(Re-)Curling a wig

Frequent wearing, combing or steaming of a synthetic wig can cause the wig to lose its curl. Just like how you can straighten a wig using steam, you can also curl a wig with steam. Don’t use a heated curling iron on your synthetic wig! Most synthetic wigs cannot handle such high temperatures and the hair will melt!

Start with combing or brushing your wig. You don’t want it to be tangled before you curl it. Separate the hair in layers, leaving the bottom layer loose. Place hair rollers in the wig just like you would do in your real hair. Take a strand of the synthetic hair, not too thick, and wrap it around the roller. Secure the roller in place at the root of the strand. A smaller roller will result in tighter curls, but you do need to use smaller strands of hair and more rollers. A larger roller will result in larger curls or waves. 

If you don’t have rollers available, you could even use empty toilet rolls and secure them with bobby pins. You can cut the toilet roll open over its length to make them more narrow for tighter curls. 

When all the rollers are in place, take a large plastic bag and place it over the wig. Now take your steamer and blow steam into the bag. To keep as much as the steam in the bag as possible, you can wrap the opening around the handle of the steamer. Try not to touch the wig with the mouth of the steamer as the mouth can get quite hot and can damage the hair. 

After a few minutes, take the steamer from the bag. Leave the bag filled with steam over the wig for a little while longer. After max. 10 minutes, remove the bag and leave the wig to cool and dry. Don’t take out the rollers too soon or the curls won’t have set. You can try to speed up this process by using a hair dryer on the cool setting. 

Once the wig is fully cooled down and dry, you can take out the rollers. Depending on the look you're aiming for, you can leave the curls as they are, or you can gently comb or brush them. Unbrushed curls will show the separate strands and curls, while brushed curls will merge together in a softer look.

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