Moderate Style Wig

Overall I am pleased with how this photo shoot went.

I began by parting a section of hair all around the crown of the head.  Then with the hair in the middle I created a French plait that circled around the crown and pinned it.  After that I took my stocking cap and placed it over the plait and pinned it into the hair.

I then placed the wig over the stocking cap, and brought the section of my model's real hair over the wig to hide the hard edges of it.  Then the shooting began...

When I first put the wig on my model's head for this shoot, I found that I hadn't set the bun completely central to the head, so I had to adjust it a bit and make it less wonky.  The final outcome was still not completely straight, and I am disappointed with that.

However, apart from that I am really happy with these photos and with how the shoot went.

Extreme Style Wig

Overall I feel that the extreme style shoot worked really well.

I began by parting a section of hair all around the crown of the head.  Then with the hair in the middle I created a French plait that circled around the crown and pinned it.  After that I then took my stocking cap and placed it over the plait and pinned it into the hair.  I then combed the front bits of hair off of the face and pinned at the side by the ears.

I placed the wig over my model's head and pulled down at the back to make it fit.  I then adjusted any parts of the wig that had fallen apart.  Then the shooting began...

I felt that the shoot went really well and I was very pleased with the outcomes.  I think that I have captured the hairstyle with good lighting, so that it shows up well, and with a make-up look that complimented it nicely.
I chose to use red in the make-up design because Maasai warriors usually where red robes, and it is a colour that is recognised with the tribe.  I also made the beaded necklaces for my model to wear, because Maasai people where beads around their necks and arms.
Overall I am really happy with the results from my extreme photo shoot.

Steaming and Setting a Nylon Wig

To style a nylon wig you need to steam it and leave it to set for a few days.  This is because the hair is not real, meaning that usual heated equipment cannot be used on the hair as it is fake and will ruin it.  Steaming a nylon wig also makes the hair easier to work with, and it helps to get the hair going in the direction that you want it to.

Equipment needed:

- Nylon wig

- Wig block

- Rollers

- T pins

- Steamer

How to:

- Begin by securing your wig to your wig block and deciding where you want the hair to go for your final design

- Section the hair, always thinking about placement and direction, and place the rollers in the sections that you create

- Wrap the ends of the hair section around the roller and then roll it down onto the head, keeping the tension and making sure that the hair is tight around the roller

- Secure the roller with a T pin, pushing it into the wig block to hold it securely

- When all the rollers are in place, you can steam the hair

- Fill the steamer up with water, turn it on and wait for it to heat up

- Once the steamer has heated up, hold it close to the hair without touching it and follow the hair in the rollers with it

- Keep going over the hair in the rollers until it is damp all the way through

NOTE: If the hair is not damp through then it will not set properly

- Leave the wig to set and dry for 2-3 days before removing the rollers and styling the wig

Steaming a wig straight again:

- Work in sections starting from the bottom, as if you were blowdrying someone's hair

- Keep the sections fairly small and not too thick, because if the section is really thick it will not steam as well

- Brush the section through and holding it tight at the ends with your hairbrush, move the steamer over the hair

- Make sure that the hair is completely straight and damp through, in order for it to set properly

Evaluation:

I think that steaming the wig was a useful technique to learn and I think that my wig ended up steaming quite well.  The only problem that I had, is that I ran out of T pins when steaming my wig with the rollers, so I could not fully steam my wig.  I found that steaming a wig straight was a lot easier than with the rollers, as when I was steaming the rollered wig I found that as I tried to move around the rollers I couldn’t quite get to all of the hair well enough.

Testing Elements of my Designs

These two elements are from my extreme style design.  On the left is a plaited bun and on the right is a raised plait on the head.  These elements were quite easy to create and I think that they will look good as part of my final extreme design.  Within my actual design, however, I will be plaiting in extra hair, some of it being a matching colour to my wig, and the other a reddy colour to enhance the plaits a bit more.

 This element is from my moderate wig design; a bun with a plait around the bottom of the bun.  I like this idea, but I have decided to use extra hair pieces to create more plaits to go around the bun and cover half of it.

This final element that I have practiced will be incorporated within all of my wig designs, as it is a key feature to the Maasai tribes warriors hair design.  This trial did not work so well on my dolls head, as her hair is quite sparse but I am keeping the feature because I think that it will work well with the wig designs.