STEP ONE: BRUSH OUT TANGLES FROM YOUR WIG
To shampoo your wig, first grab a brush or a wide toothed comb and brush through your piece to clear it of all existing knots and tangles. Be very gentle when you’re combing through the wig piece, especially with a monofilament, a partial mono, anything handmade or lace front. If you brush too aggressively you can actually tear the lace.
STEP TWO: SHAMPOO YOUR WIG
If you’re on location somewhere or traveling and all you have is a little plastic tub that will work just fine. Using Rene of Paris Wig Shampoo, formulated for synthetic hair, take a cap full of wig shampoo and pour it into a tub of of luke warm water. Mix the soap in the water and work up some suds. It does take a few hours for it to dry so it’s best to do this at night time. Gently rub the wig fibers between your palms to work make up and dirt out of the piece, do not scrub your piece. If you use extended wear cosmetics, you might have to shampoo the piece a couple times to cleanse the piece of makeup.
Submerse your piece in the soapy water while dipping it up and down to try to loosen any debris, dirt or any oils that have transferred from your fingers to your piece. In order to clean the foundation area, rub the foundation area with the palms of your fingers. Do not use your fingernails as it could cut through the lace. Place your wig right side up and let it sit in the water for 10 to 15 minutes. If you’re really in a hurry, soaking your piece for a few mins works just as good.
STEP THREE: RINSE AND DRY YOUR WIG
After your wig is done soaking, squeeze all the water out and begin rinsing through your piece using luke warm water from the faucet until you see clear water coming from your piece. Unfold a regular towel and place your piece in the middle. Fold the other half of your towel back over your piece and begin padding and squeezing the excess water out of your piece. Turn your piece right side out and repeat this step. At this point your wig may still be damp, but all of the water that needed to come out has been soaked up.
STEP FOUR: BRUSH YOUR WIG INTO DESIRED STYLE
Using a wide toothed comb gently comb the style back into its desired look. If you like your bang falling free, then comb it that way. If you want your wig to have a definite part to the side then create that part. Next take your Revive by Rene of Paris product and evenly spray it throughout the entire piece staying about 12 inches away. Try not to over spray. With your wide toothed comb with the Revive in by combing through all the way to the ends. Once you have combed the Revive through your piece is ready to let air dry.
STEP FIVE: DRY YOUR WIG
When drying your hair, you don’t want to use a blow dryer to force dry it. If you were in a situation where you just absolutely had to dry it for an emergency you can use a blow dryer on cold air only, but never on hot. Hot temperature will actually melt the fibers of your piece. Set your wig on a mannequin or a wig stand and make sure the ends of your piece are not folded under and it can maintain its shape. The reason wig stands are nice is because it allows the air to vent through the wig which leads to it drying much quicker. If you were to perform this during the day, it may take about 3 hours to dry on a good hot day with plenty of ventilation. If you don’t have the time during the day, we recommend you to do this overnight. If your wig is longer and you don’t have a mannequin to set your piece on place your piece on a wig stand on a table and allow the longer side of the wig to hang off of the table or shelf. Make sure your wig is not folding anywhere, if you let your hair dry this way it’s going to create a wave in your piece that you may not want.
STEP SIX: PREPARE STYLE
Once your piece is completely dry, take your comb and a basic wide toothed comb and comb through your piece to prepare your style to be ready to be worn again. The beautiful part of synthetic hair is that they retain total memory of the style they were created to have. Your piece is going to come right back to what you had before you shampooed without the use of styling, hot tools, curling irons or blow dryers!
To watch a demonstration of how to wash your wig, check out this video with our wig expert, Daniela Hernandez Salas!
