Comments | dw_cosplay: Wig Question

scifileslie in dw_cosplay

Wig Question

Dec 12, 2011 16:23

Anyone every gray up a wig with baby powder? I want to give a bit of temporary gray to my Romana wig(see avatar) when I use it for a Rani outfit and thought baby powder might work well. I plan to use the wig for Romana as well the same weekend so Rani use would be second ( Read more... )

the rani, wig, question

Comments 12

from_ashes December 12 2011, 22:19:08 UTC

I've used baby powder on real hair before and it worked beautifully. I've never tried it on a wig, but my guess would be that it wouldn't be a problem. It also came out easily.

scifileslie December 12 2011, 23:21:44 UTC

Good to know! Thanks.

acciochocolate December 12 2011, 22:59:32 UTC

In the Georgian era, people use to powder their hair and their wigs. I'm not sure exactly what they used, not having really researched the issue, but it could have been talc, which is used in baby powder.

The wiki has this to say about baby powder:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_powder

With some studies indicating possible links from talc to cancer, it appears that cornstarch as a powder may be safer. However, I would worry about getting cornstarch wet, as it becomes glutinous.

At any rate, please do post pics afterwards, as seeing how powdering the wig could would be of benefit for others here. :)

britgeekgrrl December 12 2011, 23:48:59 UTC

I learned this from keeping/wearing latex clothing:

The downside of talc is that, as soft as it is, it's still a rock. Scratch, crunch, etc.

The downside of cornstarch is that if one doesn't clean the item thoroughly, afterwards, it might encourage something to grow (cornstarch = yummy for wee beasts like fungi)

With regards to a wig, I'd probably go for talc, but that's just my entirely unscientific two cents.

scifileslie December 13 2011, 00:07:12 UTC

Probably going to go with talc. I really do not need too much...just want to emulate the hair from the photos you posted a bit ago.

acciochocolate December 13 2011, 02:53:33 UTC

Oh, gosh, I forgot about the washing-out part! However, I have put baby powder in my hair as a dry "shampoo" and then brushed it out. And when I used to help groom show dogs, we put baby powder on the dogs' coats, but brushed it all out, because if a judge felt any powder in the coat, the dog and its handler would be immediately dismissed from the ring. :(

Thread 8

Response from a lurker regfoghorn December 13 2011, 22:08:28 UTC

At the request of the Moderator, I asked my wife about this. To give context to her answer, she is a wig (and makeup) artist for San Francisco Opera with over 30 years experience ( ... )

Re: Response from a lurker scifileslie December 16 2011, 01:40:40 UTC

Thank you for the very detailed information!

I am not a die hard cosplayer and just want to keep things simple. The idea of washing stuff out a wig is more effort that I want. I think based on what I have seen here, I am just going to forgo the idea and use the wig au naturale! I am not doing an exact costume, just putting some pieces together in a character's style. I need not make it more work.