These are just some helpful tips I have picked up from my short time in seriously styling wigs. These are just the methods that I have pulled from my friends and tutorials.
Starting off:
BUYING YOUR WIG- The most important part of the wig styling process is finding a good enough wig to handle the styling. Personally, Arda is my favorite, but you can also buy from sites such as EpicCosplayWigs and more recently, Amazon has had some really beautiful and reliable wigs! Once you've decided you owns your wallet, you wait for the days, sometimes weeks to get your coveted package, the day of arrival is upon you. Of course you try it on to see how it looks, and if it's what you need, you begin the styling process.
YOUR TOOLS: You wield these mighty weapons as an extension of yourself. You already spent so much on the wig, but you have to spend more in order to create your masterpiece. You can find most of these items at most stores; Sally's Beauty, Walmart, Target, Amazon, and Arda-wigs also sell styling tools.
Depending on the project you have taken on, you may need a wide tooth comb, detangler brush, detangling spray, hair ties, bobby pins, hair spray, cutting tools (shears, thinning shears, shapers, etc), and even glue and more wefts. Your heat tools will be flat irons, curling irons, and the ever useful hair dryer. The wonderful thing about wigs, is remembering these aren't made of real hair, and so you can be unafraid to glue down that sucker to make sure the style stays. A downside to the wig is that if you cut it wrong, it doesn't grow back.
The tools above are some of the examples of what you can use. Please make sure your wig is heat resistant before using the heat tools.
CUTTING YOUR WIG: Once you start cutting, there is no going back. Make sure you have a reference up at all times to make sure you have the correct length. Better to have it a little too long than too short. If you can, check to see how it looks on yourself every so often to confirm that it looks correct on yourself. Just because it looks good on the wig head, doesn't necessarily mean it'll look good on you. For basic cut-jobs, you can use the thinning sheers to make it look more natural. Using hairspray at the end of cutting will help keep it a bit more styled, but is suggested to brush out and detangle after wear.
HARDCORE STYLING: This is for wigs that require more styling. I have a couple of wigs that I have had to heavily modify and it has made quite the difference the materials that I have used to keep it styled. My Battle Bunny Riven wig looks good, but not as good as my Blastoise wig. I can go more in depth in the build posts. Gluing down the pieces that you've styled makes all the difference. It doesn't move a lot and looks great even when you move your head a lot. The only real downside to that is that you have to be really careful transporting the wig. To make gluing happen faster, you can use the hair dryer, which if your wig isn't heat resistant, you can use a cool setting and make the glue dry faster.
AFTERCARE: Most of the time, you don't have to do much after heavily styling besides getting rid of fly-aways, or the occasional touch up. As long as you properly store your wig, you don't necessarily have to worry about pony tails falling down, or curls becoming flat. If there is a problem, most of the time, you can wash the wig of the product and restyle it pretty quickly. Now that you know what you're doing, it should be a breeze.
I hope this has been enlightening, and as always, if you have questions, you are more than welcome to email me, message me on my Facebook (www.facebook.com/Seifersstitches), or stop me at a con! I love meeting people and talking shop! Below are some of the wigs I have styled in the past couple years.
