Wig Dying 101 Lab

So here are the images of today's progress. Actually, things turned out better than I thought they would. In the end there were only a few spots that needed to be redyed. I was prepared to do this tomorrow, but my brother happened to have more alcohol, and was even willing to bring it by for me, since he was in this neck of the woods anyway. So, without further ado, some step by step photos of the wig transformation:

The wig was properly combed out and hair pinned to a model head before the dying began. That black line indicates a strip that has been shrink wrapped. I figured I would try dying everything but that part, before I purchased a white, clip-on for the Sorceress lock.

I learned something crucial today, that no one had mentioned on any of their recipes or tutorials: if one spraying does not seem to cover everything, do not keep coloring the wig down. Instead, step back, let it dry, then spray it all over again. Drenching the thing in ink-alcohol solution just means that all the dye is going to run to the bottom even faster, creating a drip-dye effect. It sort of looks cool, but was not at all what I was going for. And it means I have to re-comb and re-wash the wig because I had to spray in again.

It must have been a funny sight to anyone who looked up at my balcony today. My being out there and spraying the wig down would have provided some degree of explanation. I wonder if anyone saw it during those hours I was away and it was drying; and, if they did, what they thought.

 I was pretty apprehensive about washing out the wig, simply because I had just removed all the tangles and I didn't want to knot everything up again. Still, there was no other choice, and it was not as bad as I thought it would have been. I did use a no-tangle children's shampoo in the process, which probably helped. It also made it easier to discern how much of the dye was remaining, since the bubbles became decreasingly blue as it went.

  Julia's bang are, of course, curled, and I was not going to go prancing around with straight fringe. Part of it was for accuracy, but it was also due to the fact that the bangs on this wig were longer than I liked, and they kept poking me in the eyes when I tried it on. So, I dug out my curlers, a feat itself, since I [obviously] had not used them in ages.

With a blow dryer on a warm setting I set the curlers with two rotations of 30 second intervals for each. After this five minute sequence, each was blasted with a real quick shot of hot air, then left for a few minutes to cool. The curls came out stiffly, which is to be expected, but were properly loose, and not ringletting- that would have been dreadful!


The wig is now sitting in my living room on an arrangement of towels drying from the final spritzing I had given it. It is to be noted that the wig did not dye perfectly evenly, but I like it that way: after all, no one's natural hair is all one shade. The variations between lighter aqua to darker turquoise adds a nice effect. This time I only lightly added dye to those locations that were still unnecessarily white. Whether rational or no, I was concerned that the already dyed areas would become darker than I would have liked if I was too heavy-handed. Plus, I did not want to accidentally color the Sorceress lock, since it turned out so well.


I had hoped to get a picture or two of the whole costume tonight, but that will have to wait: it would be a bad idea to make a habit out of 3a bedtimes, simply for some self-timer shots. XD