How To Make A Diy Wig For Beginners

♪ ♪: What's up beautiful people, It is your homegirl Ms. Shameless all up in your building, and I am serving you hair videos. Seven Days of Hair and today is How to Make a Wig for Beginners.. I have so many wigs, but I've never made one and I've been watching all types of videos on YouTube on how to make a wig, and I just never see enough detail. So I hit up my homegirl Makeba. Here. She is. [ Giggling ], Look at all of this, So I was watching her collab with Ari [ ph. ], Ari turnt, a look. MAKEBA Yeah. We turned her into an ultimate femme. MAYA Yeah. So I was like I want my turn.. I want to play. So she's going to teach us how to make all of this. Yes from the beginning, like scratch., If you've never made a wig. This is for you today. Me.. Let'S do this. MAYA The first thing you're going to need when you're making your first wig is bundles of hair.. I am using three and a half bundles of hair that Makeba actually sells, and this hair is Eurasian and it's really natural.. It'S curly.. It looks like my hair when I used to have long flowy hair., And they measure in length from 24 inches 22 and 20 inches. Next you're going to need a closure.. Now a closure is basically a patch of hair that mimics your hair that lies on the top of your head right by your forehead., And a closure basically closes the wig off.. Now, when you buy closures, they have little tiny knots right where the lace is and that's how the hair is secured onto the lace.. You knot it up., But when you are making wigs and you pay attention to detail, you don't like those knots, because it's obvious that it's not real.. So a lot of hairstylists will bleach these knots, so the hair blends more seamlessly with your scalp.. So that's what Makeba's doing right, here. She's actually going to bleach the knots. And when it comes to bleach, you got to know what you're doing. And for the measurements we'll put that in the info. Box. But she's, basically taking a bleaching formula and making sure that the consistency is thick and creamy. If it gets too liquidy and watery, it can bleed and spill on areas that you don't want to bleach. So she's just trying to bleach the knots, not the hair. Shaft., Just the knots., So you see how thick that consistency is And she's just spreading, that onto the lace closure, which is going to bleach the knots. And then she's going to go ahead and wash it out. And she's being very delicate with this. A lot of People like to scrub, but she likes to squeeze. And she's, washing with Shimmer Lights, which is a toner which gets rid of the brassiness and the yellow tones from the hair and conditioning with some awesome Moroccan oil conditioner., And I will say this much -- Makeba's hair Smells so good and it's because of what she uses to wash it. Now you're going to need a dome, cap. And we're using this one. ♪ ♪. So you need to measure my head. It'S pretty simple., So many people ask all the time ,''. How do I measure my head? I don't know.'', But I'm like ,''. It'S really easy.'' All right, yeah. You're, a 22. -Twenty-two -Mm-hmm.. So that's like an average head size, Yeah. And then you're a 13 back.. Those are the most important measurements really so that you understand how deep you're going and how wide you need it to be around the mannequin head.. So there's heads that are 22.. That makes your life easier.. Why do you need to know from here to here? This is depth., There's some people who have a 22 head, but then their heads are -- [ Laughing ] Their heads project a little bit, more. -Like aliens -A little bit more yeah.. So you want to give some room., But that's why I like using caps like these. Stretch., With lots of stretch.. So there's two of these that I like. This one has the mesh. Ooo, that's nice.. This has got even more stretch to it., Which one is better. It'S all preference.. If you have a really big head, I would say that this one isn't the best. Unless you can find this in an extra large., It doesn't have any stretch.. So this one stretches This one has a lot of stretch. So it's also very forgiving. If you're starting out., You need a head to work, on., There's Styrofoam heads., There's these blocks that are good to work on that you can get in your size because there's different sizes., Most importantly, you need a stand.. It doesn't have to be a professional stand like this, but they have ones that are on tabletop stands that you can hook on here and then you can work on it. MAYA. Oh, that's! Actually, a good idea. Yeah, because trying to do this in your lap like this is not working. MAYA. Do you cut the elastic on this or no Yeah after. After you've sewn the closure on we'll cut the elastic off.? If it's at 23? That'S not bad because it's just going to have give anyway, so you're not going to be like. Oh my gosh, this is 23. It'S going to be way too big for my head.. It'S spandex.! It'S going to kind of retract back in., ♪ ♪! I like to position the closure over this part where the two lines meet. I like to place the closure around this area., So I'll use these wig, pins and I'll hold down the side that I'm not sewing on at the moment. ♪ ♪. And then I'm going to start sewing on this side. MAYA And you line it up to the black the lace in the thing MAKEBA. This part MAYA, Yeah., Yeah you're, going to go straight to the edge. MAYA And before you start sewing, you need to prep your needles.. Now Makeba is using a curved needle and nylon thread and the nylon thread is actually really good.. It repels water. And it doesn't get caught like cotton thread does.. So you definitely want to prep that and she has 10 needles good to go, and the length of the thread is the length of her arm.. So when you run out you just pull from your batch. ♪ ♪ MAYA, That's how you do it. MAKEBA, Mm-hmm., ♪, ♪ MAYA! So what's the technique here, MAKEBA You're, basically going through this hole. MAYA Going through what hole MAKEBA This string. This thread that you have you're pushing it over so that you'll have a loop happening., So instead, if you're just normally sewing you're just going in and the thread is almost behind you, whereas this you're going in between it. MAYA, Oh okay., MAKEBA, That's why you always Have this hand pulling it that way, because that allows me to make a loop. See It's going through and it's going to make a loop.. So you end up with a loop and a line.. So basically, when you sew one side down, you don't want to just go all the way around. You want to do one side first and then move on to the other side.. That way, you'll get an even distribution of the closure at the top, because if not, you sometimes get winching. If you try to ``, Let me just keep sewing around ,'' and then you get back and you're like this -- MAYA. So you stop in the middle MAKEBA Yeah I stop and then I go back to the other side. And I'll sew on this side and then meet in the middle. The closure. And I usually do distance of my arm span., As I'm sewing, I'm just going like this.. It gets shorter and shorter., But if it's super long you're going to be like you're getting messy like you're trying to -- and if it's too short you're like redoing needles every moment, but that one arm span is the perfect distance and you'll get so much faster. At sewing., So basically you're lining up that little straight line with your cap.. Stick, your needle through.! When you stick it through you're, actually going to split the thread and put that first thread through the needle, and that is your first anchor. After that you're going to do the pattern that I was talking about before, where you're going through ... ♪ ♪ MAKEBA. So this was the side I started on.. This is the side I just came in. So now they're just meeting in the middle and I'm going to close it up. There's two ways to end your knot.. You can do the wraparound two times, which I feel wastes a lot of thread. This I can reuse, but if you're a smaller -- like you need enough room right to be able to wrap Or the other option is I loop through so that piece, I'm just Going to save it between my fingers., I cut it, and then I tie it up.. I do like two knots.. You can do just one and be fine, but I'm always like I might as well secure it. You know MAYA, And this is what it looks like to have the closure secure and that's the first piece you're going to sew down. ♪ ♪ MAKEBA. Now we're going to flip her around. MAYA Upside down, MAKEBA Mm-hmm. MAYA Inside out MAKEBA Inside out upside down. Round and round honey. [ Laughing ] We're going to put some little pieces along the sides that are going to be from the inside that when the wind Blows you have some pieces, there. Right., You don't see the ... Yeah.. I usually like to make those pieces four inches roughly.. So for these pieces you can just measure four inches roughly.. Now we've got these little pieces here. And these are going to go at the front. MAYA And you went through the ... MAKEBA Through the loop. MAYA. Do you go through the loop there too MAKEBA Mm-mm., I'm doing the same thing via this one. MAYA Okay.. So you go around MAKEBA Around. MAYA. What do you call that Around the needle MAKEBA There's a name for this, and I want to say it's bed or something., There's a name for the actual technique, and I can't remember now: what's it's called. But yeah, something bed or sleeping. All right., Then the other Side. ♪ ♪ MAKEBA. This is what I mean by that tying method.. If I get to the end of my thread here, I can't do that loop., But I can still do this separating it underneath the knot., Which means at the end, look how much -- I barely have any thread. Left. MAYA, Right., ♪, ♪ MAKEBA Just really use it up.. This next part is optional.. It would be doing the same thing in the back.. It would basically be just adding another piece like this in the back, not all the way around., Because if you do one all the way around you're going to lose a lot of the elasticity, which is the beauty in this right. You want to be able to still have that movement and that stretch., So you can put in a piece right, there. MAYA, That's a lot of hair too., MAKEBA, Yeah. MAYA, Oh damn.! She put her on an angle., [, Inaudible ]. You know! Oh now, I usually put the wefts over my shoulder when I'm working, because that honestly makes your life so much easier.. That'S! If I'm not cutting.. When you cut the wefts, some people like to seal all of the weft., You don't really have to. A nice. Little easy way is using a little bit of nail glue and you can just do the ends. Just a little on the tips here on each side.. Maya, Oh okay., MAKEBA Just to kind of soften [, inaudible ], But I only do this when I'm making wigs.. I don't do this if it's a sew-in on someone's head with the nail glue.. This is our little back piece, here., ♪, ♪, MAKEBA Hand. Position is also, I feel, very important., Because it helps you be more efficient, because a lot of people will go like this trying to pull the thread through.. But it's like one hand should be for the wefts and one hand is for sewing kind of thing. MAYA, Right. ♪ ♪. Now we flip her back around. Bring her back to her senses after that wild experience. And now you've got a little action in the back. Have a little bit on the sides. We're going to start with the longer bundles which are 224s. MAYA? Do you double up or no MAKEBA? We will for this. MAYA And when I said doubling up that basically means taking the weft of hair and folding it over itself.. So, instead of having a single track of hair, we're going to double up and make that really thick and so two tracks down at the same time., I'm only going to probably double the first bundle. MAYA, The back part MAKEBA, Yeah. MAYA. How do you know where to start on the wig cap? This is the nape of the neck of the cap, so you're just going from here to here. It's not life or death though.. If you were to go wider, it's okay. You're, just as you're going kind of flowing with the curvature of the head as you go: up. ♪, ♪, MAKEBA, And so these little flaps --. When you first start, I try to go back over them. MAYA Right, so they don't -- MAKEBA, Stick out., So that you keep them kind of flat.. So, basically, because we're not going to be cutting the wefts every row --, it's called the fold-over method.. So if I do a fold-over, it's going to be like four pieces on top of each other.. So what you can do is just open up the track a little and go like that. So you have only two and I find that helps with making it not as bulky., And then you keep going. ♪ ♪ MAYA, How much space do you leave between MAKEBA About two finger spaces, one and a half, depending on how much hair you're actually going to Be putting in. In this case we're doing four bundles, so our spacing is going to be probably like one and a half because we're going to make it really big. MAYA And you don't have any of these pins on the wig MAKEBA. Oh wig, pins, MAYA, Yeah., MAKEBA Yeah, I don't use those. MAYA, You don't need to MAKEBA Yeah., But I guess if you're really -- yeah, maybe it would be easier., Pin it so that you can keep sewing freely.. But that's why -- I use my hand as my guide as opposed to the actual pins. But yeah. If you're a beginner, then the wig pin kind of predicting where it's going to go would definitely make it easier for you., ♪, ♪ MAYA. So right now, there's only one track.. Can you show the difference? Oh yeah. MAKEBA There's the two pieces here., So initially we're going to --. If we go like this and like this ... MAYA, It's too much. MAKEBA, It's gon na be bulkier.. With this. Now we're kind of opening them up. Going to sew that across here. And then when we flip back. That will be the part, that's doubled. And then we'll continue over.. So this weft here we're going to just drop one side., I'm just going to refold it like that., So we're only going to double half of this bundle.. So the rest of this here is all going to be singled.. So I'm taking this double side now and I'm going to continue., I'm just going to overlap it like this and continue sewing. MAYA, That's three., MAKEBA Yeah., Just for a second. Just for like a minute. And the rest of it is going to go over my shoulder. ♪ ♪, If you ever get a loop like that, like here randomly and you're like ``, I don't know what that's from'', -- MAYA Pull, one of them right. Makeba Yeah pull one of them.. It'S going to be one of those two. ♪ ♪ MAYA. So does that make sense, Makeba is basically doing the same pattern working her way throughout the entire head and it's putting the needle through and making sure that the thread is behind the needle. And she just keeps working away., And this actually takes --. This is what's time-consuming., It's kind of like knitting., Time-consuming but rewarding., And you get to look fly at the end of the day. MAKEBA. This little pie shape here, ... MAYA. Does this usually happen with all your wigs MAKEBA? It can yeah. Often.. It depends yeah. But you're going to just fold over and then I'm going to cut this little piece right: here., ♪, ♪, Doing the same thing., Just filling it in., Yeah. MAYA, And so you sew it into the top of the lace MAKEBA Yeah.. It can be right into the lace or it can be just right below it. MAYA. So are you sewing into MAKEBA? I'M sewing into yeah. ♪ ♪. So before you cut it out, you want to try it on. [, Laughing ], She's back., Just see how it feels. Make sure it's like --, okay yeah. It feels like it fits right. Does it feel too tight or anything? She is on. All right.. So we'll cut this., ♪ ♪ MAYA. How do you know where to cut MAKEBA? You just don't want to cut where you've sewn. And you just kind of bring it around giving at least a little bit of space between your thread and the actual cap.. The biggest thing is you just want to remove most of this black part so that when it goes on your head, -- MAYA, You don't see it. MAKEBA, Yeah exactly., So the band is what's going to lock you down. It's going to make sure that your stuff Isn'T flying off in the wind and make sure that your closure lays nice and flat. MAYA, Tight. Taut.. So your head was like 22 right And then closure here, -- we're going to subtract that from your 22, which brings us to 18 and then we're going to just take another two from that. Which means this is 16 and that's going to be the length of your band.. It'S going to go inside.. I take away that two inches just so that you actually have some stretch., Because if not - and we just did 18, it would just be your head size. And it does loosen up anyways over time.. So we're going to make it 16 inches. MAYA, So we're using an elastic band that is an inch and a half in diameter., MAKEBA And you're, just going to put it right around here., MAYA And she's, using the same technique that she used to sew the weave In to sew this band, in. And she's doing it on either side of the closure. MAKEBA, I'm just going to wet the front a little here.. This is for the brave beginner.. You see how this hairline is straight across We're going to customize it just a bit. You're, not ready for frontals. Maybe yet, but you still want your closures to have a very natural look., So we're actually just going to go across the hairline and just lightly tweeze out some of these hairs and just break up that straight-across hairline. ♪ ♪ See how much hair comes out. Maya Yeah, because that's what you tweezed out. Yeah., You feel like you're, not doing much, but you really are., There's so much density in the front of that hairline.. So now you don't just have this straight-across line.! You have something that's just a little bit softer just to break it up and just look a little more natural on you. Be gentle., Don't just dig into it. Try to go lightly. And because this is also not mandatory. --, like I said this is for the person who wants to take it to the next level. -- don't feel pressured like you can't do this. If you don't do this. And try not to stay in the same spot too many times, because then you're just going to create patches., But it's all definitely an eyeball thing., There's no exact formula., It's much easier to tweeze when the hair's wet. When it's dry. It'S way, harder. See the difference. It'S a little more broken up, not as straight across., Okay, so there's some cutting. ♪ ♪ We going to braid her up., Give the wig a little grip something to stick onto.. This is from my finger. Wave. Click here to watch. MAYA, Since I part my hair on this side, Makeba's going to go ahead and add braids to secure the weave in and just get it super natural-looking.. So you need to cornrow your entire head. Or not.. You can use a wig cap., But that's what she's doing.. You know what my challenge is Wearing a wig out. -In life. -Yeah. Like I can wear it to a club or an event. -That's, like whatever. -You, mean just day to day, But to a friend like act like oh yeah, I'm cute ..., You would feel weird.. I do. So I want to try to challenge myself to ... -Just, go through a day. -Yeah. And be like whatever.. Is it that you feel self-conscious about it or you feel like it's too much? What is it that makes you not want to do it? I feel self-conscious about it. Yeah.. Like don't look at my lace.. Don'T look at it., But the thing is, I don't even know because I've never even done it., But when I see girls doing it, I'm like wow that looks so good. With the braids. I always feel like the grip is better.. The wig stays better than a cap., A cap slides., It's like friction. And the caps dry out, your hair too. So they're not really the best thing to use.. I don't really use those unless I have to.. I was filming a video and my hair was already pulled out for another video, so I was like okay, fine, whatever I'll, wear a cap really quickly., But to walk around with a cap. I'M like nah, there's so much movement.. So you usually have your band here. Frontal to forehead like this, and then you put your band behind. ♪ ♪. This is so weird.. It really is looking like old Maya.. Do I look fabulous? You do honey. It's coming together.. So, basically, you want to try to line up where your part is with the part you make. Just lay it down a little bit because we're going to open up her part., So basically we're going to tweeze it a little. So it doesn't just look like darkness. Showing. We're just going to open it up a little bit and tweeze some of it off.. So underneath you'll see my scalp, Your scalp yeah exactly. MAKEBA, All right! So we're going to continue this trickery by making this part black, but we don't want to make the whole thing black.. It'S just that part area that we're going to leave the natural color of the lace.. So you can use mascara for this., I'm using liquid eyeliner right now., Liner, mascara --, any of that stuff. MAYA And what Makeba is basically doing is coloring the lace because the lace is lighter and it is contrasting, my hair. So to blend it seamlessly. She'S just coloring it with some liner. ♪ ♪ And then she's spraying, my hair with some leave-in conditioner and blow-drying it on the root just to get it laid. You know, so the volume is on the bottom and it's more flat on top. She's. Just doing a little spritz to give the curls some shape. ♪ ♪ And then diffusing it with a diffuser.. Basically just fiddling and styling. ♪ ♪ Woo. ♪ ♪ [, Giggling, deliriously ] She's back. Who is this? Is this Maya, The one that we knew and met The one that started it all? Oh, my God, I love this., You laid her. And you made her., So you guys make sure you check out Makeba's channel. All the info on the hair in the info. Box.. You can buy the bundles from her. And I'll list all the products that we used. Yes.. Oh my God thank you.. So what's your YouTube channel, [, Inaudible, ] Click here. On her face. Info box., Yay., ♪, ♪,