My Best Hair Yet

OMG, I absolutely L O V E my new hair.  What do you think?  Is it as gloriously awesome as I think it is?  Well after the amount of research, planning, and tinkering I am quite pleased with the results.

I ended up deciding on the Zara by Jon Renau.  I took the risk and chose my color and placed my order. A few days later, I fell in love with it the minute I saw it and new that I chose the right blond color.  That is a tough, tough thing.  Blond can be a very personalized color.  But any-who here is a picture with me donning my new hair for the first time.

I know, great picture huh?  Well yeah I ended up being alone on this journey and had to try and take some self shots.  Not too bad though.  BTW – one of my favorite, favorite, favorite things about Wilshire Wigs is that they have a few little private dressing rooms, with full curtains that you can go into and try the wig on in privacy!  The first time I found that out I was super happy.  Ever been in the middle of a wig shop and taken off your wig?  If not, it kind of sucks.

After paying for my hair, I had to wait around a bit for my styling appointment.  This is possibly somewhere around my 10th to 15th wig, but my very first styling.  That is the main reason why this time I did not choose the $700 human hair wig.  I was pretty nervous to allow someone to cut my new hair.  I mean, at least with your own real hair, if the stylist sucks, it will grow back.  A wig though?  Pretty tough to grow that back out!
The stylist was running a little behind and I had a tiny freak out.  I was sure that some mistake had been made and I wasn’t going to get my appointment, but of course no, no mistake had been made, I just kind of forgot after not having had my hair done by a professional for at least 20 years, sometimes in the people service industry you need to wait.

The wait was so minor it is irrelevant.  It was especially irrelevant once the stylist came up to me and introduced herself.  We went into a private room, with a door, and I began to explain what was up.  I told her I was a complete newb in regards to styling and all I had was a general idea of what I wanted done.  She listened to me, asked many questions, told me her thoughts, and then got to work.

Oh, her name is Rene, and she is super sweet, professional, and talented.  We chatted throughout the appointment and I got to watch in amazement as what happened was exactly what I was hoping for.  She transformed a great wig, into an awesome wig, personalized just for me!

Can you tell what she did?  I know again not the best pictures, but again self shots so…  She gave me a few more strands of layers around my jawline, which was great.  She also thinned out the wig a bit on the top as to make it not quite so fluffy.  I was a bit unsure of the length but she recommended that I keep it and play up my girly side for a bit and if I get tired of it to come back and she would shorten it.  I am sure she did more as she was at it for quite a bit.  I could tell she knew what she was doing and I asked how long she has been doing it, I want to say she said somewhere over twenty.

In all it took about an hour and it was well worth my time.  It was so worth my time, that honestly I can’t see buying a wig off the rack and just wearing it ever again.  Really, really, really, if you have not done this yet, it is a must do!  If you can get to North Hollywood, by all means I can extend my highest recommendation to Rene over at Wilshire Wigs.  But if not, then find someone close to you, because you must do it!

Personally I find it hilarious that this was my first time.  I know of CDs that have done this sort of thing from their very first wig, but for me it was an eye opening revolutionary thing!

Some tips that Rene passed on to me that you may want to know:
– Long hair can get affected by the heat given off by our necks.  This can cause the fibers to do funky things. If you send them your wig they can get it back to normal.  She said you could do this a few times to be able to extend the life of your wig.
– Once the newness of the wig wears off, she recommended that I take a bit of light cream wax, water soluble, and work it into the ends of the hair, in tiny little groups.  She said that it will add to the realism of the hair.
– You can restyle wigs more than once.
– Also through chatting with her, she sounds like she has seen it all and you have NO reason at all to think that she is going to be shocked by what you do.
– She also mentioned that if you can’t make it to their location you can send her your wig with you desires and she can style it for you and then send it to you.  That might be easier for some that have a tough time getting out much.

Okay, so lets talk some numbers.  The styling appointment was $75, and well worth the money.  I am so behind the times with styling and such I wasn’t even sure if I should tip Rene, but I was so pleased I gave her an extra five dollars.  Sorry if that was a bad tip Rene!  I really do love what you did!

The wig, listed at about $265, but if you have not noticed, I have been including a few links here and there to Wilshire Wigs, and I got the wig for cost!  It was about $153!  Yay for fashion blogging!!

I am a super happy girly!  But I will warn you.  If blending in is your thing, maybe a long blond wig is not the best.  People have sure been taking notice of me lately, but I am taking it as a complement!

For now, I am off travelling, shopping, sight seeing, and on about day #12 of dressing as Nadine, or at least mostly dressing.  Fun.

I am glad I have worked so hard to earn what I have.

Love ya!