Basic Tips For Starting Your Wig/Topper Journey

Hey everybody Welcome to Franny Square today we're going to talk about wigs and toppers. So yesterday I posted the crochet Intel video for episode 35 and in the beginning I talked about the fact that my hair had been thinning and I decided to just go with it and start using wigs and Toppers. Instead of trying to make my little bit of hair seem like more and when I did that with all of the hair spraying and gelling and mousing, it lasted about 10 minutes. So I decided to just find another solution. I was so surprised at the number of people that commented and emailed me saying. Oh, I have the same problem. I actually use wigs myself or people saying I'm really interested in learning more because I've been looking for a solution and even in my daily life, when I mention it to people they're always interested, even if their hair is great. My sister has a when I say a full head of hair. I cannot tell you how much hair she has. She said when she was younger. She would wash it and if she didn't dry it it would still be wet the next day it is so thick. It'S hard to believe we're sisters anyway. She came here and tried on some of my wigs and she was like. This is great. I could just put on a wig not worry about. My hair frizzing from the weather have a different style and I had another friend who has no hair loss, who ordered a wig after trying on my wigs. So it's really interesting to see just how much getting wigs and Toppers resonates with so many women. So I figured today I would talk a little bit about my journey and what I've learned, and rather than have it, be about me. What I'd like to do is give you as much information as I can, if you're interested in starting on your journey and some of the things that I've picked up along the way that I think could be helpful so uh. First, when I decided okay, I'm going to just do some research and find out about wigs. I didn't even know there was such a thing as a Topper. At that point uh I started watching some YouTube videos and there are some really great resources out there and I'm going to list them in the description box below there is taz's wig studio and she does a ton of reviews on all different wigs. So anytime, I'm looking at buying a wig. I always go to YouTube Type in the wig name and color, and I watch as many reviews as I can, because it's really difficult to choose color from just a little Swatch on your computer. So anyway, I was on YouTube and I'm watching people putting on these wigs and I'm thinking wow, and they look so good in so many different styles. It was amazing to me the same person could put on different colors different styles and just really look great in them. So I decided to go online and order a wig, and I found one that I thought I would like, and they came back to me and said this wig is out of stock. It'S not going to be until January, and I thought I really want to get started. So my husband said why don't we just find a wig store nearby and we'll just pop in and you know, take a look around so I looked up a place. There was a place about an hour from here and we just drove over there and I walked in, and I said, I'm interested in looking at wigs and the man who owns the shop took me to a back room and we just started looking at them and He would he actually started looking at the Toppers and I didn't know there was such a thing, but he put a few on and he matched the topper to the color of my current hair and I think that's really important. I didn't realize how important at first, but it really is a shock when you see yourself in some totally different style or different color hair. My advice would be to get something that is as close to your natural hair, color um. You know waviness straightness density as close as you possibly can for your first piece that way, you'll feel more comfortable and you'll be able to wear it out at first. I thought I was going to have no problem. Just you know pop it on any old wig and walking out there, but it really is um. It'S startling at first and I was like oh, I don't know if I could wear it out. So I'm glad that I went to this wig place and he fitted me for a Topper which, by the way, I'm wearing right now so and I'm going to show you I'm going to take it off. So you can see what the topper looks like this topper was so good. He put it on me, put a cape on me and cut it to my haircut so that it just really matched what I had. It is so good that when I was with my sister, my parents, my friends, nobody knew I was wearing a Topper. I had to tell everybody so that was a really great start for me now I will say it's more expensive to go to a wig studio, at least in this case it was I I can't speak for every wig studio, but for this topper with the cut And I bought a few products, it was about five hundred dollars, which is pretty steep. I think for a synthetic. This is a synthetic topper, but it was worth it for me because I knew nothing and he was so so helpful and he did cut it. You know to fit my style, so I don't think it was too expensive for what I got. But I know not. Everybody wants to spend that to start out, so my recommendation would be just start searching different wig sites looking for wigs and Toppers, and then, when you find one, you think you like look through the colors and then when you find a color, you think you, like Type in the name of the wig topper and the color into YouTube and look for any reviews you can find and even when you find them, it's really difficult to see color on a video, because it depends on the lighting how much natural light. But I find some reviewers will be in their studio and they'll show you the wig and then they'll also go outside in the sunlight and show you the wig, which really is very very helpful. So I would suggest doing that. Okay, so what's the difference between a topper and a wig, a Topper is not a full wig, it's a partial wig and it covers only a certain part of your hair and usually it's if you know, you're losing hair in this area, you would use a topper And what they tell you to do normally is to measure your hair loss. So you know the size of your hair loss and then go an inch beyond that, because you want your topper to clip into healthier hair. So in general I didn't. I have enough healthy hair on the top of my head to put a Topper on and this topper has Clips. So the way this works is my topper. Actually I have my actual hair. This is mine out in front. This is all my hair right here. Okay - and this is the topper, so what I do is I will pull my hair over the topper and, if I put it behind my ear, this is my hair here, so that makes it look very natural because this is obviously coming out of my head and So is this right here: okay, now I'm going to actually show you this topper and show you what it looks like this. One has five clips and I know there are Toppers that have different types or different ways of putting them on your head. This is the only topper I own, and I'm telling you what I know there's so much more information out there. So when I put the resources below you can actually go to those websites and learn more I'm just going to do this here. You get to see how thin my hair is. Look at this, that's the difference, so I still have hair you see, but it's really very thin in these areas. Okay, so let's look at the topper all right, so this is what the topper looks like on the inside, and this is a monofilament and the way that works. If I show you here, you can see my hand through the part there. It'S kind of hard to show you, but this is my hand under there and that's what makes it look like a scalp. It'S pretty amazing! Isn'T it how the hair is just growing out of this monofilament. So when I, the wigs I've bought I've gotten at least a monofilament part or a monofilament top. If you have a monofilament top, you can part your hair in any place. If you have a monofilament part, it's just a part of the top, and you would want to have your part where that part is so these clips, you can see they just snap like that and open. So what it does is when I put this on. Well. First, let's look at the parts of this. You have some lace down here. Sometime you'll have sometimes you'll have some wefts and wefts uh. Actually these do have wefts look like this, those lines there and they that's when they machine a piece. I believe, if I'm saying anything incorrectly, please anybody out there who knows about wigs, correct me: okay - and this also has like a little bit of it - looks like a silicone here that helps it grip. Now this is a synthetic piece. There are synthetic fibers. There are heat friendly or heat defiant, synthetic fibers and on the heat friendly and heat defiant, they're more fragile, but you can curl them. You can heat them with just a plain synthetic you shouldn't take heat to it, um and then there's human hair, which is a much more expensive alternative, and I think you take care of it like you would normal hair, although I don't know if you can actually Color or bleach it, I think it depends on the human hair piece. In any case, I wasn't ready to spend that kind of money and I really like the way this look and the color and the highlights and that I thought that was so pretty so to put this on. What I do is: let's try to sit sideways. This is the front of the piece, and this is the back. I flip it up and this Center clip here. I line it up with my nose and my parts line up. That is where I normally part my hair, and I clip it in right. Behind my natural hair right there just like that, then the other Clips I kind of just stick my my thumb under it and it grabs onto the hair. That'S under there not too tight because you don't want it to hurt, and I just clip that and that and I go behind there like that and that's it and then I I kind of pull my hair out front and around it and style it now. Whenever you're styling a wig or a Topper, you want to use um things that are meant for wigs and Toppers. There are Combs I'll list any item I talk about here. Actually I'm going to go, get the comb and show you I'll be right back okay. So this is the comb that I use. It'S a wide tooth comb, it's by John Renault, who is a wig manufacturer, and this is fine to use. And if you have the wig on your head, hold it down the wig or the top, or whenever you want to you, don't want to be yanking it all over the place, there's also special shampoos and styling products for wigs. You don't want to use your regular shampoos and styling products, because you have to be careful of drying out the wigs and toppers, I'm always saying wigs and Toppers. Okay uh. This is a brush meant for wigs. You can see it, it doesn't like grab onto and yank the hair like a normal brush. Would so you can use that as well on these. So that's the topper. I have and that's the only one I got and that's the first thing I wore out and around I felt comfortable. Nobody noticed it. They just thought that I had my hair done and it looked better than normal. So next I went a little crazy. I thought this is awesome, so I could have the hair that I always wanted. I mean my hair's always been straight and thin. So what did I want thick curly blonde, but I jumped from this to thick curly blonde. Okay, so I'll show you the next wig. I got and these aren't right out of the box, but when I do reviews as they come to me, I will show them to you right out of the box, give you the dimensions everything like that, but this is really just talking more about the process. Okay, so I was watching taz's closet and she did this review of. I think it was like her favorite wigs from 2021. I think that's what it was called and her favorite was the dalgona 16. so and she put it on and she looked awesome in it. I was like all right, I'm getting a delgona 16.. This is the dalgona 16.. Look how different it is and it actually came a little bit more wavy I've combed through it. Since then, it's a beautiful wig, as you can see it's synthetic, it's heat, defiant I'll, show you the inside, so you can see what the cap looks like. So this is what a monofilament part looks like. So as long as you have your part in this spot, it'll look like a natural part. Then this is wefting open wefting, so it does stay nice and cool. This is, what's called the nape and this is an extended nape, because it's longer and then you have these, and this is how you can adjust your wig. So that's one other thing you want to make sure you measure your head, so you know the size wig. You need now most people like 90. Some percent can fit an average wig, so I will. I will link to a video about measuring your head and looking at the sizes to know what size you are. I fall as a petite average. My circumference is 21 and a half inches I think, year to year, I'm really short like 11 inches and something and then you also measure from your hairline back to your nape. I forget what I am 12 or 13. I can't remember, but I've been buying average size, wigs and I've been just fine because you can adjust with these sometimes they're velcro, sometimes they're like a bra hook and clip - and this is just like a thing here that I can tighten like that. Like you, would your bra strap now? This also has a lace front and so far all of my wigs have a lace front, but I did order one recently that does not so I'll be able to talk about that once I get it, but the lace front. Actually makes it look very natural, it makes it look like hair is coming out of your head and I'll show you on this, because the lace lays flat and the hair comes out of that, like it's coming out of your head. So that's pretty it's amazing. What they've done with wigs, because I remember my grandmother wearing a wig and it was just so obvious that it was a wig, but these days they just do amazing things with wigs. So, like I said this one is heat defiant. So if I wanted to use heat on it, I could up to I don't know some wigs say up to 350, but then, when I watch videos they say they like to keep it lower than that. So you know you just want to check and make sure all right, I'm going to put this on for you wait. Do you see how different this is? When I first put this on, I was so shocked. I was like. Oh my gosh. I can't wear wigs. This is crazy, but I think, as you work into it and you wear things that are more natural for you, like the one that I was wearing yesterday in the video, was a straight dark, long wig. So it was still. You know. My texture, hair just longer and the color matched more this nothing matches me. Wait till you see this. Okay, I'm going to take this off. Okay, so to put on a wig many people use wig caps. Wig grips, I use a wig grip. I don't use a wig cap. I don't have that much hair that I need to stick it in a cap and I find the cap slips off. I know I'm doing something wrong, but in any case I use just a wig grip, which is what this is and it looks like a headband and it actually grips your head on the one side and the wig on the other side. So it keeps it in place. People use other things like uh, there's a water-soluble glue called it stays, and it comes in a roll-on and they'll put it along the edge of their head here and it comes off with water. I haven't had to use that very often um, but I'm new to this. So in any case, I use the wig grip and this particular wig grip, which I'll link below you put it on. So there's a stone edge here and I don't know what the other Edge is. It'S thinner and I know which way it goes on because I know where the label is for this one. My label has to go on the facing out on the right side of my head and I just simply Velcro the headband on like that and I start below my hairline and then I move it up. So just the edge of my hairline is showing you can see it's hard to move it, which is good. It'S gripping my head. Okay, so you can see my hairline there for when I put my wig on all right. If you have a lot more hair, you probably have to use the wig cap. This seems to be enough for me. Sometimes this will stick out the bottom. If I have a shorter piece on, but I'm going to stick a Long Way Gone So you're not really going to see that but uh you can always pin it back bobby pin you know whatever you need to do okay, so this is the dalgona 16 by Beltress and it's in the color brown sugar, sweet cream has beautiful, highlights it's rooted, which means the roots look darker, which I think is a more natural look. Also I like the rooted wigs and then again it does have the monofilament part. So as long as it's parted, there it'll look more natural now I've seen in some videos where it's very dense around the part, some of the YouTubers will actually pluck hairs out of it to make it look less dense, I'm not there. Yet. I tried messing with one wig and I totally totally ruined it, so I have more to learn on that front. Okay. So to put the wig on, I put my wig grip on and this is the back the nape that's going to go back here. The lace front is up here, so I'm going to kind of like dive into the wig and have the lace front come to like right about here above my eyebrows and then I'll adjust it once it's on, so I'm gon na just oh, I forgot to show You before I do that these are ear tabs and they're on each side of the wig. When you put on your wig, you want to adjust it so that your Tabs are in the same place on both sides like you, don't want it like that. You want them to match and that's how you know your wigs on straight okay, so I hold it with the my hands on each side of the label. I put my head into it, pull it down behind my ears and then I check the ear tabs and make sure they're in the same spot on each side of my head put my head up, then I just lift the front. You can see my wig grip right there. I just ordered a new wig grip. That has a clear part piece. So it's so you won't see it through the part I'm waiting to get that. Okay, I don't know if you can see this, but hopefully I have it in the right spot. That'S the lace front and you can just kind of press it in and, like I said, you can use that it stays if you want as like a glue, but look at this it looks like the hair is coming out of my head. Is that amazing? I'M just blown away taking a step back though you could see how shocked I was when I put this on my head, I was like oh my gosh. I can't wear wigs, because this is so different from my regular hair. I just I was like oh my gosh. I can't wear this out, there's no way but anyway, so I started playing with it and combing it, and you want to be gentle, you don't want to um, you know start ripping the hairs out and you can start putting it behind your ear and styling it. But you can see how this was such a shock to me and um. It could really just turn you off from wearing wigs and that's why I highly highly recommend getting something that looks like your natural hair to start and then I'm sure, as you wear more things, you'll be more comfortable. Just you know trying on different things, or maybe you just want to stay with one that you really like and wear it every day like it's, your natural hair and that's fine too, I decided I wanted to have fun with it and try all different styles and Things like that, okay, so that's basically my the beginning of my wig Journey since I bought this wig I've bought several more. I have two more on the way and what I plan to do is I plan to do reviews on wigs as they arrive in the Box. I will show you what they look like right out of the box. If I need to style it different ways or you know some, some of them come out with, I think they call it cold, crimping or box hair kind of thing, and you have to do stuff to it to make it look good, but in general the wigs I'Ve gotten I pretty much just put them on my head and start playing with them. It'S it not bad at all. Now, if you have questions, please feel free to email. Me send me comments, and I will answer to the best of my knowledge. I'Ll tell you what I don't know I will try to find answers, and this is how we'll learn together um also, if you have some information that you think you could share with the community about how to shop for wigs and Toppers, please let us know, I'm Always looking for some good information, good tips so going forward, my intent is to not only do my crochet videos but to also continue doing videos on the wigs and Toppers and to do reviews of New pieces to show you colors to show you styling how I Care for the wigs, because that's important too today was just a basic intro. If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to email me put them in the comments below. If I've made any mistakes and anything I said and you're more experienced with wigs and Toppers, please correct me: I don't want to give any false information and we can go on this journey together. If you have things that you'd like to learn about - and you want me to go, learn about it and do a video on it, let me know that too. Anyway. I hope you found this helpful and I'm really excited to be going on this journey with you. I'M finding it fun and exciting and I hope you will too and as always, thank you so much for joining me. I truly appreciate it and remember to make it your own and I'll see you soon.