Wig Wear and Care

By Sharon Early

I want to start by saying that I am not a cosmetologist and I don’t work in either the beauty or wig industries. I have however worn and maintained multiple wigs for the last twenty nine years. I have noticed over the years that more and more people, both women and men, are wearing wigs and hairpieces these days. Why not? Wigs are fun! Wigs can give you a new hot look, whether for a date night or for regular wear.

Wigs make a spur of the moment night out or evening in much easier and faster to prep for. Curling and styling your hair in the elaborate and often fussy hairstyles a lot of people favor can take 60-90 minutes every day of prep time. A wig can be purchased pre-cut and styled so your hairstyle may take five to ten minutes if you take the time to primp your wig and clip your bangs.

If you want to dress up or create an entire “look” for a party, night out, or going out with the girls, wigs are a great centerpiece for your new look. You want to rev your look up a notch? How about a really red, pink, or multi-colored wig. Long or short, curly or straight, you can choose a wig that will help you turn heads and get noticed!

I have always kept a variety of wigs for different places, situations, and looks that I could throw on at a moments notice. I keep at least four or five long styles so that I can keep at least two in curly cuts and styles and two in straight styles. I keep at least three or more mid length wigs, some of them purchased at mid length and others that have been shortened over time from my collection of longer wigs. I also keep at least two or three short and kicky styles for activities and events that call for a short simple coif.

For the various activities I may engage in in my day to day life I may change wigs and looks two or three times in a day. Each wig will require washing, clipping, styling, and restyling over time to keep them clean and tidy as well as to keep them in ready-to-wear condition. Depending on the cut, style, and length of each wig, you will need to put some time into the care and appearance of your wigs on a regular basis.

Before you allow visions of yourself surrounded by am army of nappy, frizzy, wigs and a collection of steaming curl wands, flat irons, and styling tools to discourage you from creating your own “stable of hairstyles”, let me assure you, wigs do not require as much styling time or care that natural hair does. With reasonable management and a minimum of styling lotions and potions you can manage a curl or style in one of your wigs for anywhere from a couple of weeks to a month and sometimes longer depending on how often you wear it.

There are three main categories for wigs regardless of style or length, or color. Each type breaks down to varying alternatives under each type of material. The common materials, human hair, animal hair, and synthetic material. These three categories cover several different alternatives each and each one will have its different facets and needs.

Lotions and Potions

As you do with your own hair, wigs require an array of products and tools to keep them shiny, smooth, and looking their best. A lot of people will tell you that you should only use products intended for use with wigs rather than hair products that are made for natural hair. While I do recommend that you use a shampoo which is made for wigs, using some products for natural hair is acceptable and often a lot cheaper than just buying products made for wigs.

If you have been a wig wearer for any length of time you know that wigs tend to “dry out”, they lose their shine, body, and natural look and feel if you don’t take the time to take care of them. Without a minimal amount of hair care products your wigs will end up bushy, frizzy, and rough. Every wig wearer can attest that the over time most wigs will get that wiry, brillo like feeling, especially on the underside along the back of your neck.

Wigs tend to lose their curl, lose their style, and attractiveness the more that you wear them. I have a friend, veteran wig wearer that she is, when her wigs start getting ragged and in need of grooming, she throws them out! She’s always shopping for and sporting new wigs. Now she may be able to afford to buy a new wig or two every week, but most of us would like our wigs to last for as long as possible.

The first potions that I feel are absolute necessities that my wigs can’t do without are conditioners. I use conditioners that are for natural hair, and I tend to deep condition my wigs with them. Believe it or not, a good product to use when your wigs are feeling dried out, frizzy, and rough, is fabric softener! I’m not kidding, though there are no nurturing oils in fabric softener it does help to smooth and tame your wig.

If you choose to use fabric softener in your wig cleaning routine, make sure that you rinse it out thoroughly before continuing with your wig care regime. I usually will use it between the shampooing and conditioning steps. I find the best way to apply it is to put your wig in a one gallon storage baggie (love those double sealed bags!), with lukewarm water and a tablespoon or two of fabric softener. I seal the bag, give it a good shake to thoroughly distribute the fabric softener, and let it sit for at least ten minutes.

After that I rinse completely and then apply conditioner. I let the conditioner sit for a little while too so that the strands of the wig have time to absorb the product. After another thorough rinse, I mount my wig onto my styling stand and once I secure it so that it doesn’t come off every time I go to pull out a mat or tangle (more about that later!) If my wig is in rough shape or I am going to use a lot of heat on my wig I put a leave-in conditioner on it before I begin styling it.

Whether or not I use a leave in conditioner when heat treating a wig it is important to protect the hair so I also use a bit of light hair oil or pomade throughout the wig as I am sectioning and prepping it for styling. Pink oil moisturizer is also a very good light oil product for wigs if you don’t want to use hair oil. I also use a detangling spray (which is another conditioner) as needed when I find sections with big tangles and knots.

In the styling process I also use, hair gel, hairspray, or mousse as needed depending on what style I am trying to create. Though it is not a lotion or potion the most important fluid and the one you will use the most when doing any type of styling with your wigs, is water. You should always have a bottle of water on hand when you’re combing out, blowing out, or curling up your wigs. (TIP: When curling your wigs spraying with water as you curl it will give you much more well defined and longer lasting curls.)

Straight styles

To maintain your straight styles when your wig gets tangled and frizzy it is time to wash, condition, and comb out your wig. You may put a touch of leave in conditioner in your wig as well or a touch of light oil. If you have a lot of tough tangles in your wig you should use a detangling spray as you work through each section of your wig.

I prefer to start from the back of my wig and work my way forward when parting and sectioning it, then each successive layer will come down over the last. You can use barrettes, clips, bobby pins, straight pins, or combs to hold the rest of your hair up out of the way. Don’t use rubber bands to section or hold the hair out of the way because rubber bands tend to tangle in the hair and cause breakage.

To detangle your hair work in small sections, parted along the tracks of the wig. This will help you to partition and clip each section properly. When you comb it out you will probably see that each row of hair is no longer even. Wigs will suffer breakage so each time your wash and comb it it’s a good idea to clip each row even and neat. Start from the end and work your way all the way up to the top of each section. You don’t want to comb one tangle down into another tangle because it will often cause it to knot up and knots are much harder to work loose than a mere tangle.

After you finish detangling and smoothing your wig if your ends are still rough or frizzy you may want to use a flat iron to smooth it out and make the hair perfectly straight. If you don’t have a flat iron you can use a comb attachment on your blow dryer. Make sure that you use a little hair oil and plenty of water sprayed on as you apply it to protect your wig from scorching. Use the lowest heat setting your device has, if you don’t get the result you want raise the temperature gradually.

Before you go all in styling or straightening your wig, do a strand test of a small section of hair from the underside of your wig. You want to make sure that your tool isn’t going to scorch or burn your hair. You will also get some idea of what best fits your tools and your wig.

Curly Styles

Curling your wig is a lot more involved than just combing, cutting, and styling your wig in a straight style. It is important to remember that every one of your wigs is different and proceed with caution when using heated styling tools on your wig. You should follow the instructions above for your straight styles to prep your wig for curling and styling.

The best practice for curling your wig is to straighten your wig before proceeding to curl it. When you don’t straighten it first your result can come out looking nappy and tangled, especially at the roots of each curled section. Trying to curl a wig that already has curls or texture can also make getting each curl to take or to lay properly as you put them in.

Always err on the side of caution when working with hot tools on your wigs. Wigs will get successively shorter throughout their lifetime, but you can never regrow or lengthen hair that you have cut, burned, or otherwise messed up. Spraying water on each section of hair prior to curling them will help make tighter more well defined curls. It will also help to protect the hair from scorching as you apply heat.

Apply heat as briefly as possible. When testing or working with your wig, try to use your tool quickly. Curl each section as quickly as you can wrap it around the barrel of your curling iron, give it two seconds after you have it completely wrapped then slide the curling iron out of the curl quickly. If you get the type of curl you want then proceed to curl the rest in the same fashion. If your curl is not quite tight enough try holding the curler wrapped sections for a five second interval.

Make sure that you start at the lowest setting on your flat or curling irons. You may find that your wig can take more heat or that you get the curls you want at a higher temperature. Turn up the heat slowly and add one setting higher at a time until you find the temp tat works best for you.

Part your wig along the tracks, try not to borrow hair from the track above or below. Section the hair in small segments and make sure that as much of the hair comes into contact with the barrel of your curling iron as you can. If the heat has to progress through layers of hair you can wind up with the hair on the outside not holding your curl well or at all, while the hair that was in contact with the barrel is curled the way you want. You could also scorch the hair in contact with the curling iron while not curling the hair that overlaps.

Cold Rollers

Using cold rollers to curl your wigs can give you some really unpredictable results. Never use foam rollers to curl a wig. Foam rollers will tangle and snag your wig hair and unless you wrap them in curl rappers or wax paper wrappers. If you leave curlers in too long your curl can come out too tight and ruin the intended hair style. Sometimes you can leave them in your wig for days and when you take them out you’ll find that for whatever reason the curl didn’t take and you have to do it all over again.

If you insist on cold rolling your wig, use bone rollers, the solid body hard rollers that give your hairstyle definition and predictable curls. Use wraps on your rollers for better defined curls. Spray your wig liberally with water as your curling it around your rollers then take your blow dryer and hit it lightly to better set your curls. Cold rollers work better when you leave the wig on your wig stand so that your hairstyle conforms to the shape of your head after you take the curlers out.

To get the best results from cold rollers you will need another hairstyling potion. Use setting lotion or setting spray on your wigs if you are going to use cold rollers on it. To keep your rollers in place while your hairstyle is setting you should also use bobby pins to anchor each roller securely. You will have more trial and error testing using cold rollers because you have to wait to see the final result. When using a hot curler you can see your hairstyle taking shape as you work through the wig.

The huge pro of using cold rollers is that you minimize styling stress. You can’t scorch any of your wig hair with cold rollers because you don’t apply heat to your wig. You can also leave your rollers in indefinitely and remove the rollers just prior to wearing so that you have a freshly styled wig on tap for any last minute events or get togethers.

Be Fun, Fine, and Fabulous Fast!

Wigs are a great way to rev up your look, save yourself early morning prep time, and look fabulous at a moments notice. While there are some really pricey wigs out there, there are a lot of affordable great looking wigs out there in every style, color, length, and look you can imagine. Whether you’re like my friend and can afford to buy five, ten, or more wigs a month or your like me and you would rather invest that sweat equity on future fabulousness.

You can pay it forward by styling your wigs during convenient down time, like when you’re watching TV or cat videos on YouTube and your hands are free to work while the rest of you is at rest. Then that morning when you know you have to give a big presentation at work you can have that confidence of knowing that you look fantastic, without having to get up at four in the morning to start curling your hair. So you’ll look fantastic, feel smart and prepared, and you can also look and feel well rested cause you slept in too. There is no downside to that equation!

More Wig Wear and Care articles will be added here soon. There is nothing like the confidence that you get from knowing that you look good. Your hair is an important facet of your overall appearance. Everybody has bad hair days or days when they just want to give their appearance a little extra umph. Wigs are a great way to do that without breaking the bank or rising at the break of dawn to begin styling your hair.