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Hello everyone!
Today we'll be covering one of the most important parts of cosplay: wigs
And I've got a lot to talk about, so we're just gonna jump right into it
First off, a lot of people don't know why wearing wigs is so important for cosplay
A lot of beginners like to just use their real hair and they don't understand why it doesn't look good
The issue is that real hair can be pretty thin
Um, it doesn't always photograph well
And furthermore, it can be really difficult to style perfectly like the characters
Because, news flash most anime characters' hair does not work like real people's hair
I mean granted, some days I wake up looking like I went super siayan, but...
So the benefits of wearing a wig are it looks so much better in photos, you don't have to deal with styling it every single time you put it on
And furthermore, you don't have to destroy your real hair trying to achieve an anime character's hairstyle
Because believe it or not, this color, isn't natural
And sometimes doing that to your real hair can be pretty damaging
Granted, there will always be exceptions
For a character like Yuffie from Final Fantasy VII, you really don't have to use a wig if your real hair looks like that
But I was someone who used my real hair for Yuffie once upon a time
Um, and it was really, really frustrating
Because every time I wanted to wear that costume
I had to go to the salon and get it cut and get it reshaped and everything
Then there were days where my hair just wouldn't cooperate
Like the bangs wouldn't lay right
And it was just really frustrating because I had to deal with that every time I wanted to wear one of my favorite costumes
So, since then, I've bought a wig
Bottom line: wigs will 99% of the time look better than your real hair
Get a wig. Just do it.
"But Sirene, where do I buy wigs?"
Well youc an buy wigs lots of different places
A lot of the time local beauty stores will carry wigs
And usually they don't have anime hair colors
But if you're going for a natural hairstyle
For say, Rue from Princess Tutu
You can generally find what you're looking for
Keep in mind though, a lot of beauty stores will only carry human hair wigs
There are two different types of wigs you can get
One is human hair, and the other is synthetic
And synthetic will be stuff like this where it's generally in that 30$-80$ price range
But human hair wigs, because it's human hair, they can get really, really expensive really quickly
They can be like upwards of 100$
So usually for a cosplayer's budget, they don't work too well
And that's why I always buy synthetic wigs
It's just- it makes more sense
And please for the love of God, guys, do not buy like Party City or Halloween USA wigs and expect them to look good
They won't
The fibers are really low quality plastic
They'll be super shiny
And they'll tangle up the wazoo
So, just don't waste your money on those
Online there are hundreds of wig stores
One of the most popular places to buy wigs is in fact ebay
A lot of those wigs come from China so they can be a lot lower quality
But if you need just a quick simple wig for a really simple costume that you don't really care how it looks, then ebay's a good place to go
And there are a couple really good quality wig stores on ebay
Such as Fantasy Sheep or Cosplay Wig, the links for those are down there
But the most important thing to do when buying from ebay is check the customer feedback for that seller
The same goes for a site like Taobao
If you're not familiar with this, this is kinda the Chinese version of ebay if you will
You can get wigs really cheaply on there
Like, insanely  cheaply
The issue here is that they don't sell to US customers
So you have to go through a middleman service such as Taobao Spree or O Book  in order to purchase from them
But if you don't feel like ordering from a site like ebay or taobao, there are several wig dedicated sites
One of them is Amphigory and this was a lot more popular a couple of years ago
Um, they do have decent quality wigs
But you run into a lot of issues with their service and their shipping schedules
And whether they have items in stock and then they won't tell you if they're in stock
I've had a lot of Amphigory nightmares lately and so has Courtney, so we just don't really buy from there anymore
Same goes for Cosworks and that is the Cosplay.com shopping site
Again, a few years ago, they were a lot better
But now the quality has kind of gone down
Shipping and customer service is a nightmare, so again, I just don't bother with them anymore
When I buy my wigs online, I either buy them from two places
The first one is Epic Cosplay and they have a lot more like base type wigs
You won't get a huge variety of special styles or anything like that
But if you need just like a generic long wig or something, they're good to go to
My Medli wig that I wore recently is actually from Epic Cosplay
But even then, Epic Cosplay is a wig site that I only use if Arda Wigs doesn't have what I'm looking for
I am not gonna lie, Arda Wigs is the best thing to happen to cosplay in a long, long time
It is a wig company run by cosplayers so they know exactly what your needs are
Because they've been there
Their wigs aren't super expensive which is really, really nice
And the best part is that they're insanely high quality
Because typically when it comes to wigs, you get what you pay for
So if you're paying for a 17$ wig on Taobao, it's gonna be a 17$ wig from Taobao
Whereas if you spend a little bit more, and get a 35$ wig from Arda Wigs
You are paying for the quality, the customer service, and these wigs are just such a pleasure to work with
They're really thick, they're super comfortable
And usually when my friends and I don't buy Arda Wigs
We always find ourselves saying, "Man, we really should've bought Arda"
So again, those are just a few places to buy wigs online
The most important thing when buying a wig though, is to match it to your character's hairstyle
Not all characters have hairstyles that you can just go out and purchase
Like Sora, or Cloud, or Tai Lee, or Kraehe, or Korra
Usually those are wigs that you'll have to style yourself from scratch
But a character like Zuko has very normal, basic hair, so you can just go out and buy that
For a beginner, I would recommend choosing a character who has a very simple hairstyle that won't require a ton of difficult styling processes
For example, I would look for a character that you'll only have to trim the wig a little bit, or maybe style the bangs and that's it
Speaking of wig styling, wig styling products
First thing you gotta know is that you can't use like "real hair" products on your wigs
Because most regular hair products are made to react to the proteins in your hair
And wig fibers don't have that because they're plastic
When it comes to wig styling products, most cosplayers swear by the Got2B line
These styling products are really, really intense
They're the ones you see where there's like the crazy spiked hair and punky stuff going on on the labels
For spiking, you wanna get the spiking glue, obviously
You'll also want to buy Got2B Freeze Spray
I actually don't have any on hand right now so I can't show you what it looks like
But it's just a this size bottle and then there's like a little funnel on the end
It's vital for styling bangs and spikes and generally any sort of gravity-defying hairstyle
If you're wig has heat-resistant fibers, you can use things such as blow dryers and hair straighteners on them in order to style them
Normally if your wig is not heat resistant, you can't use these tools because that'll cause the fibers to literally melt
But if it is a heat resistant wig, than it's safe to use these on it, just be careful
And finally, other tools that you should invest in are a good pair of hair cutting scissors
You can get those at CVS for like 5$
And you'll also wanna get some of these alligator style clips
You'll also want to get a wide tooth comb
It's really not ok to use regular brushes on wigs because that can tend to pull out the fibers a lot
But, wide tooth combs will help separate the fibers without pulling them out of the wig cap
This is another tool that's very, very important to have
Um, otherwise you'll run into a lot of trouble styling your wigs
And you can buy these wig heads at Sally's or online
So those are just the base tools you need to get started
Um, until you get into more advanced techniques, you won't really need more than those basic tools
So the most important thing to do when putting on your wig is you wanna make sure to get your hair as flat as possible
Obviously if you have short hair, this isn't really an issue
But for those of you with longer hair like me it can be pretty tricky
The biggest thing you don't want to do is just pull your hair back in a ponytail
Because that'll create this giant bump on the back of your head and then that'll show in your wig
And your head will look deformed and it's just a mess
When I'm putting on my wig, I do it one of three ways
First way is if I'm at a convention, I'll have one of my friends french braid my hair
And that'll get my hair very, very flat, really easy to manage
Or if I'm feeling like putting in a lot of effort to it, which is I think I've done it once, um, is doing pincurls
I'm literally awful at this so I can't really show you
But basically, you'll take a strand of hair and wrap it really tightly like that into a little curl, take a bobby pin
And just pin it in place
And then you do that around your entire head
It gets really flat, but it can be pretty time consuming
And a lot of the times during conventions I am rushing to get ready because it takes me forever to get into costume
So when I'm running behind on time and I need to put my hair up in a wig cap really, really quickly I just do braids
Usually this is easiest to do when it's still damp
Or even still soaking wet from a shower
Mine's still kind of damp from my shower this morning
When your hair is slightly wet, it's a lot easier to work with
So that's what I like to do for wigs
And then also, the bonus, is if your hair is wet when you braid it, and then after you take it out of your wig cap, it'll generally still look really nice
So I'm just doing really simple braided pigtail
Take an elastic
Done, so there's one side
There we go
From here, you'll just take these two braids and pin them up
You wanna pin them like in this area of your head
Because that's usually where there's a lot of space in wig caps for this specific purpose
Of putting your hair there [laughs]
It looks a little silly but... it's what wigs are for
For your bangs just pin them up and out of your face
Generally you'll want to use a skin toned wig cap like I always do
But if you have a black wig or something, you can get away with the black
I'm just gonna use my go-to skin colored one
You just pull it on, um, try and pull it down your face like this a little bit then inch it backwards
Then if you get hair sticking out just kinda tuck it up in there
And check your back hairline to make sure all of your hair is tucked in there
Voila! That was the most difficult part
Putting on your wig cap
So now that I am totally bald I'm going to go find a wig to wear
Hmm, not really feeling it today
So take it upside down
Make sure the bangs aren't in the wig cap
And then pull it on
I look like Cousin It right now
Adjust it, you'll want the two little sideburn pieces right where yours would be
And then where your wig cap is and your hairline that's where you want the top of the wig to hit
And usually for a wig that is such a drastically different hair color than your own
I'd suggest changing your eyebrow color
But that's an entirely different video and I don't feel like doing that today
But that is how you put on a wig
When it comes to cutting wigs, there's a lot of different techniques you can use
But for the sake of this video I'm gonna show you how to cut in straight across bangs
Because that was something that was really requested on my facebook page
This is a prototype wig from Arda
Um, you can't actually purchase this
But I really don't have a character that I can use it for, so I'm just going to use it for this tutorial
For bangs one of the things that most beginners do is they cut them way to short
So what you wanna do is take your fingers  from your hairline where your hair hits, where your wig cap will hit,
Measure down to where you want your bangs to hit
And I want these to kind of come a little bit below my eyebrow, so I want them about that length
And then from where the wig starts, measure down with that length
Kinda punch into the wig head a little bit
That is where I want to cut the bangs to
This wig kinda has a David Bowie, Cloud feel to it, I don't know, it's weird
Pull the fibers down to where you want them to be
And then with your scissors, cut upwards into the hair
You never, never, never want to just take a chunk of hair and cut straight across
Because that'll look very, very choppy and like you're a two-year-old trying to cut your own hair
It's still a little chunky at the bottom so what I'm gonna do
Is I'm going to cut upwards into the wig like that
Just cutting straight up
And this'll help thin them out a lot
But there you go, very simple straight across bangs
Um, and to get a more choppy, fringey look like I did for Yuki because she doesn't have straight across bangs
I was a lot more haphazard when I was cutting
Um, didn't really care about hitting the same level
But I used the same exact technique of just cutting upwards into the wig
Now a lot of anime characters have spikes in their hair
Um, and this can be pretty challenging for beginners to do
In the description I've included a link to MelindaChan's tutorial on how to do spikes
And her wigs are amazing and just phenomenal so definitely go check out her work
But I'm gonna do my best to show you guys generally how to spike wigs
If you're working with a wig that already has a ton of layers in it, you don't really need to cut it
But if you are cutting spikes into a wig that isn't already layered, you'll want to make sure that it has very triangular shape
And what that means is you want the fibers thicker here
And then you want it to thin out as it gets towards the end so that it tapers off into a nice point
And the way you can do that is again, just cutting upwards into the strand
And that'll help thin it out
Once you have all the cutting done, take your got2b glued
And just kinda apply that to the tips of your fingers
And then take the wig
Just drag your fingers along that chunk
And then at the very end I like to do a little twist
That helps it be very pointed
There you go, there's some nice decent spikes
It does kinda feel like a Cloud wig, doesn't it?
And if you don't want the sharp, sharp point like that, and you want a more natural look
You don't really have to use as much product
Just kinda take a chunk and take a little bit of the got2b glued on your fingers and just kinda pull it lightly
If you do like the look of very natural spikes, don't even bother dragging your fingers along the whole strand
Just kinda take a little bit on your fingers and pinch the ends
That'll just help define them
Basic spiking!
Now my hands are all sticky
Curling a wig can be a lot more difficult of a process than spiking or just simply cutting it
If you have a heat resistant wig, you can usually use the curling iron to do so
And that's pretty much the easiest way to go about it
But there are several other methods that you can use in order to curl a wig
One would be the hot water method
As you can probably guess, it involves hot water
And to do that you'll want to boil water and then curl the wig over something
Usually a wooden dowel rod or  plastic curlers
Pour the water over it, let the heat help the curls set and then take it out
The method that I use for curling actually uses plastic curlers
You'll wrap the hair around this, sort of like you would your own
And then pin it in place
And then when it's like this, um, I hit it with some hairspray
Usually the Freeze Spray
And let that set a little bit and then I'll take a blow dryer
And hit it with heat for about one to two minutes
Um, on and off making sure that the fibers aren't frizzing or crinkling when they get too hot
Let it sit overnight for about 24 hours
Um, and then I'll come back the next day and take it out and... well it's obviously not curled now
Again, check out the description for an actual tutorial on how to do that
Um, I really don't feel like curling this so I'm not going to [laughs]
A lot of the times you'll have characters whose hair colors aren't available just because they're so weird
Um, and in that case you'll have to  dye a wig
There are, again, dozens of different ways you can go about doing this
There are three main methods that are the most popular
And that is using sharpies, using copic markers, or using FW ink
All of those three methods involve mixing ink with rubbing alcohol and then spraying it onto your wig
Letting it sit and then washing out the alcohol
Basically what this does is the alcohol evaporates and leaves the ink on the wig
I personally like using the FW ink method because I've just had better results with it
You can more easily control the color
So what you'd be doing in that case is mixing isopropol rubbing alcohol
Usually the 70% works best
With FW ink and you can buy this at Blick's Art Supplies
There's a little dropper in it and that's how you mix it with the alcohol
And then you mix it all together in a  spray bottle and just spray it on the wig
There's apparently still some left in here, whoops
Again there are links in the description on all three of those methods so be sure to check them out
Finally, caring for long wigs
Wigs like to tangle very, very badly because, again, it's plastic
One of the best methods for dealing with a long wig is to treat with Motions Oil Sheen Spray
You can get it at Sally's, I've also seen it at CVS
Smells like Strawberry Pez
Basically you spray it on the wig, let it sit for 48 hours, and then go back and brush it out
And your wig will generally remain untangled even when you're wearing it at the convention
Naturally it will get a little bit frizzy just from friction and rubbing against your back as you walk
But in that case it's always good to have your wide tooth comb with you at the convention and just brush it out periodically
This is actually what I had to do for my Stocking wig, I had to carry my brush around all day
And have my friends just brush out my hair like every 20 minutes or so
When you're storing your long wig, you'll want to braid it and then fold it up so that it doesn't get tangled while it's in storage
How you store a wig will generally depend on how styled it is
For example, for a wig like this that really doesn't require any styling
I just take it off, put it in a plastic bag, and put it in my storage bin
Which I will show you guys now
Now get out of there
This is what I have, it's just a plastic bin where I keep all my wigs
And some of them are in bags, some of them aren't
And they're just all stacked up very neatly
But for a styled wig where I don't wanna just crumple it up and throw it in a bin
I will set it on my work table
I'll take a plastic bag and just cover it
That way it stops it from getting dusty and it'll also keep the style protected when it's in storage
But that is the basic guide to wigs
Um, I tried to cover as much as I could in as short amount of time as possible
Um, so if there's anything I didn't talk about that you're still curious about, feel free to ask me questions or contact me on facebook or send me a message
If you have any other questions regarding cosplay or any topics you want me to cover feel free to leave me a comment
Anyway, I hope that helped and as always, happy cosplaying!
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