This was my first time doing a wig like this and I am pretty happy that it turned out alright! Hehe, actually this was a commission for my friend Vinni who will be cosplaying John Constantine this weekend at the upcoming Tagcom! I just wanted to share my process of going about this wig, so here we go!
This was how I got the wig from Vinni that I would transform myself. I wasn't expecting anything other than an unstyled wig but I got something that was actually very difficult to work with. I was intimidated by the state of the wig at first and was scared that I couldn't salvage it and turn it into a wig I would want to return to my client. Especially with the style, as shown in the picture above of Matt Ryan the actor, that it needed to be in. (Thanks for the photo google!)
This was the original the colour of the wig, which was something very platinum and the quality of the fibers were very tangled, frayed and dry. However, this wasn't a problem I was too worried with since I knew I was going to be trimming those frayed ends off and I was going to be colouring the wig anyway.
However, as seen above the main problem with this wig was the way the wefts were sewn together. Not only were the fibers very thing and sparse but they were sewn so far away from each other that when it was worn, the netting and wig cap/natural hair will definitely show. The style I needed it to be in would also show that part of the wig netting where the forehead would be which is no good at all! Plus, the last wefts were completely without any fibers sewn into them at all. Yikes.
Anyway, to solve all these problems I worked with a couple steps:
1. First, I brushed it out as well as I can and then to get a more natural blonde colour, I tea-dyed the wig. This is a method where I submerge the wig in tea-water, for this one I used Earl Grey tea. I drowned it in that bath for a couple hours then washed it out and let it dry.
2. In this photo, you can start to see that I sectioned out the top part of the wig. Then, I began cutting the fibers into layers to give that short style for male wigs. I wasn't too scared with showing the netting at the moment because I was going to fix that. I just wanted to get the general length correct. I kept all the hair i cut off into a bin.
3. Afterwards, I hot-glued some felt onto the widely separated wefts so that the hair I was going to glue on after had something to stick onto. I hot glued these felt pieces into the top section as well as the sides but made sure to keep the bottom wefts un touched because then it might become uncomfortable to wear. Additionally, I added in a widows peak at the front. I used flesh coloured felt so that it could be hidden and easily blended with the blonde fibers.
4. Then, I began attaching the hair I cut off back onto the wig and onto the felt. I had glued some of the cut pieces together to form plates of hair so that it would be easier to attach but I mostly used those for the raised section in the front. I simply grabbed pieces and applied some hot glue then attached them in the same direction the hair would go. So, for the back, it was downward but on the sides (especially nearest to the side burns), I angled it slightly diagonally. It was a tedious process but as seen in the photo below, it paid off since now you can barely see the netting at all. I made my main concern to cover the netting first.
5. The top section is what I covered next, it was the signature style of John Constantine after all. I carefully attached pieces onto the felt widow's peak I made and made sure they were bent upwards. I then attached some under the felt and styled them upwards from there so that the felt wouldn't be seen from under when worn. To keep everything in place and styled, I used a hair dryer to form the correct shape and placement and hair sprayed everything to place.
6. For the sides and the back, I made sure to add some side burns by attaching longer pieces of wig fibers there. It would cover the nape and the actual side burn of the cosplayer. I also attached more wig fibers above when necessary as well as to the sides of the raised section of hair at the top to make everything look seamless and put together.
7. Once I was happy with the overall shape and condition the wig was in, I continued to colour once again because John Constantine's hair is not just one shade of blonde and has some roots. So as seen below, I began colouring in those sections. I used a mixture of alcohol and brown and orange sharpies, with a lot of alcohol so it would not be too dark. I basically sprayed closer to the head and lifted up fibers so I could spray into the roots of every section.
It took me about 2 days to make this wig and I'm very excited to hand it over to Vinni! I'm sorry if this isn't really a tutorial but I am not yet confident to make an actual tutorial but I hope that this log of my progress would help you somehow! I had a lot of fun with this project and I am now confident in challenging myself more with wigs. Here are final photos of the wig! Stay tuned to my Facebook Page to see Vinni with this wig sometime soon! See you!
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