Narcissistic blond gentleman, prefers himself.

I had pinned the mustache on the blonde refronted wig I made a while back, and I liked the look.  :P

Making waves

I have actually been doing a fair bit of ventilation recently, but not on the most recent re-front of the reddish-blonde wig.  That has been put on hold while I've been working on a commission for someone in the UK who wanted a version of the previous blonde wig I made (the one I'm wearing in the photo with the sunglasses.)

Since this new one will be almost identical to the previous one, I won't bother posting photos.

However, you may remember that my ultimate goal is to cut the original blonde wig down to a short men's style.  I still haven't plucked up the courage to do that, but I have been messing about with the style a bit in the meantime.

Since the receded hairline of the wig is very obviously masculine rather than feminine, I thought I would add some nice manly waves.  In my mind was the image of a mediaeval knight or a Norse god, muscles rippling and long, golden tresses blowing in the wind.

Well... my original effort was a bit more Sex and the City than Game of Thrones, but after a bit of fiddling I think I got it more-or-less to where I wanted it.

Here are a few photos that show the finished wig, at first unstyled, then at the various stages it went through.  I have added a shot at the end to show the hairline, which I think turned out quite well.

If I feel brave enough this weekend, I might try an intermediate haircut, just to shorten the hair to a medium length before progressing to the final cut.  Next stop, Kurt Cobain...

Covering my tracks

Quick progress with the re-fronted wig.  I attached the lace top/front and began ventilating it.  I need to make sure I cover the hard edge, where the wefted tracks of the commercial wig begin.  I'm knotting 3-4 hairs at a time just to get things moving.  When I get to the front lace I will start knotting single hairs for a realistic hairline.

Re-fronting another commercial wig

I swore I would never do this again, but for some reason I decided to have another go at re-fronting a commercial wig.  I found this one on eBay.  It was made from heat-resistant fibre that looked quite nice, and was very inexpensive so I bough two of them.  I will use one for the back section (see the photo) and I will cut the hair off the other one to ventilate the top and front.

In the photo you can see that I have cut out the entire top and am in the process of attaching lace.  The wig had a very unnatural-looking crown, right on top of the head (rather than where the crown should be) so I decided to get rid of the whole thing.

I might use the wefts that I removed from the top to add a bit of volume to the back.  It is a nice natural density now, but the wefts seem quite visible.  I will see what it looks like once the new top has been ventilated, and decide then if I need to add any wefts to the back.

This should hopefully be a quick project.  I have several others on the go, but I prefer having options as I tend to get bored easily.  Stay tuned...

Quick update on the blonde synthetic wig

Apologies as usual for not posting more frequently.  I have taken a couple of weeks off work, so have had a bit of free time to work on the blonde synthetic wig.

It is aaaaaalmost finished, just the crown to complete and a bit of hair in front to fill out the temple recession areas.

I had to take it off the block today to modify the pattern, so I took the opportunity to test the hairline and take a few selfies!

Here's one in which I'm looking particularly studly.  Axl Rose, eat your heart out...!  HAHA!

Blonde, continued...

Just a few shots to show the progress of the blonde synthetic wig.  It's coming along well, and a bit quicker now that I'm knotting in a clear open space on top rather than trying to dodge seams and darts!

I have decided I will continue to ventilate all the way to the top seam before changing the fronting lace.

Thanks for sharing!

As someone who hasn't had any formal training in wig making,  I find it difficult at times to find answers to some of my technical questions on the subject.  Many wig makers, understandably, keep their methods and sources a closely-guarded secret.

There are a few I have come across who are incredibly generous with their help and advice.  I just wanted to add a quick post to say how much I appreciate everyone out there who is willing to share their knowledge with those of us who are trying to learn the ropes.

A huge source of information and inspiration for me has been Super Wig Maker on YouTube.  I really admire his ability to take a problem or situation and break it down into the most minute detail to find the solution.  He is not a professional wig maker, but he works with very basic tools and supplies to explore and experiment continually, and shares his knowledge freely.  If you're interested in learning to make wigs, you should definitely check out his channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB9_pmyRjgrIRygdtajg3nA

I just received a tip from another excellent wig maker, Sam Cox (a professional in the UK.) His advice has quite possibly changed my life!  Well, it has definitely changed the way I make wigs from now on!

I have been worried because the very fine front lace of the current blonde wig I'm making is fraying at an alarming rate:

I asked Sam about this via email, and he told me that if the lace is turned 90 degrees, so that the holes run horizontally instead of vertically, the lace will not fray!

I tested it out on a scrap piece of the same lace, and it really does make a difference!

The downside is that now I will have to remove the front of the wig and replace it with new lace, but it will definitely be worth the effort and expense to prevent the front of the wig from falling apart.

You can check out Sam's excellent work on his website:  http://www.samcoxwigdesign.com

So, my sincere thanks to everyone who has shared a tip or helped me out along the way.  I hope that some of my posts will be useful to other would-be wiggies along the way too. :P


EDIT:  here are a couple of diagrams to illustrate what I mean.  If you look at the photo above you will see that the holes in the lace are currently running like this when you look at the cap from the front:

I will remove the old lace and attach a new piece with the lace oriented so that the holes are running like this instead:

You will notice with the new orientation, it will be impossible to knot the hairs so that they are directed straight back (or straight forward if you are ventilating forward from the crown.)  The knots will now have to be on a slight angle to the hairline.  However, I find this makes a more natural hairline anyway.