How to Wear a Wig and Look Natural

My Secret Treasures:

How to Wear a Wig and Look Natural

 

People from all ages wear wigs nowadays, so the purposes of wearing wigs have diversified. Today, wigs are well established as fashion items. Over a couple of years, wig has developed into various types and styles, and fashion wigs have increased in terms of the number of available products and their quality. Especially, the arrival of lace front wigs signaled the beginning of a new era for wigs. However, one of the most negative feedbacks to wearing a wig, which has lasted many years, is the unflattering, unnatural look of wearing a wig. Can you wear a wig without other people noticing?

 

1. The one of the cheapest, the half-wigs, can be actually great.
A half wig is literally a half of a wig. It does not have the top portion because it is designed to be worn like a hair band. Compared to full wigs, they are cheaper and popular among younger women who do not have hair loss in the front head. It adds overall volume to natural hair and offers a freedom of hair lengths who want drastic changes in hairdo. Clips and small combs are installed inside the half wigs for attachment, and your natural front hair covers the half wig. This provides advantages over regular wigs to look more natural. You can find many resources on different looks utilizing half wigs on YouTube and other social media.

 

 

2. Lace Front is the Best.
When lace front wigs first hit the market, not many people enjoyed the full potential of the lace front wigs due to their lack of knowledge. The use of lace front wigs was popular among celebrities, but when it was first introduced to the general public, they had very little education available. In the worst case scenario, you could have ended up with a worse result than a traditional wig despite the extra money you paid for a lace front wig. Fortunately, you can easily find videos on YouTube and other social media about how to wear lace front wigs nowadays.

 

 

3. A great match is possible when it goes well with your skin tone.
It is a fundamental question you ask when you choose an extension hair. However, when it comes to wigs, surprisingly a lot of consumers make the same mistake of choosing wrong colors that would speak loudly that you are wearing a wig. You should choose colors that you often wear or that go well with your skin tone. When you are considering a front lace, a transparent front lace is a start. If you have a darker skin tone, you can blend in the front lace of your wig into your skin by applying darker shade foundation.

 

 

4. Covering the fundamentals: front hairline
You need to position the front hairline of your wig in the exact place of your natural hairline. Nonetheless, surprisingly many people do not pay attention to the hairline. Then, it does not matter how expensive your wigs are. It would look like wearing a wig. You can gradually adjust a wig on your head by examining how you look at a certain hairline position and move on to next. Most human face can be equally divided into three parts: from chin to nose, from nose to eyebrow, and from eyebrow to hairline. If you can measure your face, you can find the correct position of hairline for your wig.

 

 

5. Straight hairline is a big no.
If you cut a lace front wig into a straight line and wear it as-is, it will certainly look unnatural. Nobody has a ruler-straight hairline. A clean, straight hairline will likely appear unnatural. You can use tools like tweezers to pluck some long hairs in the front part of the lace front, so the hairline would become slightly irregular. You can first take a picture of your natural hairline, and compare your hairline with the wig’s hairline; the latter can be plucked to resemble the former. Then, you can cut the lace accordingly. A hairline can be formed using tweezers, and the lace part can be cut. Next, you can pull some hairs out from the lace front wig using a tail comb. Once you cut them into a desired length, you have baby hairs. Once plucked, baby hairs can be tamed using hair gels such as Edge Control. Baby hairs add smoothing visual effect to the edges of lace as well.

 

 

6. Cornrow braiding under a wig
If your entire wig stays in the air or feels heavy after styling, it could be improved by cornrowing your natural hair. You can cornrow your hair and wear a wig cap for a tighter fit, resulting in a more natural look. Especially, if you have a long hair, even if you are wearing a wig cap, you risk having your natural hair slipping out of the wig cap.

 

 

7. Doll-like shiny hair is a big no.
Out of the box, wigs can look glossy because the raw fiber tends to be shiny and thin. This can reveal that you are wearing a wig. Through a continuous wear, the raw fiber gets rougher, rendering a more natural coarse look. Hence, many wig enthusiasts apply physical stress onto new wigs to avoid the glossy look of a recently purchase wig. They add textures using friction, dry shampoo, and manual twisting to create volume and desired texture, which ideally should resemble their own natural hair.

 

 

8. Try various hairdos to avoid an unnatural wig look!
When you first try a wig, it would feel heavy and bulky. To look more natural, you can thin out hairs throughout or make layers on the sides. Many wig wearers visit a hair salon after purchasing a wig for this reason. They avoid an unnatural wig look by customizing wigs to go well with their face shape. Another styling solution is modifying the overall style by trying an up-do or making buns to look like a natural hair. If you hold your hair too tightly tied up, the front and back edges of your wig can be exposed, which is why you should avoid any tight tied-up styles. You should instead loosely tie the hair into a bun and let the hair naturally fall on your head to hide the wig edges.

 

 

9. A harmonious blend. Blending!
You can blend your own hair with wig hair. Many celebs in Hollywood use this technique when they wear wigs. You need to leave some of your front hair out when you cornrow your hair. Then, you wear a wig over a wig cap. This way you can blend in the remaining hair, not cornrow braided, with wig hair using combs. This will result in your own hair covering wig’s hairline, allowing others to see only your natural hairline. The result is similar to wearing a half wig.

 

 

10. Natural Look? Wig maintenance is a must.
You need to keep a good maintenance of your wig to stay clean and look natural. You dissolve wig shampoo in lukewarm water and sink your wig into the water. Then, swish the wig sideways 5-6 times. Next, you can gently press the wig 5-6 times and submerge under clean water and shake it 5-6 times. Place your wig on a dry towel and press to dry. You should leave it hanged on a wig hanger in a cool place. It should only be naturally dried in the air. For synthetic wigs, if they are not properly maintained, they become dry and tangled, impossible to comb. They would not stay in the original style. On the other hand, a cheap wig can last long like your natural hair if maintained properly. If you apply wig conditioning sprays, you can soften the hair, allow easy-combing, and restore curl to retain a natural look for a long time.

Wig shampoos available in beauty supply stores. / Wig conditioning sprays available in beauty supply stores.

 

Hair Trend  BY JOO PARK
BNB Magazine AUG 2020 ©bnbmag.com