Wigs have been a hairstyling staple for anyone who understands the power of a protective style. These hairpieces have been used by television hairstylists and every day women alike to change up a look without permanently cutting or coloring the hair. Plus, they add so much panache to one’s style, making wigs a go-to.
Lace front wigs, specifically, allow you to get the look without giving away that you’re wearing a wig. Though, if not installed properly, and depending on the lace on the wig, it can be easily detectable — especially to a fellow wig wearer. It happens to the best of us, after all, laying down a lace front wig can take a lot of time, arm strength, and skills.
Luckily, there are some tricks you can employ to make your lace front wig look like your natural hair without spending hours gluing it down. Keep reading to get our tips on how to make your lace front look like it’s growing out of your head, so you can flip those strands with confidence and ask, Wig? What wig?
One of the most efficient ways to make a lace front stay put is to add a band inside the wig cap. This not only ensures a snug fit for your cap — which is especially important if you find yourself between cap sizes — but it makes the front of your wig lay down better against your scalp.
This, in turn, makes the hair look more natural. And since you’re not loading up on wig glue and hold spray to keep it in place, you can easily move it around if you change your mind about the placement or get it wrong. It makes your wig more versatile and you can avoid getting glue all clumped up on the lace, extending your time between washes (yes, you have to wash wigs every now and then).
Wigs with lace closures are typically guilty of having unbleached knots, which don’t blend seamlessly with the scalp. Since a lace closure only has lace on the section that houses the part — unlike a lace front which has lace across the entire front section of the wig — it’s easier to keep this type of wig in place using just wig clips and bobby pins. Unfortunately that doesn’t help with the unnatural look of hair buds that are too dark against your head.
A quick and easy fix for unbleached knots to make your glueless wig look natural is to sweep some of your foundation inside the cap where your unbleached knots live. Make sure it’s the same foundation that you’re wearing that day so that you can ensure that the color matches. The goal is to get a seamless skin look from your scalp to your face — that way the faux hair follicles won’t look so stark and the lace won’t look obvious.
Sometimes, lace fronts will come with a lot of hair at the hairline. This is a great thing because you’d rather have more to work with than have a wig that looks like it already has thinning edges, but this could look really unnatural if you lay it down on your head that way.
Try your wig on and take a look at where your natural hairline is. If you find that your wig has too much hair, take off the wig and take a small brow tweezers and pluck the unwanted hair out. The closer to your natural hairline the wig is, the more natural it’ll look. Once you clip it in place you can blend it in with your natural baby hairs for a seamless and natural look, sans glue.
It may seem obvious that one of the best ways to make your wig look natural is to match your hair color. But since a lace front lays down against your scalp so cleanly, you need to match it with the wispy hair at your hairline — and that could be a very different thing.
Some brunettes have lighter brown or even blonde hair at their hairline. You may be tempted to buy that color 2 but your edges may be a color 4. Blending your baby hair is a great way to make your wig look natural if you’re going to skip the glue and instead keep it in place with clips or pins, so pay attention to the shade of your hair there.
Editor’s tip: Once you’ve put your wig on and secured it, grab some gel, like the L’Oréal Paris Studio Line Mega Gel, and an edge brush and style your edges. The gel will serve as an additional hold agent for the wig, keeping it in place through the day and blending in the hairline for a natural look.
If all else fails, create a bang on your lace front wig. This actually saves you from needing to adopt the other tips. It’s also a go-to move if you’ve overplucked your wig’s hairline or cut your lace too far back. Adding a bang allows you to hide any mistakes —- even better if the wig has a curly texture because you can also hide an unnatural-looking part.
Place the wig on your hair where you would normally wear it. Using a rattail comb, pull some hair from the mid-front section of the wig and pull it forward. If you’re doing this on a sleek style wig you want to be precise, on curly or wavy hair you have more room for imperfection since voluminous roots will hide mistakes. Cut across the hair pulled forward as close to your eyelids as possible. Start off with a longer fringe and cut more as you desire.
Remember, when it comes to cutting your own bangs you want to go little by little. You can always take off more hair as you desire but if you cut too much in the first place you could end up with unintentional micro bangs and ruin your wig.
Next: 5 Tips For Making Press-On Nails Look Like A Pro Manicure
Written and photographed by: Shalwah Evans
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