Synthetic Wig Care Instructions

Video Highlights

0:32 wash your synthetic wig at least every couple of weeks if you wear it every day – if you don’t wear it every day you can go a good three weeks or four weeks

1:17 detangle the wig just a little bit using a wig comb and if it’s a little more tangled than you’d like it to be spritz with a detangler

1:35 when detangling start at the bottom and gently work the comb through the wig

2:05 it’s easier to wash when it’s detangled

2:23 use cold water

2:37 put the shampoo into the water and swish it around and then just soak the wig

3:36 put the wig under the shampoo and walk away for five or ten minutes

3:50 hold the wig up over the sink of water and run your hands through it getting the shampoo in there to do the work

5:00 rinsing is next with cold water

5:52 lay the wig on a clean towel and gently squeeze the excess water out of the wig

6:30 spray conditioning spray into the base of the wig

7:08 hold the wig from the back and then shake the wig so that the conditioner gets all the way through

7:25 take it outside and let it dry, put it in a wig dryer on a low low low heat, or you can just lay it flat on a towel and in a few hours, or by next morning, it’s dry

8:05 here’s the beauty of synthetic wigs, you brush it and it goes right back to the style it was

Video Transcript

Hi, this is Patti from Wigs by Patti's Pearls. I'm going to show you how to prepare, and shampoo, and condition, and clean your synthetic wig.

This is a synthetic wig that I just got in. It looks a little messy and definitely needs a cleaning. You can count on your synthetic wig probably needing a wash at least every couple of weeks if you wear it every day. If you don't wear it every day, I think you can go for a good three weeks, four weeks, even longer if you wear it very seldom. Most of my girls are wearing them about every day. I usually say every three weeks, because most of the women I know that are wearing the wigs are getting chemo or meds of some type and that seems to be a time that they're feeling good.

If I get a wig in like this, and it's a little frizzed, and a little messy looking, and has a little smell, I know it's time for the broad to go into the water. What I first do is try to detangle it a little bit. I use my big comb for that. If it is a little more tangled than I'd like it to be, what I will do is spritz it with some detangler like this. Then, I'll take my big comb.

When you're detangling, pumpkin, I want you to start at the bottom of the wig. Don't start up here and dig down, because it'll pull the hairs out. Start at the bottom. See how I'm gently going through here?

I tell you, this detangler is fantastic. It makes the hair like silk. Look at that. Just that little minute and that whole back is really detangled and ready to wash.

After I detangle it a little, it doesn't have to be perfect, I think it's easier to wash it if you get it a little bit prepped and it doesn't go in like a huge mess. Then, I do this side.

I'm going to get my water ready. I'm going to put some water into my basin. I like it to be cold water. In fact, I don't know why, I've no rhyme or reason, but I will tell you if I put ice cubes in this water or if I get this water really cold somehow it works better. I don't understand.

Then, I'm going to take my shampoo. This happens to be Jon Renau for synthetic fibers. It's absolutely wonderful. For a longish medium long wig like that, I'm going to take about a quarter. You wouldn't even need that much. For a little short wig, maybe half of it.

I put it into the water. I swish it around a little bit. I feel like I'm in science class and all the class is sitting out here. Swish, swish, swish.

Now, I take my wig, and the secret is I'm going to soak it. I'm not going to wring it, scrub it, pull on it. I'm just going to soak it.

I wish we had an overhead camera. Oprah Winfrey would probably have one.

Anyway, when I go like that already I can see the water getting dirty. I wish you could see this. Then, I soak it, put it under the shampoo, and I walk away maybe for five or ten minutes. Then, I'll come back and the water will usually be really dirty.

What I do is I hold it up like this while I'm in the water and I run my hands through it like that. I'm not going to swish and scrub like it's on a scrub board. Just get the shampoo in there and let it do the work.

The synthetic wig is a flat surface. Remember, it's really a textile. Think of it as silk and cashmere. It's a flat surface. What we're doing now with this wonderful shampoo made especially for the synthetic fiber is letting that surface get cleaned of all of its grime, and goop, and perfume, and dust, and all the other stuff, and smog.

Then, when I hold it up I kind of squeeze it. I don't twist it. I don't turn it. Squeeze, gently squeeze. What that does is it gets out the excess water.

Now, what I need to do... See? That water's all dirty. I can't believe it. Fantastic.

Now what I'm going to do is I'm going to rinse it. When I'm at home doing this and I'm not in the salon, warehouse, blah, blah, blah, I take this to my tub, believe it or not, because my tub has more water force.

I'm going to go over here. I'm going to rinse it really good with the cold water and get all that shampoo and the dirt out. While I'm doing this...

By the way, I have on Jon Renau's Heat in 12FS8. Everybody always asks, so I thought I'd tell you. What I did was I curled out.

I've done it with cold water. Again, what I'm doing is squeezing, squeezing, squeezing, squeezing. The flat surface is now clean.

I'm going to just get the excess water out like this, because after I've cleaned the surface this is the most important step, and it's called the conditioner. I've taken everything off of this fiber and it's bare. I need to recoat it with the conditioner and the anti-static and the anti-frizz. Believe it or not, all of that is in the wonderful, wonderful conditioning spray.

It's still damp. It's still wet. I always hold the wig upside down. Where you're going to go with this is into the base. That's where the curl pattern, the teasing, all of the good stuff is there at the base.

I don't want you to put it out here. I want you to put it in the base. One two three, four five six, seven eight nine. I'll probably make about 15 squirts for this long one, maybe nine to ten for a short one.

I'm going to hold it like this and get all that conditioner and get that flat surface coated. Then, I hold it from the back. I stand back. I hope I can show you. I shake it. What I'm doing is aerating the wig, separating it, even on short ones, so that that conditioner gets all the way through.

I can take it outside, and it'll dry in about 15 minutes. The sun won't hurt it. I can put it in a wig dryer. I can put it under a low, low, low heat. Or, I can just lay it on a towel and, boom, in a few hours, especially by the next morning, it's dry.

My little Ignite, I did that too yesterday. I left it kind of laying on a towel. I picked it up this morning so you'll know what it looks like when it's dry. It's still kind of pasty and a little messy, but here's the beauty of synthetic, pumpkin...

Oh, no, this isn't Ignite. I think this is Jenny.

Anyway, here's the beauty of it. You brush it and it goes right back to the style it was.

Have a great day. That's how you care for a synthetic wig.