Wig Application

There are three main steps to applying a wig to a model’s head:

1)    PREPARE the hair

2)    SECURE the wig

3)    INCORPORATE the wig into the hair

Different types of hair preparation:

- Hair wraps: good for very smooth, flat wigs, with the hair gelled or wet and sculpted around the head and secured

- Flat plaits: for smooth wigs with less movement involved

- Flat pin curls: used for voluminous wigs as they are very secure and they are easy to anchor pins into because they create an extra surface on top of the head.  However they are not good for films

- Inverted chunky plaits: used for large sculpted wigs because they are very secure

Tips:

- Grips must be hidden or removed to avoid bumps on the surface of the wig

-  The preparation of the hair should represent the style of the wig, i.e. for a 1930’s bob styled wig the prep of the hair would be flat on top with pin curls around the nape of the neck

- Create hair charts for the wig application

- Adapt the hair preparation according to the wig style, hair type, seecurity and quick changes

- Avoid using shiny grips, matte hair grips are best for when applying a wig

- Always use a stocking cap that matches the root colour of the wig

Pins, Grips and Geishas:

- Always use matte grips under the wig to avoid slipping

- When you put the wig on, use fine wig pins to secure it at the edges

- Use wiggly pins to anchor the wig into the hair

- Use geisha pins to apply the wig into thick plaited preparation

- Avoid using pins with bobbly ends and putting thick pins around the edges of the wig

Different hairlines:

- Tailor made wigs: will fully cover the head with the wig and the hairline will have been knotted for the specific model.

-  Half wigs: these will use the model’s own hair at the front of the head and their own natural hairline, as the wig will not have been tailor made for the model.

- If the model has a different colour hairline to the wig that you have, use coloured chalks to blend it in

Hair Wrapping

Equipment needed:

- Hair grips

- Wig pins

- Stocking cap

- Pintail comb

How to:

- Create a parting in your model’s natural hair to match the parting in the wig

- Section the front of the hair by the ears

- Take a section from one side at the back and bring it round to the other side of the head, pinning it at the ends and along the section that you have brought across and round in a circle shape

- Repeat on the other side

- Keep sectioning the hair and bringing it round to the opposite side of the head until the back section is all pinned up

- With the front sections of hair, split them into two and take them in the same direction as the hairstyle

- Bring the sections round and pin

- Do not let the front hairs sit over the hairline, be sure to bring it back off of the face so that it will not show through the wig

- Take a wire toothbrush, spray a bit of hairspray on it and brush back the fine hairs that might be sticking up

- Make sure the hair is not bumpy anywhere

REMEMBER: always use a stocking cap as putting the wig straight onto the hair might cause it to catch on the grips in the hair

- Use a pintail comb to go around the edges of the cap and make sure all the hairs are in

- Where the stocking cap is placed depends on the style of the wig, e.g. for a half wig the cap would be placed further back with the front section of hair left out of the preparation

- If any pins are sticking up in the stocking cap they can be pulled out through it

- Pin the stocking cap to the scalp using wig pins at the back, to the sides and at the front

- Then when you pin the wig into place, pin under the grips that are already there for an anchor point