How To Wear A Short Wig Or Weave When You Have Long Hair

Long hair is overrated. It’s nice to have it but it’s also a great deal of work to maintain, particularly long natural hair. Look at Mwedzi with her mid back length 4b hair. Her epic 4 hour detangling sessions are enough to make even the most patient of us reach for either a pair of scissors or a relaxer!

If you follow my personal blog you will know that recently I’m going through a short-hair-is-great phase but I also have no intention of cutting my own hair (this stuff grows way too slow for me to even consider a trim) but I do enjoy rocking a short do every now and again.

Without resorting to short full weaves* or wigs* which don’t generally look very natural, I came up with a simple way to hide my hair under a short wig. It’s a lovely looking protective style and because of the way it is installed, using a u-part wig, you can take it down every weekend for a thorough hair washing. Here’s how I did it:

1. Create a u- part wig. You will need a wig* head, a wig cap* and some curly weaving hair. Lover4Fashion has a really good tutorial on how to create a u-part wig* on YouTube so if you don’t know how, check it out now. In regards to the hair, go for the shortest length you can get since you are only going to cut it anyway. When cutting the wig, have it as short as you like at the back but leave some length at the front to allow for more seamless blending with your own hair.

2. Separate your hair and braid. Separate your leave out hair (I left out 1 inch at the top and sides) and braid up the remainder. You can choose to cornrow your hair for a flatter base but I often opt to do some large braids which work just as well. When I have the time I may create a more intricate and flatter braiding pattern but it’s not absolutely necessary.

3. Create a perimeter braid. If you are going to sew down the wig, create a perimeter cornrow braid behind the leave out hair and all along the rest of the hairline. This is to provide a solid base for the wig to sit on. If you are going to use wig clips omit this step but I find clips very uncomfortable personally.

4. Tie your hair down. I like to tie my loose braids into a low bun for convenience. Since you are installing curly hair, there won’t be a visible hump anyway!

5. Cornrow your leave out hair. Cornrowing creates even curls from root to tip so do this with your leave out. If your own hair is pretty long, use thin perm rods* to roll half the length of your hair up until it matches the length of the wig. The curls from the perm rod will make your hair appear much shorter while still matching the wig*’s curl pattern.

6. Install the wig. Using a curved weaving needle sew the wig down onto the perimeter braid. This usually takes me 7-8 minutes to do and I’m pretty slow! U-part wigs* are so convenient, they are quickest way that I know of getting a full head install without putting stress on all your hair. The take-down is super quick too, it’s literally 2 minutes!

7. Cut. Cut the wig as short as you like once it’s installed. As you can see I wasn’t happy with the length when I first installed the wig so I cut it shorter until I was happy with it.

8. Blend. Leave the cornrows and perm rods* overnight and in the morning unravel them to release those lovely curls. Blend your curls with the wig hair and rock that short hair all week long!

9. Don’t expect your significant other to notice! My husband didn’t notice that there was anything different about my hair until I pointed it out. *Roll eyes*

It’s a very easy style to maintain. Simply pineapple your leave out plus the top half of the wig hair overnight. Don’t bother covering your hair with a scarf or anything, just sleep on a satin or silk pillowcase. In the morning, let your hair down, fluff and go.

Every other day, spray your hair underneath the wig* with a leave in conditioner to maintain your moisture levels. At the end of the week, just remove the wig for your usual washing routine.

For this to be a true protective style you should wash your hair in the braids/cornrows you have underneath. If you are taking them down and redoing them weekly, you are defeating the purpose of the protective style!