Hi everyone!
You may have seen Sarah’s red-streaked wig in my last Showcase post.
I promised you a tutorial on how you could do it yourself. Well, here it is.
It’s relatively simple, quick, and if you do it correctly, removable!
You will need:
-1 Wig (in the style and color of your choice.)
-Dollfie Rooting Hair (in the color of your choice.)
-A Dollfie Rooting Needle (or similar needle.)
-Dollfie Scissors (or similar sharp scissors.)
-Razor Cutter (optional.)
-Tenshi-no-Hairbrush (optional.)
The tutorial is below!
Your first step is to choose your wig, and rooting hair color. You want to choose a loose style, and most likely a straight wig. A curled wig, or a very specific style, will make it difficult to add the streaks as it will involve quite a bit more styling.
You can give a different impression with different colors. Using a naturally colored wig with slightly lighter, or darker streaks will give an impression of more natural highlights or lowlights. Using vibrant colors gives a wilder, or playful feel. You can even do multiple colors if you want, or just put a streak in the front. The possibilites are varied, so play around until you find something you like.
Keep in mind, especially if you are familiar with the wig fibers and colors, that our wig fibers, and rooting hair fibers do not follow the same color scale. But there are similar colors, and colors that are nearly the same. The hair itself is also different, finer and shinier.
I chose the W-115-2, which is a layered, long style in the natural black color. I chose red streaks to go with it since I wanted a very noticeably streaked look. I am adding to the pre-modified wig in this tutorial instead of starting a new project. This wig needed some upkeep anyway!
For this tutorial, SD13G Mimi is assisting!
Step 1: Decide your placement.
You will want to try the wig on the doll to get a feel of how you want the streaks to fall. Is the wig center parted or side parted? Does it have bangs? These are all things you will want to take into account when deciding your placement.
Also decide how many streaks you want. You don’t have to be exact, but it’s good to get a feel for what you want to do before you start.
Step 2: Preparing your Rooting Hair.
Rooting Hair
Take your Rooting Hair out of it’s package. You will see that it is in a long skein, folded in half, and secured with a rubberband at one end.
Because the fibers are so fine they tangle easily. This is where your Tenshi-no-Hairbrush comes in handy. You want to keep them as smooth as possible. But, if they do get a little tangled up you can use the pointed end of the brush to work out larger knots, and then use the brush itself to smooth the hair. Make sure you always work from the bottom up, or you will just pull the knots against themselves, making a huge mess.
You can either lay the hair out, or hang it up with a clip. I like to hang it up personally, as it is easier for me to just grab a few strands and seperate them that way. But for the purposes of the tutorial I have left them laid out.
Step 3: Threading your needle.
Take a few strands and seperate them carefully from the skein. How many you use will depend on the size of the streaks you want, but I would recommend not using pieces that are very large as it will make a bigger hole in your wig cap, and might damage it. I would recommend between 10-20 strands.
Approx. 10 Strands
Approx. 20 Strands You can cut the hair shorter if you like, but make sure that it is at least twice the length you want to end up with.Threaded Needle
Once you have your strands seperated you will want to cut the ends off straight. Wetting the end of the hair will help you thread them through the needle. You can use water, or roll them in between your fingers (some people also lick their fingers and wet them that way, but it’s up to you whether you do that or not.) But, be careful not to get them too wet, they just need to be damp enough to stick together.
Knotted Ends
Thread one end through the needle, and then bring the other end to meet it. Tie a knot. You should now have a loop of hair on your needle.
Step 4: Making your streaks.
Push the needle through from the inside.
From the inside of the wig, push your needle through at the place where you want your streak to start. It is good to angle the streaks so that they fall with the hair, instead of pushing straight up.
Angle the needle so the hair falls naturally.
Pull the streak through until you feel the knot hit the headcap. If the knot comes out, it probably means that it is too small, so tie it off a couple more times to make it a bit larger, and try again.
You will want to start with smaller strands and work up. For example, if you want a large chunk you should use many small strands, instead of trying to thread through one large, or a few larger strands. This will make it fall more naturally, and prevent damage to the headcap.
Continue Steps 3 and 4 until you have acheived the desired effect.
I like it! Do you?
Step 5: Trimming and Styling.
You may notice that the strands are longer than your style, or maybe that they don’t quite match the look of your wig’s ends, especially with a layered cut.
This is where your Dollfie Scissors, or Razor Cutter come in handy. Trimming the ends to match your style will help to avoid a blunt end on your streaks by helping them to integrate more naturally with your wig.
For this step it is easiest for the wig to be on the doll. So, obviously you will need to be careful with your doll. But also, please be careful with yourself!
Trimming with the razor.
I personally like the Razor Cutter. To give a layered look, pull the strands you want to cut taut, and then slide the razor cutter gently down the strands. Just use a gentle combing motion and it will leave you with a layered end. Be careful not to push too hard as you may cut them off too bluntly.
The razor is very sharp, but it is protected by the comb piece, so you shouldn’t really be able to cut yourself.
You can get the same look with the Dollfie Scissors, but it takes a bit more effort. Also, if you are using a blunt cut wig, you will want to use the Scissors instead of the Razor Cutter, to get the correct effect.
Firstly, you will want to make sure that the guide is down as it can help you cut more delicately.
Guide is in place.
For a layered look with Scissors, you will pull the hair taut, and gently, with your scissors pointing down, cut down the strand. It is more of a sliding motion than a true cut.
Slide the scissors down the strand.
Alternately, you can cut the hair off blunt a little longer than you want it, then fan out the hair in between your fingers, and then cut into the hairs vertically.
Fan the hair, and cut vertically.
After trimming, you can style the hair if you like using Dollfie Wig Mist, or Dollfie Water Wax.
Taking out the streaks is super easy!
Pull gently on the knot.
Make sure you do this from inside the wig, and then simply take the knot in your hand and pull out the streak. Some of the main wig hairs might get a little mussed, but it shouldn’t be anything a like brushing won’t take care of.
If you’ve used styling products it might be a bit more difficult, so you may want to gently wash the wig with Dollfie Wig Shampoo & Conditioner. Plus it will leave your wig clean and fresh looking!
If your doll is wearing Pitatto Wig, I would recommend that you use a Dollfie Head Cap (S, M, L) appropriate to their size. The rough texture may pull out all of your hard work!
Finished!
Tags: Tutorials
