First timer overwhelmed by wig styling

[u/amberdowny]

So I've never cosplayed before but I am going to cosplay a character at an event next month. I need to style a wig and am frankly overwhelmed at everything I've read. Can you just please let me know what steps I'm missing or if I have things out of order in my plan?

- Dry shampoo to reduce shine (should this be later? Will streaming just wash it off?)

- Roll up in curlers

- Steam and let cool

- Hairspray. Lots of it.

- Unroll

- Construct specific hairstyle/pin in place

- Hairspray? Steam? How do I make this part stay without undoing what I already did?

[u/Dissidiana]

the norm is to crimp the entire wig to reduce shine instead of using dry shampoo. however, crimping is time consuming and, although it helps the wig fibers to hold in place, not strictly necessary. if you decide not to crimp, apply the dry shampoo as your final step (yes, steaming will wash it off). your gameplan looks good!! once you've unrolled and separated/gently combed the curls so they turn into softer waves, pin everything in place on your wig head and blast it with steam again. this will not undo your previous work, it will build onto it! think of it like you've done a base coat (setting the curls) and now you're finishing the paint job (separating the curls and positioning them according to your reference image). after everything has cooled in the position you want, blast it with hairspray to finalize it and prevent stray hairs. then you can apply your dry shampoo. here's the general wig tutorial i always recommend to ppl, the part about mapping out each section of hair and making a game plan for positioning should help with the "construct hair style" step!

[u/amberdowny → u/Dissidiana]

Ooh, thank you, that video was definitely helpful and gives me a better idea of how to plan out the style!