Winifred Wig Tutorial
“Oh look, another glorious cosplayer. Makes me sick!” That’s what everyone will be saying as you float through the streets channeling Winifred Sanderson on Hallows’ Eve. Hello everyone. This is Eric Daniels with another wig styling blog. As Halloween approaches we decided to get wickedly festive with Winifred!
For this tutorial, you will need Arda’s Lindsay in dark copper red, which features the perfect softly crimped texture for this look. You will also need:
- some copper colored bobby pins
- clear rubber-bands
- hairspray (maximum hold)
- a teasing brush
- blow-dryer with a diffuser
- sectioning hair clips
- duck-bill or two-prong clips.
Now let’s crack Book and get on with this tutorial. First: sectioning. Split the wig from the hairline to the nape, straight down the middle, and clip the hair open. Second, starting about 1 ½ inches from the bottom of the wig, pin the hair up into a nice ball on each side; clip everything away evenly and separately. Move on to the front hairline: section off the middle into a portion about 4 ½ inches wide.
Light the black flame candle and let’s raise this wig up! Whip out the hairspray and your teasing brush. You want to tackle the two clipped mounds of hair behind the hairline and above the nape. It is very important you start from the interior. Work your way out from the middle part, taking half an inch pieces, and teasing each close to the base. Remember! Spray the slice of hair first before backcombing. You will also want to hairspray and backcomb each teased section together as one so that they become a united mass. Do both sides so that your wig will have a heart silhouette. You will need a heavy duty hair clip to keep the rounded shapes in place. Now you should have unteased ends trailing out from the teased balls of hair. Swirl them around to the front. This is the beginning of concealing the teasing. Wrap the hair around the outer edge of the teasing, using clips to hold the hair in place. Spray from a distance, as too much can coat the wig and dull the color. Once satisfied, set it with your blow-dryer on high heat/low speed.
The third large step is to take the hair along the hairline that is on either side of your 4’’ section and clip it down an inch back so it creates an indentation. Then you will take small strands of hair and swirl them around the front of the big circular folds (clip the strands in the desired shape as you go) like the pattern of a cinnamon roll. Blast them with hairspray followed by the blow-dryer. At first I continued the swirl pattern but as I looked at more reference images I realized her hair has no rhyme or reason outside of the basic silhouette so feel free to be creative and cover the teasing in any pattern that makes sense to you. I even allowed some ends to dangle outwardly like the film.
For the rear, it’s easy. You will take half inch slices, pull it up, and drape it over the rounded shapes. For each layer, spray and then set. The ends of these sections should eventually meet in between the two big mounds of hair your created. Spray and set! Group the ends above and slightly behind the heart you created. Tie them together with a clear elastic band and secure with pins. Find any loose points and take a wide bobby pin and anchor the hair by starting in one direction and then turning the pin in the opposite way and follow through until all the way in. For a stronger hold, take another pin and slide it in but cross the previous pin like an “X”. Continue until everything is secure. Soon we shall take flight upon our brooms, but first one more step!
The final set of steps is just a rehash of what you’ve already done. First tease the middle hairline section from the interior, or back. Gently tease the front-facing layer so it retains the natural wavy texture. You want to keep at least 4 inches from the base up untouched. Place duckbills to create an indentation an inch back from the hairline. Don’t set yet. You will again take these strands of hair and swirl them around the front circles to further conceal any teased texture in the front. Clip each section into place with clips and set with spray and heat. Continue to do this until you work your way to the hairline. The very front should be as smooth as possible so gently brush away any noticeable teasing or simply conceal it. Once you have reached this step you can set one last time with hairspray and heat. Cut away or spray any stray hairs, but don’t make it too pristine because it just won’t be Winifred!
I hope this helps bring a classic Halloween character to life. Remember! It’s just a bunch of hocus pocus.