Wigging Out

This week's flash-in-the-pan obsession has been with wigs. I get these obsessions regularly - they burn bright and fast and wink out in a week or two. It makes life fun, and I learn loads about whatever it is I'm obsessing about, although I do also spend quite a bit of money and end up with more things in the house than I have storage space for.

Anyway, this week it is wigs. For some reason I decided that I wanted one, so the research and shopping began. The shopping part was easy enough to begin with: eBay. The research part was more interesting. I have learnt so much about wig wearing in the last few days. For the record, the biggest hits that I found for wig wearers on Google were:
- chemotherapy patients
- alopecia sufferers (and other sufferers of conditions that lead to complete hair loss due to medical reasons)
- judges in the British court system
- men in drag

I felt kind of guilty surfing for frivolous fun wig-wearing information when I kept coming up against people who really need them. I know several people who have lost their hair because of chemo and I can't imagine how they felt about it. I seem to remember that my uncle had alopecia too at one point but I can't remember how much hair he lost - it's just a memory tucked away in the back of my head somewhere. But it is heartening to read how much women's lives in particular have improved when they have got a hairstyle back, even if their own hair has fallen out. And it's sweet to read about the cross-dressers and how much it means to them to be able to pass as a woman because their hair looks good.

Anyway. Wigs come in the obviously-fake fun type, like the bright blue or tinsel types you see on people at parties, and the ones that want to look like real hair. Of the latter, the two types are real human hair and synthetics. You might think that real human hair is superior, but not necessarily so! The very best type of human wig hair is from undyed, unprocessed, European hair, particularly from people such as Italian peasants (apparently) who take great care of their hair but do not use chemicals on it. Eastern European hair is also popular, probably because the people share a similar makeup. Actually that last is just a guess, but Italian and Romanian are so similar - both Romance languages - that there was obviously a link between those two countries anyway, so why not a shared hair heritage? The wig hair can have the cuticles stripped off it so it doesn't tangle, which is a benefit, and of course if it's human hair it can be styled in the usual ways, with straightening irons, curlers, perms, whatever.

Synthetic wig hair is surprisingly realistic these days. Not your common-or-garden joke shop wig hair, of course, but the stuff that is designed to pass as natural. And it doesn't need to be styled, either - if you buy a wig with flowing waves, or tight curls, or poker straight, it'll stay that way when it's washed. No faffing around with styling tools and hairspray. Bonus!

I've been going mad on eBay ordering various styles from various ranges. The first few that I ordered were the cheapest available on eBay (99p for the wig, plus £10 postage from Hong Kong). They haven't arrived yet, so you'll just have to wait and see what they turn out like. I also ordered some more expensive ones that were almost certainly the cheap ones from Hong Kong, but with the benefit of being sold by a woman just a few miles away from here. I asked if I could get my purchase in time for the weekend, and her husband delivered the parcel in person at our house this morning! Now that's good customer service. And I got a "bargain" - not cheap, but way cheaper than retail price - on a top of the range long-haired synthetic wig that should be here by the middle of next week. I'll be interested to see what the difference is between them all as far as quality, comfort, and believeability go.

Here is a picture of me (couple of tangles, but I was too lazy to re-take it once I realised the problem) in the one that I wore to lunch today as a laugh. I think I look pretty good in it!
Maybe in a few days I'll look back on this and go, "Wow, that looks awful. What was I thinking?!", but for the moment I'm happy. I feel very glam with these flowing locks right down my back.