Wig problems, How do you deal with them?

I've snipped a few stray threads in my time. Nothing major and I haven't suffered ill effects from it but it's definitely tricky and I'm not all that experienced with wig care. Hopefully people with more experience will weigh in.

 

One of my limited wigs was attacked by my dog and nearly destroyed. I spent nearly a week running water and conditioners/softeners through it, then resetting the curls one by one. It was never as good as it originally was, but when I was finished redoing it all, there were just a few strays and flyaways. Not bad.

My dog now knows fear.

 

I got a wig in a swap which I never liked for the girl who received it (it just wasn't her style) and it sat in my dolly box for months (I'd hazard a year!), and I dragged it out when another girl had a character change. This is it's progression:
http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/419287_10150585987021776_138897226_n.jpg
How I received it - all in braids, and they were crossed over in the parting (this caused so many problems haha!)

Then I took all the braids out, and then re-braided two of them and tied them back in a semi-medieval style:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7434/9032194658_84b817c4e2_n.jpg
DSC02834 by Miss Carrion, on Flickr

I still wasn't 100% happy with it, and I didn't like that in that style you could see the wig-cap. I spent ages tossing up with the idea of cutting it into a blunt fringe, because all other parting didn't work because the wig naturally still followed the cross-over parting that you can see here - it could either fall straight down, or it wanted to part like that :P Eventually I decided to bite the bullet and cut it, and it turned out pretty well!


DSC02922 by Miss Carrion, on Flickr
She's been stuck wearing that hat since the cut, since the fringe wanted to sit out like a ledge, but it's slowly being trained to sit properly, and I think the risk was totally worth the result!

 

It depends on the wig. Amir is on about his third wig in 2 years because he somehow wears them out (and I have NO idea how!) I just keep rebuying the same wig. In other cases, if the ends just look a little rough or something, I'll try to fix it or maybe trim it.

 

I tried to force a small wig to fit a larger doll,and the wig ripped apart. I did a pretty good job of fixing it,but now it's even smaller so I bought another similar wig. Maybe the old wig could fit my realpuki,I'll have to try that out.

About decorated wigs-I have an OnlyDoll wig that has a braid and jewels glued to the top. It's beautiful,but I have a lot of problems with it. You can't stretch it too much because the jewels fall out,and strands of hair keep falling out. I bought that for my RS Lan,and it was too big but I didn't want to send it back because it's too pretty. It might fit another doll I have since I sanded her headcap,I don't know.

 

I would take lots of detail shots of how the style goes together, then CAREFULLY take the whole style apart. Give it a fabric softener bath and then dry and gently comb it out. After that, so long as all the fibers are smooth again, slowly and carefully with LOTS of looking at your reference images taken before you took it all apart, try to restyle. Chances are, with such a complex looking style, it'll have to be put back close to how it is to look right without wig cap showing. And if that fails? Get a new wig, and figure out what I can do with the old one.

 

I'm not brave enough to attempt repairs etc so I would just buy a new wig if was a favourite of mine ;-)

 

Could any one help me with advice what to do if the mohair wig gets felted in places?

 

Sing it! I bought the beautifully styled blue wig shown with the Only-Doll Lu Er. It started looking whonky straight out of the bag. I'm pretty much hair-stupid, so I've done what I could to rescue it, but it will never look as good as it does in company photos.

 

If I got a wig then had something happen to it I'd try to fix it then if that doesn't work just see about getting a replacement of the same wig...

 

I have an Only Doll wig, the blue one that comes with the YiFeng fullset. I really dislike it - it's too long, and some of the hair has been pulled out of the top of the jewel thing so it's all bubbled up and messy looking. I've tried pulling on every strand of hair to get it to come back through with no luck, so now it rots in a box.

I have no patience for wigs once they get messed up. I just replace them.

 

I think it has had it - i felted a mohair wig by accident and had to dump it. What was worse was that I had made it myself - by latching in the hair into a mesh cap. You could try cutting the felted bits out. If you try and wash it - or just condition it - the "felting" often spreads and the whole thing goes into a mat. it is impossible to pick out as the fibres get too tightly wrapped up.

 

I got an LE wig from Leekeworld in Real Carrot and the ringlet curls ended up being far too long for what I wanted. I like dolls to have a more realistic length hair rather than incredibly long, so I carefully snipped the curls to the length I wanted. It helped that they were in ringlets so I only had to make small snips for the hair to be a uniform length.

As bad luck would have it, I then dropped the wig as I was teasing the curls, so I ended up with a horrible tangly mess. I washed the wig carefully and conditioned it several times. When I completely coated the hair in conditioner I used a wide tooth comb and a rat tail comb to separate the strands and undo any snaggles - the conditioner really helped, it would have been impossible to do this with just wet fibres, and definitely go slow because nothing goes well if you do a rush job! Once I had all the ringlets separated I washed out the conditioner and left the wig to air dry on a ball to keep its shape. The wig is perfectly fine now and I am SO glad because it would have been horrendously bad to lose an LE wig that I couldn't replace.

 

Interesting to hear the different problems...

How DOES a mohair wig get felted? I've never done that with a wig... I've had it happen when I accidentally machine washed a knitted scarf, though! I tried working the fibers apart, but it was still pretty much a mess...

With most wigs, it's probably a good idea to take them off the doll when you are traveling around with the doll in a carrier... That kind of thing is always hard on wigs. Best to take them off and put them in a net and/or bag and then put them on the doll carefully once you get the doll all set up again.

I know that's a pain to do... and I usually don't follow this advice myself!... but it really would make the wigs last long and keep in better shape!

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I haven't had to do much to my wigs... they've kept in OK shape even with the abuse I put them through! I usually carefully finger-comb wigs and try to put them back in nets and bags when not in use... I don't wash them or cut them or comb them or restyle them or put product in them...

 

I really do not know how it felted. I did not use it much, it was in box, not put in a mesh. When I took it out I was surprised to discover clots in it.
I am really upset as mohair wigs are my favourite. I hate them perish that way.
Thanks for responses!

 

Resurrection!
I'm facing a wig problem & could really use some advice from experienced collectors~

I want to purchase a wig for my doll, her head is 8.3 inches. The wig in question, a Crobidoll wig, is only offered in 7-8 inches, or in 9-10 inches. Should I downsize when choosing the wig, or go bigger? Could using a wig cap really help a wider wig hold?
Thanks in advance!

 

I would purchase the 9-10 inch wig in this situation. A larger fit is always better; at least your doll would still be able to use it. If it's too loose, you could always get one of those silicone caps to hold it in place.