Cherri Bomb Cosplay Wig – Styling Tutorial
Steps
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Prepping the Wig and Wig Head
Before we start working on the Cherri Bomb cosplay wig, we’re going to want to prep the wig head that the wig will be sitting on while we are styling.
Start by wrapping the wig head with a layer of plastic cling wrap and sealing the plastic wrap carefully by blowing it with the heat gun. Allow it to cool completely, and then add a later of aluminum foil to the wig head. Smooth this out as much as you can with your hands. Mark the sections of your wig head (i.e. mark where your ears are, how short/long the bangs need to be, etc,) with a permanent marker.
Prepping the Wig Hair
Before cutting any hair off of the base wig, section and crimp the hair. Then carefully separate out the wefts, zip-tie the hair into bundles, and cut them above the zip-ties. Set these bundles aside and save them for later. Coat the now sparse wefts with a layer of clear gel tacky glue.
For this wig, I ended up needing to use braiding fibers/hair from another wig to get the volume and coloration I was going for.
Building the Structure
To make the wig defy gravity, we will need to build a structure for the hair to attach to that is strong and solid enough to endure being worn at conventions.
Start with your reference image and mark out where the structure needs to be – this will be extremely helpful for visualizing any dramatic structures within the wig itself and how it you will need to build it.
Ponytail
For the ponytail, I used a length of 1/2″ PVC pipe and 2 strips of thermoplastic. I marked my strips for cutting with a box knife and scored them, then used a heat gun to carefully heat up the strips. I was then able to pass the PVC pipe piece through the scored openings and molded the still warm thermoplastic around the pipe. I re-enforced the backside of the structure where the pipe meets the plastic strips with some hot glue for added peace of mind and strength. I then used my wig head and a heat gun to heat up the thermoplastic and sculpt it to the curve of the head using the markings on my wig head wrapping as a guide for positioning. Once the ponytail post was done, I attached it directly to my wig netting with a generous amount of hot glue.
Bangs
For the bangs, I used some 16 gauge jewelry wire to construct the basic frame for the shape. I used hot glue to attach the basic shape to the wig base and allowed the glue to cool completely before trying to further shape the wire to sit where I want it to on the wig head. Once it was shaped how I wanted, I added a layer of clear packing tape to the shape for some added structure.
Once I was happy with the layout of the base shapes, I used hot glue to add a layer of quilt batting over everything – being mindful of where the part in the hair was and started to layer hair over the shapes.
Adding Wefts
Once I had the base wig complete, I made wefts using wax paper, hair clips, and clear gel Tacky Glue/UHU Glue/Quick Dry Tacky Glue.
Some notes about creating wefts…
- UHU glue for parts that need softer edges
- Clear Gel Tacky Glue for parts that may be visible/parts that are heavily structured
- Quick Dry Tacky Glue for parts that will not be seen (think bottom wefts)
After the wefts were dry, I trimmed and needed. Then, starting at the bottom, started attaching wefts with hot glue. A note from future me as I write this – I would recommend marking out the quilt batting base with a marker similar in color to the wig to help ensure total coverage and even weft spacing. I did this until I was about 1″ away from the part on the top.
For the top part, I started by attaching the last wefts in the opposite direction of the hair flow direction and then flipped them up and over to give it a very volumized, dramatic look. I did mine in 2 layers – being mindful that the outer layer had to be attached first – and then fluffed it to get my desired effect.
Adding Spikes
To prevent the wig from looking super flat across some of the panels of hair, I used hair spray and UHU glue to create some shapes and textures to the hair. I also used some extra wefts to construct spike shapes to attach into the wig around the ponytail and at the part in the hair.
The Ponytail
I 3D printed a base shape for the ponytail. I hot glued a layer of quilt batting around the shape and then hot glued wefts around the shape. I used a rectangle of pleather that I sewed into a tube as the “hair tie” and to add some dimension to the PVC pipe post for the pony tail.
The 3D printed part was pretty heavy, so I would recommend using foam or a lower infill than 10% if you do decide to 3D print it.
Adding Color and Shading
I used pink acrylic ink and 91% isopropyl alcohol in a spritz bottle to color the wig all over and give it a more solid coloration.
