Fake Hair: 3/4 vs. Full vs. Fall

[najla86]

I need to buy hair, and soon! I'm hoping to use it for my Halloween costume (mermaid) as well as for dancing, as my own hair is not even shoulder length now

I'm probably going to buy from Capistrano Bay Beauty (Lauren recommended this in another post), but I'm agonizing over which type to get

If you dance with fake hair, can you please give me your pros/cons about what type you use, especially regarding how to put it how and how it stays in?

Thanks!

[jewelbellydance]

I have used both a full wig and clip-on ponytails for dancing and I greatly prefer the latter. The full wig gets really hot when you're dancing - think of dancing in a beanie! Also give you super-bad hat-hair once you've taken it off. I've done hair-tossing with a full wig and it stayed on fine as long as I used lots of bobbie pins throughout the crown.

If you go for a ponytail, those with a butterfy clip are super-easy to attach and don't ever seem to fly off. The only thing is that the clip can look very bulky, so it depends on the look you're going for. They can also pull on your own ponytail and feel a bit heavy (then again, super easy to whip off after the gig). You can also get ponytails with two combs that lock together. I haven't used these, so not sure how 'safe' they are from slippage, but when I tried one on it felt much lighter and comfy.

Not sure if you use hairpieces already, but I would try not to spend super-much. Unless it's real hair, the synthetic wigs all get split ends fairly quickly - esp. if they're long and get tossed around with dancing - and there's nothing you can do to repair them. So I think it's better to buy medium-priced pieces and replace them regularly than invest too much in one.

[Souzan]

Try the 3/4 wig over the full wig. The nice part is that they are very, very light weight with open cap that lets your scalp breathe and is not hot. How they works that you incorporate your hair with it. The front of the wig attaches to your hair with combs at about the middle of the crown of your head. You use the hair around your face to blend in with the wig and it looks very natural. When my hair was too short to do an up-do, I actually had a medium length one that I wore to work on bad hair days. My hair is longer now but I still wear really long ones when I perform rather than spending a lot of time fiddling with my own hair. Also have a long clip-on ponytail that put on right over my own ponytail.

Synthetic wigs hold their style and are easy to wash and air dry since you don't have to restyle them. Roll them up in a hairnet for storage and they are good to go next time you need it.

Souzan

[Souzan]

Oops, I didn't mean put the three quarter over the full....yikes. I meant 3/4 instead of the full!

S

[Lauren_]

I think a pony is a great way to ease into the world of 'Lee Press-On Hair.'

Somehow a full wig crosses a line for me - as long as you're at least seeing *some* of my own hair around my face, I feel like I'm enhancing rather than being completely fake. Doesn't make sense, but it's how I feel.

I find the 3/4 more difficult to feel natural in. It feels heavy & hot and I can't seem to get the hair to fall in a natural way. But I have worn it, and people who met me when I was wearing it are always genuinely shocked to learn it's fake, so I guess it looks better than I think.

I like ponytails. I agree the jaw clip is kind of bulky, but it holds *really* well. I never feel like it looks bulky on other people, either, just feels that way for me. I like to wear it really high, like a showgirl, so the hair comes down the sides of my head, not just the back.

Wearing a wide headband helps to hide subtle differences between my natural color and the pony.

I haven't tried the drawstring type or the type with two big combs, but I'd like to!

[tahiradancer]

If you want to check out how a pony tail looks and works, go to my youtube. raqs Britannia has the one I like best, and then there are a few others (I think Evening of Dark Intrique and Cairo Carnaval 2007) has a different ponytail. tahirabellydancer is my name.

the nice thing is that the pony does give you some height which on a stage can be a very good thing.

*Note: with the longer ponytial, people come up and play with it. they are genuinely shocked that it's store bought! Anastacia is going to show me how to convert one to a 1/2 fall! Colour me all excited!

{{{HUGS}}}

[nasila]

I've only used a clip-on pony; I put my own hair in a loose pony at the back of my head and then twist it and flip it up and attach the comb clip onto the rubber band and twisted hair. That way my hair frames my face and falls all around the top of the ponytail and the fake stuff just adds length. Capistrano Bay does have really soft, quality hair, but the piece they sent me in real life is *much* darker than in the photo (I checked, and the color code is right so they didn't send me the wrong one). A "medium brown" to them is what I'd consider a warm dark brown, and they don't seem to have much in the middle-brown range unless you have serious auburn higlights.

I tried on a gorgeous 3/4 real hair piece at Raks West 4 years ago and it was fantastic (minus the $200 price tag) and turned me into an insta-diva. Had to save the money for costumes at that time....but been regretting it ever since!

[najla86]

thanks for all of the advice

I decided to start out with a reversible (wavy layers to straight) clip-on pony-tail from Capistrano--hopefully it matches, and if not, I'll just re-color my hair to match :P

[vilia]

My hair is very heavy, so anytime I put it up I can pretty much guarantee it'll be coming back down within a couple of hours. That's why I've used the tie-on cap type pony. The thing stays cemented to my head through head tosses, although I never feel totally at ease dancing with fake hair 'cos I still have a fear it'll come off. The clip on type pony definitely would not stay in my hair while dancing.

[angelique2]

I have about 100 different hair pieces. I have been wearing them for over 10 years. I also wear full wigs. I prefer the clips than full wigs though. I get too warm when I wear full wigs sometimes!
I just started wearing some made by Toni Brattin.
Toni Clothes Pin Perfect Curls 'n More Volumizing Hair Accessory. I wear 2 of them at a time. It makes my hair look very full.
Here is a link to my photo with the hair clip in I am wearing 2. The color matches perfect.
http://s42.photobucket.com/albums/e3...104337_5-1.jpg

[Souzan]

Originally Posted by najla86

thanks for all of the advice

I decided to start out with a reversible (wavy layers to straight) clip-on pony-tail from Capistrano--hopefully it matches, and if not, I'll just re-color my hair to match :P

That's a great look. I have one like that by Put On Pieces that reverses from smooth to wavy layers. Very versatile. One of the things I do put my own hair into a ponytail, leaving a hank loose. Then clip the hairpiece on and use the loose hank of my own hair to wrap or drap around the ponytail clip for a more natural look.

Souzan

[najla86]

here's the hair, as modeled in my Halloween mermaid costume. The skirt was formerly a knee-length plus-size 80's dress that I converted...and am now probably going to make a bra/skirt set for BD out of!

[lilya]

can't see your photos, even once I'm logged in to facebook...I think I have to friend you first....

Can you put them on photobucket? Or bhuz? I'm dying to see the costume!

[emma-bessa]

[quote=angelique2;70461]
Here is a link to my photo with the hair clip in I am wearing 2. The color matches perfect.
QUOTE]
Wow,I love the loose updo,I think it lokks very natural!
And you two look so cute together,too

[najla86]

The top is from a little girl's mermaid costume--it's a little hard to tell from the way I'm posing, but the costume fits tight to mid-shin (pencil-skirt style) then flairs out...also, my eyes look white(!) in one pic because photoshop couldn't figure out how to fix my ridiculous red-eye.

I'll post more pics of the hair once I edit the images from a recent troupe photoshoot