Wigging Out: Color and Cut

I've decided to start a wig collection. Though this has been a desire for quite a while, I hadn't taken the plunge and actually purchased one until earlier this week. I decided to take a chance on a synthetic wig that was around 60 dollars. It's called "Jessica Rabbit," and I really hope it looks nice. If it doesn't, I'm going to go to the hairdresser and have them trim it up a bit.

When I'm interested in starting something, I like to know what I'm getting into. Invariably, I find myself spending hours upon hours researching internet information. I'm sure many of you do this also. I can't imagine not taking advantage of the plethora of information that is so readily available to us. It terrifies me to think about living pre-interwebz.

While reading what my electronic friend had to offer about wigs, I realized that there are a lot of misconceptions held about them- this realization stemming from some of my own.

Fore example...

I think that a lot of people have it solidified in their minds that only human-hair wigs will look realistic.  With the leaps in technology that humanity has recently experienced, it's now as likely that a synthetic wig will look real (if not more likely) than a human hair wig. I digress, however, as the point of today is cut and color.

So how can you choose a wig that will look...well, NOT like a wig?

It's all about face shape and coloring.  If you choose a human hair wig that is cut in a way that, had your own hair been cut in that way would be rather unflattering, it will look unnatural. If your eyebrows are a bushy black and you're going for a blonde wig, it's not going to look as realistic as it would when worn by somebody with light brown or blonde eyebrows.

Two things to take into account, when aspiring for realism:

1) Know what your skin tone is. There are warm, cool and natural skin tones. If you need help deciding which you are, visit this link.

I'm the coolest-toned person in existence. If I grew out my hair naturally, it would look like this:

In other words, my hair is so silver-toned that it's almost gray looking.  I have very pink skin, too.  Blech.

Anyway, the key difference in tone is gold or silver. I would look absolutely sick in an extremely golden color. It would look very unrealistic- a bleached nightmare. But stick me in an almost-white, blonde wig, and it will look realistic (something a warm-toned person couldn't pull off in a million years.)

So if you're warm, go golden. If you're cool, go silver. If you're neither, you're a lucky person who will look good in most everything. This holds true for dyeing your hair as well.

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2) When it comes to face shape, there are many different types. See here.

I'm an oval, lucky me. Therefore, most styles are suitable for my face. If you're not an oval, though, you should look into what shapes will flatter you. As before, this applies to real hair and wigs, and can help you if you're looking for haircut advice.

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These are two very basic pieces of advice. Understand that, as a warm-toned person, there definitely is a possibility that you could pull off a cool-toned piece (and vice-versa.) It's just not guaranteed; there is a risk that it will be unflattering. These instructions are solely given to advise you in the way of "safe" color choice. Personally, I've broken many color rules in my day. (For example- the wig I just bought definitely has some warmth to it.) Before I understood what the significance of tone played in cosmetics, I experienced many golden-toned hair colors. They didn't look bad on me, but, in my opinion, they didn't look as good as cool-toned colors. Something seemed a little off. I still looked pretty, because I care for my hair very well, but....meh. So know that you're not limited by skin-tone. Use this knowledge to feel empowered when making decisions. Be confident.