WIGGING OUT

Wigs have somewhat of a bad reputation amongst those who don’t wear them.

Fake hair is often associated with people who are trying to cover up their baldness, which for some reason is an effort society deems unforgivable.

Alright, most toupees do look terrible and are obvious at first glance but no one should be made to feel bad about wanting to change their appearance no matter what their intention is. For this reason, a lot of people are put off wigs because they feel like they might be perceived as having low self esteem or “trying to be something they’re not.”

This is entirely unfair, and is an attitude many have towards various other parts of people’s physical appearance.

Dressing a certain way, wearing makeup or a hairpiece is usually a very personal choice based on what makes the individual happy and comfortable; it’s not always necessarily about trying to cover up their own attributes or making the world see them as something different to who they actually are. Unless it’s for the sake of cosplay of course.

I actually thought George’s toupee was great.

The amount of difference a wig can make to someone’s appearance is absolutely staggering.

I myself have a collection of wigs and still giggle at myself in the mirror sometimes when I try one I haven’t worn in a while, just at how much of a different person I look. A wig can change the shape of your face, which is what makes you feel as though you look like someone else. A longer wig that hangs close to the face can make it look narrower and longer, slimming down rounder face shapes that might be exposed by a shorter or more ‘open’ cut. Having bangs at different heights can give the impression of a brow lift or a higher or lower forehead. Wider bangs means that the longer hair will fall closer to the very edges of the face exposing more cheekbone. All of these features are things your hair dresser probably takes into account when cutting your hair, but having those options to play with every day by yourself is a pretty fun idea and is good reason enough to start collecting wigs too.

Using wigs for cosplay means that you have these face morphing tools at your disposal and you can finely tune your costume to the tiniest detail.

Very short hair is great for wearing wigs, as you don’t have to use many hair pins and you can probably get away without a wig cap all together. Here you can see what a difference a wig can make to someone’s (my) appearance. Photographers: Toxic Imaging, Yukidoll Photography / Makeup: Alice Birchmore / Wig: Geisha Wigs

Styling your own hair for cosplay can be pretty tough, and is another reason to choose a wig instead. A lot of manga styles call for tons of volume, LOTS of hair and the ability to defy gravity. It’s not impossible to style your hair into vertical segmented spikes or fluttering delicate ribbons like your favourite anime characters. But it would mean you’d need to have your hair at a similar colour and length, and in good enough condition to hold the style once in position without breaking under the pressure, frizzing up or falling limp and dull. You’d also need all the right styling products and some degree of know how so you don’t end up ruining your hair and having to shave it all off after a whole day of wearing your costume.

You can buy wigs that are already cut, coloured and style to popular manga and anime looks, and even to specific character styles. If this is the kind of look you’re trying to achieve then I would recommend going for one of these wigs and modifying it to suit the character you’re going to be portraying and making it work to your own face shape.

Once you’ve found a wig that looks like the character you’re trying to cosplay (here it’s Roxas, Kingdom Hearts) you may want to neaten it up with a styling product like a hair gel or spray to hold it in shape and neaten up any details like spikes.

This wig is already a perfect Merida from Brave, to make it bigger and fuller you could back comb some of it and highlight a few curls by using some product to make them into more solid ringlets. Bow and arrow is an essential accessory. Wig: Geisha Wigs

Most wigs, especially ones that are made in the east and are sold primarily to a market of cosplay fans have quite long bangs. This is because that usually works for a lot of anime looks, but it leaves a lot of room to play with scissors and cut in bangs that you prefer. I have done this with almost all of my wigs, and so I can verify that it is fairly easy.

As I’m no hair dresser, I have only made small alterations with scissor to my wigs. I have cut my own hair many times before, safe in the knowledge that hair grows back. Wigs however, do not. So it’s best to be very careful and start by cutting off very small lengths at a time to avoid cutting it too short accidentally.

When cutting your wig, you should ideally be wearing it as you will be cutting it to suit the shape of your head and face. If you are cutting the back of it, then getting someone else to wear it would be helpful but remember that the hair will sit slightly differently on them because of the shape of their head.

When cutting the front, you should definitely be the one wearing so that you can see the position of your eyebrows and that the entire wig is level with your face. For a softer line, it’s best to cut with scissors holding them so that the tip of them points upwards into the hair, snipping it from underneath. You can hold the hair in place with a comb while you do this if you feel like you need to, but be sure to let go of it to check that it doesn’t fall back into another position once it isn’t being held in place anymore.

This is a good technique to use for more natural looking styles, and it also minimizes the amount of hair you are taking off with each snip making any mistakes you do make very small and easily blended out.

Model: Ruby Jewel / Makeup : Gwen Reece / Clothing: Emiah Couture Photography: Cinnamon Stewart Photography / Wig: Geisha Wigs

If you want to cut a harder, blunt line you can use the same technique or you can switch it up to something faster and more precise.

Using a pair of clippers with the guard removed, you can get a perfect straight line in your bangs. This is a little more unnatural but it suits some characters and looks just right. A good way of doing this, if it’s something you’ve never tried before is to use masking tape. Holding the tape taught, unroll it to about the width of your whole head and gently press it across the front of your neatly combed hair at about the level you want to cut to. Ideally you want to be cutting the hair from just beneath the tape. Then using a pencil, mark onto the masking tape the section of the hair you want to cut. The trick here is to be very gentle when placing on the tape. You want the hair to be sitting in it’s natural position, if you press the tape on hard it will shift around the little sections of hair and once you have cut it these will fall back into place and will be a different length to the rest of the hair.

Then holding the clippers level and upside down to how you would when normally shaving hair with them, gently touch the hair just beneath the taped level with the guard off. This will cut of a straight section of hair as wide as the clipper blades, you can do this all along the length of the section you want to cut and the tape will help hold it in place. You don’t always need to use tape to do this, but if it’s something you have never tried you may find it helpful.

Once you have nailed this technique you may want to use it to cut other shapes into the hair.

This was trimmed using the clipper method for a straight line right across the forehead. Unfortunately I was rather clumsy and got a lot of hair in my eyes. Photographer: TwistedPix / Latex: Fetasia Latex / Wig: Geisha Wigs

Another benefit of wearing wigs is that you can have an option of another hair colour for a day, or many hair colours depending on the wig.

This is great if you have a day job that doesn’t allow you to have vibrant hair and all you want to do is look like Sailor Neptune for a weekend at a convention, then switch back to your regular hair for work. Or maybe you just don’t think you would look good with colourful hair day to day, trying a bright wig to match your costume will give you the chance to try it out and then you can switch back to normal when you’re done.

I’m sure a lot of us would like to look this cool every day, but some of us have to keep our boring day jobs Model: Charmaine Zsigo-Oliver / Photographer: RavenBlakh Photography MUA: Anastasija Potjomkina Headpiece: Reinka / Wig: Geisha Wigs

As much fun as bold colours can be, you might find that you’ll get more wear from a wig that has a more natural feel. That way you could style it up for your cosplay and then wear it on an ordinary day when you feel like being a little extraordinary.

If you’re going to be wearing a wig regularly like this, or for long periods of time then it’s important to know how to wear them.

There’s nothing more embarrassing than having your wig fall off to expose your crumpled, messy real hair that was hiding underneath. If you have long hair, you are going to need to tie it up somehow. What you really want is for the hair to lie flat on the top of your head. One way of doing this would be to comb it back whilst wet, into a ponytail that sits high on the back of your head. Pin that into place, or use a band, then swirl it into a tight smooth bun that you can press flat against your head and pin that down too. You might find that using a wet-look gel while doing this helps the hair stay flat and smooth once it’s dry. Then use a wig cap, or the foot cut from a pair of pantyhose to cover all your hair and keep it in place under the wig. Using hair pins, clip the wig in place so it doesn’t wobble around or feel like it’s going to slide off.

Extra long wigs need extra support because the length wigs them a lot of extra weight at the back.

When placing pantyhose on head, do not pull over face. This is another look entirely, the archetypal bank robber.

Once your wig is in place, style it into position. Most wigs these days can be heat styled, just double check any care instructions and be aware of what temperature your straightening/curling irons go up to. Synthetic hair melts and matts when it gets too hot and is basically irreparable. Synthetic hair also has an unnatural shine, this might be the look you’re going for with your character. But if you want to wear it on a normal day, and maybe even see if you can trick anyone into thinking it’s your real hair, you may want to deshine it with dry shampoo or by putting some baby powder on your hands and running your fingers through the wigs at the root.

Too much product can make the hair look a little too solid, so always start with a little and add more where necessary to avoid the ‘LEGO head’ effect.

A wig can really be the perfect final touch to any outfit, cosplay or otherwise.

The difference made by putting it on is always so dramatic it can give the impression of two different outfits, or two different people even. Knowing how to wear it and make it look right for your face shape, or to give the impression of the character you’re trying to create is the most important thing.

This only comes with trying on your wig and playing with it, which is almost as fun as that final transformation stage.