5 Basic Tips For Cosplay Wig Styling (Part 2)

Hi everyone and welcome to the second part for basic wig, styling tips.. Sorry wig you basic., I am Lie, I'm a cosplayer, so this video focuses on synthetic wig styling for my cosplay wigs. Last year I uploaded the first part for basic wig, styling tips and i'm very happy how well it was received.. You had lots of more questions and i'm trying to answer them now in this video. So let's get started. 1. adding volume. Sometimes wigs can be a bit too thin or you simply need a very voluminous wig with lots of hair.. You can either order additional wefts in the same color of your wig or, if that isn't an option order. The same wig again.. When you do that, you first have to choose between the good wig, you'll wear and the bad work you sacrifice.. They are the same, but you have to make a decision because you don't love them equally., Then you gently have to remove the wefts.. I suggest using a seam ripper, but if you are one of the people being cursed to always misplace those don't worry scissors work. Just fine. Just make sure to only cut the thread, not the weft itself.. You end up with a bunch of wefts and try lining them up carefully. ... not like me, ( laughs, ), Pin the base wig onto a styrofoam head. Section, the hair layer by layer making sure the wefts are nicely separated and secure the hair on top with a hair clip to keep it out of your way.. I start from the top and work my way to the bottom of the wig.. I usually sew in one or two wefts for each section and then pull up more hair and sew in the next weft.. So first pin the weft onto the wig.. I usually just pin on the first few centimeters and then just sew along, but if it helps you, you can of course, first pin the whole weft onto the wig before sewing it on.. Whatever you prefer make sure the weft is not pulled in too tightly or way too loose, but maintains a nice and steady tension throughout the weft.. This helps to make sure that the wig maintains its fit. Then sew in the weft by hand., Depending on the wig net. You can either completely sew it along the net or just onto the elastic bands like in this case.. Here you only need to sew it on to the elastics, but i don't want to start over and over again for every elastic. So here's what I do. I stitch the weft onto the elastic band with a few back stitches then work my way up with a few tacking stitches until I reach the next elastic band., That's easier for me, but as always, whatever works best for you and either way make sure the ends Are tightly secured do this over and over again for each weft, and this will take an eternity. Most of the time. I have zero patience for that. So I take my beloved hot glue, gun skip the sewing part and just glue the wefts on.. I put a little bit of glue on the elastics and press on the weft by using a tool.. I'M just using an old needle here.. Definitely not use your fingers here because the glue is really hot obviously. It's much faster, but you have to keep in mind that you can't style the wig with lots of heat afterwards. Otherwise it will melt the glue and the wefts will come off again.. It'S also not as neat and not as permanent as sewing it on and a bit of hot glue might end up on your styrofoam head.. I don't mind a few bumps there, but just so you know to eventually cover and protect the styrofoam head. If you don't want that., I completely leave this up to you. If you want to sew or glue it on i'm just here to give you the options., Then you just have to detangle your wig.. Therefore brush it gently starting from the bottom, making your way to the top, and you end up with a beautiful voluminous wig.. 2. Straightening wigs. There are many different ways to straighten a wig, but my favorite is using hot water.. I first pin the wig on the styrofoam head and put that on a tripod. I've seen a lot of people also use bottles instead of a tripod. So whatever works for you., I first soak and gently brush the hair.. This will make it easier for the hot water to reach every spot of the wig.. I set up water in a kettle, boil it and let it sit for a bit like I would for boiling green tea. .I gently pour the hot water over the wig.. I wait a little and then gently comb, the hair making sure the hair gets really straight.. Also, since you're working with hot water here be careful not to burn your hands.. I repeat this step over and over again until there are no curls left.. Sometimes it can be a bit tricky to reach the layers at the bottom.. I then pin up some of the top hair grab the wig head at the top and slightly tilt it before pouring the hot water over the wig.. Once that is done, I just let it dry and end up with straight hair. A custom wig head. It can be helpful to have a custom styrofoam head, especially if you're planning to make ponytails or any updo hairstyle.. So for that I first put on my wig cap, flatten my hair as much as possible and wrap the top of my head in plastic, wrap and tape .... If you can wrap your head around that ( wink ) Then draw along the hairline.. It'S a bit of a guessing game because you can't see it anymore, but you should be able to roughly feel where your hairline is. Also mark the center of your head and the position of your ears.. When you are done, you should be able to just gently pull the cap off.. If not, you can cut in a little bit. Take it off and tape it back together.. Then you can put your tape cap over the wig head. Mine did not fit because the wig head was a bit too wide. So I cut some parts away on the side using a box cutter. When working with knives always cut away from your body. ... trust me, I speak of experience here.. Once your cap fits your head, you can stuff it with cotton, filling or reuse the styrofoam leftovers. You just cut off., Then pull over your cap so that your drawn on hairline meets the intended hairline on the wig head and pin it on with a bunch of safety pins. Check. If the cap is nicely filled., If there are any empty spots left, you can carefully slice it open and stuff it with some more cotton or leftovers. Once it's all densely filled tape it back together and you end up with a simple custom: wig head.. This is not 100 accurate, but already much better than just using the standard head. Unless you have a standard head, in which case good for you Swirls, I don't really know how they are called, but I'm referring to the little swirls or swirly ends of the hair.. To create those, I use my flat iron, but you can also use a curling iron.. It doesn't matter much. You just need to go through the hair to heat it up.. I then gently curl and shape the hair with my hands, letting it cool down in the desired position.. The hair can get really hot, so make sure you don't burn yourself.. You can either wait a bit until the hair is not super duper hot anymore or wear special gloves to protect your hands from the heat.. This is my preferred way to create these slightly bent waves because I like to have control over the hair with my hands and fingers, but you could also heat up the hair curl, the hair into big curlers and let it sit there for a bit.. Finally, it's about what you prefer and what works best for you., Just keep in mind that wigs work different than human hair.. You can't just curl it with an iron, because synthetic wig fibers get their shape when they cool down. So if you want to change the direction or shape of the hair, make sure to let it cool in that position., When you end up with a desired shape, you can tease and comb the hair gently and apply some hairspray.. You can also go on and trim and define the tips. Some more gently using your hair, dryer and hairspray. Additional teasing and hairspray will keep the spikes well defined. As always when you're working with heat make sure the wig is heat resistant by testing it somewhere.. So finally, I want to talk a bit about wig styling in general.. It helped me a lot to not only style the wig at the wig head, but to take it off from time to time and see how the wig looks so far on my own head.. That way, you can prevent cutting the hair too short or maybe pulling the ponytail in too tightly., While custom wig head is great and can be very helpful. The dimensions can still look very different on your own head.. So, for example, I was recently styling a wig for my Jessie cosplay and it looked absolutely great on the wig head but horrible. Once I put it on., I pulled the hair back. I flipped the hair and the hair flip was way too short.. I had to start over from scratch and the second time I first put on the wig and roughly marked the spots where I wanted the hair flip to end. After that, put it on my wig head. So I knew where the hair flip would end. So the dimensions would fit my face., I hope that makes sense. And also I had to remove a lot of hair because the wig had so much volume. While I sometimes add more wefts, because I want the volume other times. I remove a lot of hair to make it look more natural.. This is the wig i was using for my miss marvel and Angewomon cosplay., I thinned the wig to roughly half its volume by removing a lot of wefts and also cutting a lot of hair here. At the front, part of the lace., So when you do that, you have to make sure to not remove the weft at the top of the wig and spare some wefts in between. So you don't risk the wig net showing underneath. So yeah. Thank you very much for watching this video.. I hope you liked it. I hope you learned something.. If you have more questions, please put them in the comments and i'll try to answer them as good as I can.. Also. Let me know if there's a character wig, you would like to see an in-depth tutorial of english is not my native language. Yeah, but thank you for watching. If you liked the video please give it a like and subscribe for. More videos see you next time. Bye bye bye, while I sometimes add more wefts, because I want the vol- wantthevoljkckc ..., I need more water.. I hate it. When you're done, you should be able to just gently just gently. Just i usually sew i usually sew. I usually sew in one or two wefts for each section. Just so. First pin the wig onto the wig weft i usually just pin on the i usually just put on the very first i usually just pin on the first two centimeters and then just sew long