How To Put On A Wig

This is actually something we did in our Make up and Hair for TV and Film lesson with Lottie last week, but I thought I would include it on this blog too, because it is essential for us to know how to properly put a wig on a person. 

Hair is a very important part of everyones look. It can transform a person instantly, change the shape of their face, skin tone, but also personality. 

It is important that the hair underneath the wig is as flat as possible so the wig can sit nicely on the person's head and look as natural as possible. There are a few ways of achieving that, but in this lesson Lottie showed us two. First way is to braid two french braids, one on each side of the head, and wrap them around the head. When braiding, make sure the braid follows the hairline, so you can use it as your anchor point and pin the wig onto it. Otherwise, it would be harder to keep the wig in place and it will loose its stucture. The other way is to pin curl the hair, which is common in the theatre. You have to pin the curls away from the hairline so the hair is as flat as possible. Wrap the hair around your fingers and pin the curls with two pins. Don't put too much pins in the hair. 

I started pin curling my model's hair but because her hair is really thick I decided to do two french braids too, just to save me some time. She has really short fringe so instead of pin curling them I just pinned them back, away from the hairline. I've twisted and pinned the two braids around the head, then put the stocking cap on. We use the stocking cap for two reasons; a) the wigs can be very itchy so it gives the head and extra layer of protection and b) if the wig is used in theatre, the person's head can get sweaty.

Pin curling 

Pinning curling around the hairline

 a french braid 

Two french braids twisted and pinned

 Fringe pinned back

Ask someone to help you with this. Don't cover the ears, and pin it so it doesn't come off. Use the pin tail comb to push up the hair so that nothing shows. Always match the cap with the person's skin, otherwise it might show. Always style the wig before putting it on someone's head. Look into the mirror as you are putting it onto the head. 

As you can see, I didn't do a very good job at flattening the hair, but hopefully it won't be noticable. 

Stocking cap

Stocking cap

My model tried on three different wigs. The first one is the platinum blonde, and I don't think it really suits her, because of her pale complexion. Her skin does look a bit darker on the photo than it was in real life. However, it completely changed the shape of her face and the way she looks! The second one she tried on was a berry colour and I think it suits her very well as the hairstyle is similar to the one she has, but shorter. The last one was mostly for fun, a neon pink afro wig, but maybe she could pull it off?! 

 Blonde wig

 Berry wig

Neon pink wig

Model: Rachel Stonock

(Look created on:  Oct 8th 2015)

I'd also like to include some photos of me and the wigs I've tried on. The black wig makes me look very 80's, reminds me of the film Dirty Dancing. The red wig does not suit me at all. The hair colour is okay but not that kind of hairstyle. The short brown wig was my favourite out of all of them (I also tried on the neon pink one). I think it makes me look older, and I could never see myself pulling off this hairstyle as my natural hair is not as thick as the wig is. But because my natural hair is dark brown it suits me quite well.  

80's wig

 Red wig

short brown wig