How to color a lace front wig: Tips for coloring a wig so you don't damage your investment
We don't suggest that our customers color lace front wigs themselves. Most are experimenting with a $500 investment and a lot can go wrong. However, most of our customers don't have access to stylists who are experienced with color either and they do it anyway. As such, we are going to give you the best information we possibly can so that you can do a good job.For the best results, only work with an uncolored wig (no numeric hair color) or a pre-lightened wig. Let's discuss both.
An uncolored wig has not had any color processes performed, no lightening or deposit of color. These units are the ideal type of wig to work with because the hair is in its natural color. Any time you use a wig that has already been colored, you run the risk of getting unpredictable results.
At zarawigs.com, we sell pre-lightened wigs. These are wigs that have been lightened ONLY, but no color has been deposited, these wigs are easier to color because the color has already been lifted, making them prime candidates for coloring.
Do not ever try and color a #1 unit. Jet-black dye is strong and nearly impossible to lift and to try and do so would likely damage the hair on your lace front wig.
Always test first before going full steam ahead with a full wig application of color. We have had customers completely RUIN a wig trying to color it running with advice they get from hair care boards for ethnic hair. First of all, if you really want to learn about hair color, you need to read a message board targeted to salon stylists, not people advising each other, with no color theory present at all. Most laypeople give horrible advice and may have had good results but too few actually give accurate advice on hair color that can be practically used on a wig.
The number one mistake our customers make is using a strong volume of peroxide and a strong level of bleach and lifting the color too fast. Listen (and I feel like I really need to talk to you one-on-one), all the hair color information out there is for applying color to a person's head. Once you put a chemical on a live person, the clock is ticking because you don't want to damage the hair or the scalp. A live person also emanates heat, which speeds up the process. Neither of these apply to a wig so you have time, slow down, stop trying to lift quickly, you can literally slowly lift a wig over a very long period of time and sometimes this is completely necessary (more about that later).
When I first started zarawigs.com, I would color a LOT of wigs. I read tons and tons of information on hair color and science and theory. I still can't "get" the concept of a color wheel but I do understand the process and how we can modify that process for a wig. You don't need a fast lift because the hair on your wig is not growing from your head. A fast lift leads to uncontrollable color and we see this when the wigs come back to us "orangish". When you get unpredictable results, it is what you did, it is NOT the hair on our wigs. I know this because I have colored so many wigs! This is the reason we don't take a wig back after someone has attempted to color it. Because so many women sit in their bathrooms with a few bottles of hair color from Sally's, or a few boxed of kits from Target and start doing something they do not understand.
Remember earlier in the article, I said don't color a jet-black wig? Well the color in jet-black hair color often has a strange reaction to chemicals. It sometimes sizzles and crackles and does very odd things. But most of all, it does not lift. It does not come out. So don't buy a jet-black wig thinking you're going to color it because that's usually nearly impossible to do.
Also, you must know that you cannot necessarily hand your wig over to your hairstylist for coloring because most don't know any more about coloring wigs than you do. And after reading this, you're probably more informed. If you're black, you must, absolutely must, seek a stylist with experience in color. Most black stylists have little color experience because most black women have relaxers, and because of that, very few have hair that can tolerate relaxer AND color. As such, most black hair stylists get very little opportunity to develop experience coloring hair. But there are a lot out there that know what they are doing and you need to seek them out. Find one that has experience coloring extensions or wigs.
We have had customers come to us complaining about wigs they purchased elsewhere that kept turning "orange" when the stylist colored it. I have had to inform them that it wasn't the wig, it was likely the stylist and how many times can you let your hair stylist ruin your investments before you understand that it's her/him. We have had customers come to us and order a wig, with the intent to color, and not mention it. They got the wig, tried to color and the results were disastrous. They made the wrong choice in what they ordered and had they informed us, we could have guided them better.
We will add more content to try and help those of you who really want to color your own wigs, so that you are armed with the proper information to do a better job, instead of going into it with little information or bad information. Stay tuned.
