wig for the 1st time:

At work for an event:


The first wig I bought, I made the mistake of attempting to brush it out with a regular comb. It trashed a lot of the ends, but thanks to the advice from my cosplay friends, I figured out how to soak it for a day in fabric softener and bought a special wig brush with loops to detangle it safely. After that, I took a temperature controlled hair curler to the wig to try to recurl the wig, but I quickly learned that the fabric softener that was in the wig wasn't going to let that happen. However, I was able to use the curler as a straightener for the wig and it helped put many of the frizzy-appearing ends back into place. Some wigs are not heat-safe but I knew that mine was because that was part of the description of this item when I purchased it. This worked out because my water wig is now straight and my curled wig will only be used for out-of-water purposes, so I have the advantage of two different looks.

This is probably the best picture I have of the straight wig:

It's messy and wavy still in some places but it works. My natural hair usually uncurls when I wash it anyway so the combination is fitting.

Anyway, this is what I have learned from my own trial and error and thought I would share.

[AniaR]

I found shorter wigs are easier for me to wear with just tape or glue, I can get them to totally stay on underwater, but anything longer needs anchoring





If I am just posing and not swimming as much a simple head band holds it perfectly





My extensions work well but because they're so processed I don't get them wet

[Alinda the Reef Fish]

Are those short red wigs new Raina, or did you trim down your longer ones?

[Mermaid Momo]

Commenting to remind myself to check back. I'm wanting to find some GIANT afro wigs to wear underwater. I was thinking of just lutting braids in but braids limit the amount of times i can swim before i have to get them taken down

sent from my shellphone using tapatalk

[AniaR]

Are those short red wigs new Raina, or did you trim down your longer ones?

different. I got 3 different lengths.

[Alinda the Reef Fish]

different. I got 3 different lengths.

Ah Okay, they look professionally cut, but I cut and style many of my cosplay wigs myself so I wasn't sure.

[AniaR]

they came that way I couldnt style a wig to save my life hahahah