Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Wigs VS Hair

Hello everyone! Today I'll be talking about my experience with wigs versus natural hair. I'll be going over some of the pros and cons of natural hair and wigs in comparison to each other.

Maintainance
 First things first: Maintaining your hair or wig. Both need to be brushed or combed out to prevent tangle, from the bottom up so as to avoid damage as well as even more tangles, as well as cleaned. Wigs require different cleaning products compared to natural hair due to some main diferences in the fibers from natural hair. For example, you would most likely not use fabric softener on your natural hair, but oftentimes it's recommended for maintaining wigs. Likewise, you wouldn't want to use regular shampoo on a wig as it's formulated to clean natural hair as well as your scalp of dirt, oil, and other buildup. Another diference between natural hair and wig maintainance is that hair grows back, but wig fibers do not. This means that oftentimes one has to be a lot more gentle when combing a wig out than with natural hair. I've found that, timewise, wigs can take as long or longer than natural hair to maintain depending on how long it is and how long it takes to dry it.

Color
 Like natural hair, wigs can also be dyed. Unlike natural hair though, wigs should not be bleached, don't need root touchups, and typically are sold in a variety of colors. While dying natural hair typically involves bleach (to ensure more even coverage), hair dyes which have to sit and saturate the hair, and lots of careful maintainance to make the color last as long as possible, wigs are comparitively easy to dye. While I haven't had the opportunity to try for myself, I've seen one method for dying wigs where you essentially mix ink from sharpies with alchohol (or water? I'd have to find the vidoe again and I'm not sure it's still up) and spray your wig down to color it. If done properly, your wig shouldn't need to be dyed again. However, for best results, you have to start with a white or other light colored wig to have the color show. Since wigs can't be bleached, you can't exactly take a dark wig and lighten it up (at least to my knowledge)

Styling
 Wig styling is VERY different from styling natural hair. The products can range from glue (which you should NEVER use on your natural hair) to regular styling products like hairspray or hair wax. One of the biggest diferences between wig and natural hair styling is that wig fibers tend to hold their shape. You can curl a wig and it'll stay curled unless you straighten it. While you can soften the curls by combing the wig to blend the curls, you can't take them out completely without using heat of some sort. Also, a lot of times a wig may be styled in such a way that it shouldn't be washed or gotten too wet unless a new style is wanted for it. With your natural hair, if you style it, it will likely lose shape over the course of a day and you'll need to redo it the next day unless you find a way to avoid having it mushed while you sleep.

 As a final note, one of the best things about wigs is that you can change your hair every day and not have to worry about damaging your natural hair by coloring it constantly or cutting it and waiting for it to grow out. I've got a nice collection of wigs that I like to wear randomly, as well as some extentions and clip-on ponytails that I'm using until my hair grows out more and it's really nice being able to see how I look with different hair styles and colors without having to commit to them as I'd have to with my natural hair.

I'm on Twitter: @animlolicouture
Check out my Facebook page: facebook.com/CelesteChoCho

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: My Hair Dying Experiences

Hello everyone! Today I'll be writing about the second of three hair related topics: My experience dying my hair. Make sure to check out last weeks post, where I talk about my decision to cut my hair.

So, what if you;re thinking of dying your hair instead of cutting it? I've dyed my hair a total of twice in my life and only partially both times. I'm overall happy with my blonde hair color, so I've never really felt the need to dye it completely. The first time I dyed my hair, it was just the tips using a temporary Manic Panic color that a friend had left over from dying the ends of her own hair. It resulted in a very pretty, bright purple that faded over the course of the next few days, and eventually came out after a week or two (it's been long enough I can't remember exactly). Dying my tips was kind of a spur of the moment decision as I'd been planning on cutting it a bit shorter in order to make it easier to maintain for a while, so I wasn't worried about it staining my hair or anything as it was just going to be cut off anyways. My decision process was pretty much along the lines of
Friend: "You want me to dye your ends too?"
Me:"Hey, Mom, Dad, can she dye my tips?"
Parents: "Ehhh, it's your hair."
Me: "Schweet! Yes, dye my tips purple!"
Not much contemplating there since purple's kinda my favorite color...

 My second time dying my hair, I was attempting to give myself copper red highlights (similar to dispersed ones I have naturally). I decided to do this while I was visiting home after playing Style Savvy and greatly enjoying the pretty red streaks I'd put in my character's hair. I quickly found out that it's a lot harder to do that sort of look in reality versus a game. I ended up buying a coppery red and a highlighting kit since I didn't know where to just get the highlighting cap and hook thingie seperate from bleach and stuff. Thinking it would result in highlighted chunks, I ended up pulling pretty much all of my hair through the little holes on the cap and ended up with strawberry blonde hair instead of the blonde with red highlights I was aiming for. If I ever do this again, I'll probably either  just use foil or something similarly non-pourus to seperate the strips of hair that I want to be dyed, or have a professional do it since previous attempts at hair styling and color have proven I have no idea what I'm doing.

 So what'll my next adventure in hair dying be, you ask? To be honest, I'm not sure. My current job requires me to have natural colored hair and I'd want to dye my hair purple, blue, or pink most likely, so it's probably not going to happen anytime soon since I'm planning on making a career out of this job. However, If I figure out a way to dye my natural hair and hide it under a natural looking wig that'll be acceptable at my workplace, I might just go all out and dye my hair crazy colors like Japanese Decora girl Kurebayashi! I wouldn't do the close shave that she tends to do though, since I wouldn't like that style on myself. It's taking long enough to grow my hair back from a bob!

Make sure to tune in next week as I talk about wigs!

Check me out on Twitter: @animlolicouture
I'm on Facebook too! facebook.com/CelesteChoCho

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Cutting my Hair

Hello everyone! Today I'm going to be talking about the first topic in a three part article about hair: my decision to cut my hair. I'll be posting about my experience with hair dying and wigs over the next two weeks..

 So, late last year I found myself wearing wigs all the time outside of work. I was tired of managing my hair and wanted to change it. Unfortunately, my workplace doesn't allow unnatural hair colors, otherwise I'd have dyed the ends of my hair purple again or added some brightly colored highlights to my hair. Thinking I'd just been having some bad hair days, I decided to wait a while before making any decisions on what to do with my hair. However, after several months, I was still frustrated with my hair and decided to do something I'd never done: Get a bob cut. It took me months to finally go through with this because I've always had long hair and have dreampt of having super long hair like Rapunzel since I was a little girl. However, I'd never had short hair and was getting frustrated with the amount of time it was taking every morning to make my hair suitable for work. I decided to get my family and friend's opinions by posting a picture of me with my hair pinned up to look as short as I planned to cut my hair. I got a lot of positive remarks, other than my mom bemoaning my decision. So, I started looking into nearby salons, decided on one, called them, and made an appointment to have my hair cut. Before going in, I did some image searches looking for hairstyles similar to what I wanted on people with fine, curly hair like me. In addition to those pictures, I brought along pictures of Vanilla Mieux from Sugar Sugar Rune as well as a photo of the last time my hair was short: when I was four.

 I was a little nervous at the salon as I'd never been to a salon (Ima cheapskate and had my dad trim my hair) nor had I ever had such a dramatic change in hair length before. My stylist was very nice, taking the time to look through the reference pictures I'd brought before she got to work on my hair and making sure I was happy with where my style was going while she worked on it. The end result was a super cute, layered, poofy, bob cut that I was super happy with! After I got my hair cut, I got a LOT of compliments on it, both out and about and at work. Even now while I'm trying to grow it back out again, I don't regret cutting my hair in the slightest. If any of you are thinking of or know someone who is thinking of cutting their hair short after having it be long, I highly reccomend going to a salon and working with someone who takes time to make sure you get a style you like. It's well worth paying a bit more than to try and do it yourself and mess your hair up. (I say this after a rather failed attempt at cutting my own bangs and layering my hair. They didn't turn out well at all...)

Make sure to tune in next week for my hair dying experience!

Check me out on Twitter: @animlolicouture
I'm also on Facebook! facebook.com/CelesteChoCho

Loliable Hairstyles: No Bangs

 Please be warned that this post has quite a few images in it. If you have a slow internet connection I suggest you stop the page loading once you can see the text, then loading the pictures individually as you come to them.

 Recently I decided to cut my hair so that I have long bangs that frame my face, but before I did this I was still able to do cute loliable hairstyles with my long hair. Most of the time I'd wear my hair loose, but I came up with a few pretty and creative hairstyles that are easy to do. I've decided to post tutorials of a few of these for those with long, bang-less hair to follow if they choose. My hair curls naturally when I let it air dry, so if your hair doesn't then you might want to curl your hair before styling it or once you finish the look. Even if your hair does curl naturally you can always give your curls a little boost! On to the tutorials!

Simple Clipped

This first style is by far the simplest. Begin by sectioning off a small piece of hair from in front of both of your ears (See image below). 

 

Take both of these strands and pull them around to the back of your head and clip them into place (See image below). Alternatively, you can braid the two sections together and fasten them with a hair elastic.

 Liz Thompson Hairstyle

This hairstyle is based off of that  Liz Thompson's from Soul Eater. I like this style because it gives you the same look as loose hair, but it keeps it out of your face. If you are wearing this style for a Lolita look, you can curl it and add hair accessories. If you are cosplaying Liz Thompson, straighten your hair either with a straight iron or by another method then put your hat on after you finish the style. Start by sectioning off two sections at the front of your hair like in the Simple Clipped style. From here, take each section and tuck it behind your ear (see image below). To make sure it stays in place, you can also criss-cross a couple bobby pins over the strand behind the ear.

Pull the remainder of your hair forward to cover your ears (see image below).

Mini Twist
 I got this idea from one of my friends who showed it to me when I bought a pretty flower clip from her. Start by parting your hair on the side. I chose to do a part on the right side of my head (see image below).

Now, section off a small piece of hair from the side of your part with more hair on it (this would be the left side for me)(see image below).

Next, take this piece of hair and make a small loop in it that rests just above your temple (see image below).

Finally, clip or pin it in place with a decorative pin on hair clip (see image below). It can be a little difficult getting the loop to stay, but you can always criss-cross a few bobby pins over the top and base of the loop before adding your hair clip.

 Faked Bangs Ponytail
 For this hairstyle we will be using sections of our hair to imitate long parted bangs. Begin by coming a section of your hair forward, like you would if you were cutting your own bangs. I already have bangs, so I pulled more of my hair forward than someone without bangs would need to. Take the rest of your hair and pull it back into a low ponytail, but don't put a hair tie on. (See image below.)

For the next step, twist the ponytail and flip it over your head. Clip it in place. I find it works best to clip it at the point where you would position a high ponytail (see image below). I used two smaller clips for this tutorial, but you can also do this with a larger clip. Flatter clips work better than rounder ones. For more stability, you can instead use criss-crossed bobby pins (pin smaller sections of hair instead of trying to pin it all at once). I find this to be more comfortable and longer lasting than using a clip if I'm going to be wearing this hairstyle all day.

Flip the ponytail to the back of your head and position the hair so that the clips or pins are covered (see image below). Your hair will be shorter than usual pulled up this way, so you may want to adjust it slightly. If you want your hair to be longer, take out the clips and then adjust the height of the ponytail. Don't pull it up as high as a high ponytail would go though as this is where you will be clipping the hair. Instead, position the ponytail at least two finger's width (or the width of your clip) down from where you will be clipping or pinning the hair up. I recommend clipping the hair in place instead of pinning it the first time you do this style so you can make adjustments more easily. This way you won't have to take out and put in a ton of bobby pins three or four times before you are satisfied with the length of the ponytail.

For the next step, we will be teasing the undersides of your "bangs" to make them stand up a bit. Alternatively you can use a curling iron or heated curlers to give your "bangs" more volume. Pull the "bangs" up individually and gently tease the bottom four or so inches nearest to your hairline. Fix with hairspray. The finished style should look similar to the image below. If any of the steps are confusing, please leave me a comment below and I will try to clear it up.

If you have any questions or comments about the tutorials, please comment below. I will only be able to do hair tutorials for girls with long hair, but there are many very nice tutorials available on YouTube. Some of my favorites are some of Venus Angelic's more recent ones after she cut her hair. All images are taken by me and are of me. If you wish to use any of my images please receive permission from me first and do not alter them in any way. The fan in the images is one I made myself. Tutorial for it will be coming later on.

Cosplay Tips 1: Updated!

Hello all. This will be a continuing series of tips and suggestions I have for cosplayers and anyone interested in cosplaying or just dressing up for Halloween. I'll try to do a few examples if necessary for each of these posts. So, without further ado, here is


Cosplaying tip #1: Wigs and Hair
One thing that I find difficult about cosplaying is the hair. Many Anime characters have gravity defying hair or hair that is an unnatural color. Thanks to wigs, the task of looking like you have 6 inch purple spiked hair is made much easier. However, good wigs tend to be expensive, and not everyone has the time to style wigs or the money to buy a wigs styled like their favorite anime character. So my main solution is: choose a character that has hair similar to your own. For example, I have long blond hair. This is a fairly popular combination in anime and it gives me some versatility.  Some of the characters I've cosplayed in the past were Patty and Liz Thomas and Maka Albairn from Soul Eater along with Chi from Chobits. It's true, my hair wasn't perfect, but it was enough to get the point across

Wig allow a lot more versatility, but also have a lot of their own problems. For one thing, the fibers most wigs are made out of behave differently from real hair. This can have it's advantages, namely when you style the wig, it stays styled, unlike real hair. However, this also means that wigs behave differently from real hair. I found a really nice book about 'wig crafting' recently that has lots of different suggestions for how to style wigs. It's called "World of Wigcraft" by Katie Bair. I haven't had the opportunity to try out anything from it yet, but it was very informative and I hope to use some of the tips in the future. If you are interested in making your own wigs, I would highly recommend you buy "World of Wigcraft." Some of the things that I found the most helpful were using hot water to style the wigs instead of a curler of straightener so as to not melt the fibers and not treating wigs like real hair since they aren't attached to a scalp like real hair and lay differently.

 Update:
I've noticed one of the main struggles with wigs, especially long ones, is that they tangle fairly easily. One could just try combing the wig out to get the worst of the tangles out, but this isn't always the best choice. If you've got a wig that's super tangled or just really messy the best choice is to wash the wig. Here's what you'll need:
-A tub, I just used my bath tub, but you can use a sink or plastic tub if you have a shorter wig
-Shampoo, I'd recomend using a less expensive shampoo for this since you'll likely be using a lot
-Wide tooth comb, I used a plastic shower comb for this

 Start by filling the tub up to a few inches deep so you have enough water to submerge the wig in.  Get the wig thoroughly wet, both the outside and the inside of the wig. Pull the wig out of the water and apply some shampoo to the ends of the fibers on one section of the wig. work it through the fibers and then use a comb to gently work the tangles to the ends of the fibers. Always work from the bottom to the top of the wig to avoid pulling out as many fibers as possible. If the fibers start feeling less wet, dunk them in the water again and reapply the shampoo. It's easiest to work on a small section at a time instead of the whole wig. I did one side in sections until it was mostly tangle free, then switched sides of the wig. Once you finish with the outside of the wig, flip it inside out and work on the inside fibers the same way as for the outside ones. Afterwords, turn the wig right side out again and fix the outside fibers if needed. This process can take anywhere from half an hour to several hours depending on the length of the wig and the severity of the tangles, so be patient. You don't want to get impatient and tear out too many wig fibers when you do this. Once the wig's detangled, wash all of the shampoo out and gently pat off excess water with a towel. The wig can take several days to dry, so make sure to put it somewhere where it can hang freely and let it air dry. Make sure the wig is 100% dry before storing it.

I used a straight wig for this, so I don't know how this method would work on a wig with curls. If your wig has curls, make sure to use cold or lukewarm water as hot water can make the wig fiber change shape. This should ensure that the curls will stay better intact on your wig.