Can someone provide detailed instructions on coloring a hairpiece. I haven't done this before so I'm a little gunshy. Obviously I'm mostly worried about hurting the base.
After I have my dye mix made, what do I do to ensure a good job?
How do I apply the mix
How long do I need to leave it on for?
Do I shampoo it out, or just rinse?
Follow the directions on the box but leave the color on for just 15 min. Apply just like I quoted BA in your other post. If you are nervous about getting it on the base, do a practice run using just conditioner ( its about the same consistency). If you don't get any on the knots or base you will be all set.
The first time I tried it I was scared as hell. It was really much easier than I thought it would be.
buckeye Wrote:Follow the directions on the box but leave the color on for just 15 min. Apply just like I quoted BA in your other post. If you are nervous about getting it on the base, do a practice run using just conditioner ( its about the same consistency). If you don't get any on the knots or base you will be all set.
The first time I tried it I was scared as hell. It was really much easier than I thought it would be.
Buckeye, thanks. Two questions:
1. How do you get the bowl or styrofoam head to stay upside down? (lol, sorry, it may be a stupid question but i can't think of it right now)
2. Do you find that your roots are obviously a different color due to the extra care of not getting the solution on the knots or lace and thus not coloring them? Or can you get that close to the base? Or is it just not that noticeable?
If I'm good at this I think I'll just do what Debbie suggested and order my fronts blonde and color the hair so all the knots will be invisible.
1. How do you get the bowl or styrofoam head to stay upside down? (lol, sorry, it may be a stupid question but i can't think of it right now)
2. Do you find that your roots are obviously a different color due to the extra care of not getting the solution on the knots or lace and thus not coloring them? Or can you get that close to the base? Or is it just not that noticeable?
If I'm good at this I think I'll just do what Debbie suggested and order my fronts blonde and color the hair so all the knots will be invisible.
1. Just hold the styro head upside down with one had and comb the color through with the other.
2. If the knots are bleached well its no problem. If not, since your are not changing the color very much, the roots won't be any more visible than they are right now.
One method that is alot easier if you don't feel like doing it yourself is to go to a salon and have them foil the whole head. This way the color is not applied directly to the base and you won't have any staining. I like to order my pieces blonde without any pigment so I can color them anyway I want. Having the whole head foiled is the way to go! Just an idea if you didn't want to do it yourself.
I will go to the salon with the new piece bonded to my head and not cut. Then they can color the hair and cut it in right then. I've never had issues of lifting, except when using bleach to lift the blondes even more. It seems that bleach and the adhesives don't get along!
The only downfall is if a salon would charge "by the foil". It could get costly. So make sure you consult before hand to make sure what they are going to charge you.
Do you find it hard to match your real hair? I think the factory does a pretty excellent job at this. I for the life of me can't get it right. My hair is very ashy, brown but almost like a dull charcoal color if that makes any sense. I guess if you have a simple hair color that would be the way to go. Of course I could always color my own hair whatever I decide to color the piece.
When you order it blonde and go into the salon to have it dyed and cut in, do you get perfectly bleached knots then? That would be a HUGE advantage I would think
I have the hairpiece and my own hair colored the same color. That way they look 100% exactly the same!
I guess I haven't had a very difficult time matching my own hair to the hairpiece color, but sometimes it can be a bit off. Ordering it blonde and coloring it allows me to never have to worry about that issue.
Plus, if you enjoy having blonde highlights or any other fun colors, it can be hard to lift some colors. This way you don't have to worry about having odd colored highlights because the color didn't lift properly.
My knots come bleached, and when you foil the hairpiece, you don't have to worry about the knots getting colored. You just have to be careful you don't "slap" the color on at the root. The best bet is to brush the color on the midshaft and ends of the hair, and then take the brush and "dab" the hair near the root. This way you don't have to worry about going overboard with color application directly at the root and end up coloring the knots.
Also, if you have a tiny tiny bit of the hair at the root not colored, it still gives the illusion of scalp so you don't have to worry about it looking abnormal!
I've gone to numerous salons and none of the hairdressers have ever had a problem working with the hairpiece. In fact, they enjoy it since they can work with "virgin" hair and be creative with the haircut since it has a decent length. However, be prepared to answer 101 questions about hairpieces. Believe it or not, most hairdressers have no information about hairpieces. I wonder sometimes if they even realize they exist!
The salon I work at currently have cut and colored 2 of my systems and did perfect work.
Oh, one other issue. When they wash the color off of your hair, tell them to just rinse the color and shampoo and condition, but don't do any scalp manipulation or massage. This will obviously cause the piece to lift or the hair to tangle. Being gentle during the rinse and cleanse is vital!
You can kind of see the various colors I've pulled off with the attached photo. I've got black, blonde, and red in this piece. Lots of fun and very natural looking in person!
JamesKennedy Wrote:Believe it or not, most hairdressers have no information about hairpieces. I wonder sometimes if they even realize they exist!
I'm amazed at the general lack of awareness that people who work in the "normal" hair business have of hair replacement.
I'm good friends with two girls who are stylists who work at different salons, and then of course I know half of their friends who are stylists. I also own a retail store next to a trendy local salon so i know another half dozen or more of the stylists who work there.
Out of everyone that I have talked to who is in the business, the only one who had any knowledge of pieces was the guy who cut my last full cap in for me, and thats probably because he grew up around the Hollywood hair scene, so he has some experience with it. The rest of them are absolutely clueless.
I suppose that hair replacement is somewhat of an underground thing, but I would think that with a year of hair school they would at least get an overview of modern hair replacement techniques.
I guess that just goes to show that this is still in its infancy.
Great stuff James! I have a stylist I go to (not a hair replacement salon) and he is really great with hair. He never had cut a hairpiece before but had absolutely no problems getting it to look/blend great. He actually didn't want to cut as much as I wanted cut cuz like you said there was all that virgin hair going to waste! I told him it won't go to waste cuz I want it so I can go home and experiment with different coloring mixtures.
I like the idea of getting a piece totally blonde and having it and my own hair dyed. The fact that the piece is blonde means the knots will be blonde and as long as he doesn't go too far and touch the knots they will stay blonde and thus invisible! No knots anywhere sounds great! Also, I'm sick of trying to match my own hair color with stock pieces lol. I'm trying to figure out how the factory does it, they do a good job, but I haven't had any luck. I wonder if they would send me their formulation? I'll have to ask ba. Everytime I get a stock piece I have trouble because of this.
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Instructions on coloring your own piece
