Thread: Styling wig for BOF costume

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I wasn't sure if anyone else has tried this for the Bride costume or not, but I had a great idea that won't kill my own hair in the process.

I'm considering buying a cheap $5 black wig and then using hairspray, and my own ingenuity, and styling it into a Bride of Frankenstein wig. I have read that synthetic wigs don't take too well to hot rollers, so maybe I wet it, put in foam curlers, use a little hair spray, and then tease the hell out of it. Then I just need to add the white stripes on each side, get a bald cap, and I'm good to go. As a side note: down the line we use my costume plus wig to make a prop for our decor.

Has anyone tried to style just a plain wig into something else? Are there any tricks I need to know?

I am considering using heat just because it could give it a little bit more of a frayed/crazy look, but not sure.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

I have never seen one of the cheap wigs that you could style with any kind of rollers and I believe heat would actually melt/burn a cheap synthetic wig. You could try the foam curlers, but not sure that will work on a cheap wig.

I think you might be able to put some kind of form--like a styrofoam cone or block on the top of the wig and then pull up the pieces of hair around it. I think teasing it before you do this would be really helpful. You could use hair pins and stick them right into the styrofoam--you might even be able to glue it to the top of the form if the pins don't hold.

Another thought is to get cheap loose hanks of hair( there is a good amount of hair in these--I am not sure what their actual use is--they seem to be too cheap for extensions) from someplace like Sally's beauty supply--they are only a couple of dollars and you could try adding some of that to the wig to help with the up do if you don't get enough volume from the wig itself. Here is a link to the kind of hair I am talking about http://www.sallybeauty.com/synthetic...ml?cgid=Hair16

Thanks for the advice.

Figured if I buy a cheap enough one, it won't matter if I ruin in with the styling and products. ::shrugs::

I always use the cheapest wigs for my costumes and I style them all kinds of ways! Last year I was a Geisha with two cheapo black witch wigs sewn together and styled into a Katsura (traditional Geisha wig). Synthetic wigs will melt with dry heat but they do great with boiling water. I use my electric kettle and just put my wig in the sink and pour the water over it. (be careful not to burn yourself) If you want it kinkier pour the hot water over braids, if you want it curlier pour the hot water over foam curlers, if you want to straighten a wig layout the wig straight and pour the hot water over it. Let your wig dry completely on a towel and then take out the braids or curlers. Hairspray works pretty good, but if you want it to last to keep as a prop, mix water and white school glue in a spray bottle and use that as your hairspray. It'll be super strong and it dries clear.

It helps a lot if you have a styrofoam wig head and a wig clamp. (They're both inexpensive and I've been using mine for like 5 years now) Because you don't want to style the wig and find out that the wig cap wasn't stretched out enough and the styled wig no longer fits on your head. I've done that before and it sucks! So put your wig on the styrofoam head and stretch the cap out as far as you can, then pin it into the stryofoam with T-pins. Even if your head is on the small side, it's better to have stretched out the wig cap, than for it to be too tight and pulling up on your head all night. LOL!

Good luck! Share pictures with us all!

Got2B makes a hairspray called Got2B Glued, freezing spray. I've seen it used for styling tall mohawks. But lots of back combing and hairspray. I agree with Shannie-Boo, use boiling water to style synthetic wigs. I've ran boiling water over a wig of small braids, and it came out like Magenta from Rocky Horror. If you want the outside to look a little more nice looking and not natted up, do the same styling tricks like they did for the behive; back comb the inside and leave the outside wavy and spray really well with hairspray.

And yes pleasies post pictures!

Thank you so much! Sounds more manageable then I thought originally. I will definitely try the boiling water trick. Luckily we have a spare head or two laying around for extra props.

Once its all done, I will certainly post pictures.