Tress Distress

Ok, I know this is probably in the ballpark of "Weirdest Questions Ever Asked," but I figured it wouldn't hurt...much:

Is it possible at all to dye, highlight, or tint a wig made of real human hair?

Obviously if it were, it would still be tricky, considering how the heck one would go about doing it. I know technically our hair and the hair stuck in a wig are both "dead," the only difference being that ours is still growing, and wigs are even supposed to be washed and conditioned occasionally, but of course haircolor is a whole other matter. Besides the wig hair itself, I have no idea how the chemicals in most dyes would affect the integrity of the wig cap, and if they'd cause a hazardous reaction with foam (since I only have a simple foam wig head for now).

I know there are gentle and safe dyes, such as ammonia-free and henna-based, but my problem is making a brunette wig slightly lighter. I'm currently searching for a very tricky wig shape that's so far proven almost impossible to find just right (it's short). I have found one online that looks the perfect shape at last, but it's too dark. I'm very hesitant to buy another wig that's the right color but is totally off in structure and length. I've practiced cutting a wig myself, and just wound up ruining it, and since I live in Manhattan I seriously doubt I could find a hair salon willing to style a wig and not charge me astronomically.

So would anyone have any advice as to what a wise course of action would be with this situation? And if all else fails and it truly is impossible to alter the color of a human hair wig, then what is the lesser of two evils: having a wig in the right color but wrong shape, or vice versa?

Many thanks and appreciations for any help.

 

Found this in my Favourites:

Colouring human hair wigs

For your other question, I think I would go with the right style, wrong colour, rather than the other way around. But it might depend on the situation. E.g., if it was a Princess Leia style, I'd go for the style and not worry too much about colour (unless it was bright purple or something!).

Hope it helps!

 

Thank you, Sola!

And herein lies the other weirdness...I'm doing a Lukette costume. I figured since the Rebel Legion has a female Han Solo and half of my friends have SW cross-dressing costuming ideas, the heck with it. (It all started as a stunt-double joke, looooong story... )

Anyway, I'm doing the ESB Bespin fatigues getup, but my, is that mophead of his a pain in the butt to find! I have naturally shoulder-length brown hair, and I was a bit worried that running around in the costume with my own hair would just get me questions as to whether I was Jaina Solo. So I did finally manage to find a good wig shape, but it's dark brown instead of dirty blond/light brown. Personally I agree with the right shape/wrong color choice, but I was just curious about other folks' opinions...

 

And I have to thank you again, Sola, for that link, since after surfing it all night I turned up a couple of other possibles. In the spirit of getting everyone else's opinion (and the fact that I can't really make up my mind between shapes and prices--ouch! ), I thought I'd post my three options here and ask what wig you guys think is the best...or at least just furthest in the ballpark.

(Surly, I know posting eBay links here is a no-no, but I don't mean to push an unsolicited sale; unfortunately the seller has a blocking copyright on their web images that prevents me from just posting an image of the product here. I don't mean to cause any upset for anyone! [-o|)

#1: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=6732836748&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT
(This was the original wig I was asking for help with--yes, believe it or not, it was the best I could find before Sola's link. I was planning to trim the little mullet tail in the back.)

#2: http://www.onthetop.com/wigpage.asp/category_look+of+love/productid_leslie+shb
(Yeah, this website has a block on its images too. This is the wig I think is closest to an overall ESB Luke 'do, color and all.)

#3: http://www.onthetop.com/wigpage.asp/category_Georgie/productid_PENN
(This one just sort of caught my eye, I'm not sure if it's right or not, but I figured I'd mull it over. I know it's a bit hard to compare it when this is so dang blond.)

And yes, you'll probably think I'm crazy if you see the prices of the latter two...but then I have this bad habit of not wanting to do any project halfway.

Thanks in advance for any of your help!

 

Speaking of cross dressing hehe, I need a few more people (guys and gals). PM if you are interested My fiance will be sporting the snowbunny padme look if I can pull this gig off LOL

Moriah, about the Wig, you now have a two in one costume, Jaina and Luke Let me know if you need help dying hair again

 

Yeah, I probably will take you up on that generous offer, because I'm just leaning towards buying the cheap eBay one first, trying it out, and then going after #2 if I hate it--cause that's just too much money to throw away!

 

Glad the link helped!

In this costume's case, I'd go with the #2 wig, it's best for colour and style. Yikes the price is crazy, true, but if you don't want to go halfway on a project, then I'd say that wig would be the best choice.

The dark one is good for style, but I'm not sure people would get that it was supposed to be Luke. But it is human hair right? For the price, I'd go for the cheap wig and give a shot at colouring it yourself.

Good luck!

 

The dark one is good for style, but I'm not sure people would get that it was supposed to be Luke.

Right, which is why trying to change the color would be essential. The problem is that Luke's hair looks different in every shot of the movie--sometimes it falls in more of a round bowl-cut shape, and then a few scenes later it's got that pronounced little duck-flip on the ends. It's a pain in the butt that I can't handle the cheaper wig and be able to see if it could be coaxed into the right style rather than the way it comes from the factory. Another problem is that no matter what the wig is, it always poofs out a bit too much like a mushroom because it's sitting on top of my own hair rather than coming from my own scalp. I wouldn't have this annoyance if it was a traditional long wig.

 

Moriah, I'd go with the $25 version first. We can make it work and you can save about $100