Wig Re-construction 101 (A HairStory)

Wig wearin's my thing. It came about through many incarnations of hair dos. First and foremost, I feel I was born with the wrong hair. I'm all for positive body image but as far as I'm concerned hair isn't part of my body.

Hair's a medium to sculpt on top of my head. (think Troll hair)

First, I tested out glue & bead hair extensions. On top of the process being long (5 hours) and expensive ($300+), it was painful. Imagine having your hair pulled 24 hours a day for 3 months. yeeouch.

I gave up on extensions but found the miracle of the weft and hair bonding glue.

I started frequenting the local Mid-K beauty supply store. I bought latex bonding glue and wefts. I'd carefully glue in layers of hair on my head. I experimented with color, layers and length. But in the end, there were chunks of glue stuck in my hair and scalp. I constantly picked at my head like that weird dude in Texas Chainsaw Massacre.Somewhere during this time I shaved my head recalling some of my punk rock roots. (me at 15)

Also, I got really bummed about chemicals. I'd been dyeing my hair for 15-20 years and thought I'm one hair dye away from producing a third eye. So out went the dye. Which left me with ROOTS> ewwww<....of some unknown mousy dishwater brown color.

With all this experience and a bad haircut to nurse. (Doing my best to claim the shaved head grow out)

I set out on the wig stores on a mission. I envisioned a simple fall, a mid-wig, a 1/2 size piece. Lo and behold, these pieces don't exist. There were add on ponytails, weft and wigs. But nothing with micromesh (i.e. fake scalp). So I bought a decent human ponytail and went to town cutting, sewing and reshaping it to suit my needs.

I came up with something rudimentary but nonetheless wear everyday. (me, wig, and John)

For Halloween I needed to buy a cheap wig for my costume. Every time I stop in the wig store I pump the store people for ideas on how to improve my construction. The owner, without skipping a beat, showed me how to turn a full size wig into a quality fall--complete with the much sought, hand loomed mesh front-piece. She showed me one tiny 1/4 wig that was completely handloomed mesh selling for $550. That's rent! For a wig, not even. She talked me into a smart little super-quality wig for $109.95. I set out to customize it.

I cut the wig in two, leaving the top toupee piece (bottom) and the bottom piece (top). Then I harvested the wefts from the foundation.

I sewed the wefts row by row hoping to get bouffant elevation on the crown. But no luck this time around. Healthy hair is soft and silky, which is not conducive to back-combing or height. :(...I added four snapping combs, three in front and one in back. I've christened this wig "FrankenWig". Chalk this up to another wig lab experiment. After a cut and style....

Fierce bangs!