You can colour parts of your hair simply by using snazzaroo. If there are some wispy bits of hair that won’t stay down and keep interrupting your shot? Snazzaroo it. Not only does snazzaroo work as a decent, one use hair dye (amazing for getting Eridan’s stripe) but it will keep your hair locked down if left in for a while.

It’s also really easy to wash out. Therefore I would 9/10 recommend using snazzaroo to temporarily colour hair.

submitted by thesociopathicphilosopher

Mod Note: I have never tried this before, so I wouldn’t recommend using it for large areas of your own hair.  If someone has tried this, either for coloring part of a wig (like Eridan’s stripe) or for coloring part of their own hair to better hide it under a wig, please submit a review!

This isn’t really a question so I’m not sure what I’m answering, but there are very cheap wigs at this store that you can probably afford, especially as they’re on sale right now.  As we’ve asserted many times before, wigs look more professional than real hair (with a few important exceptions) and you can mess up/cut/torture a wig in ways you shouldn’t do to your own hair.  This would also solve your hair length problem.

If you have to use your own hair and absolutely will not cut it, you could cosplay any female with longer hair since their hair lengths can be somewhat indistinct.

Hey there—I think your advice about always using a wig is pretty good with one exception. While this doesn’t really apply to any of the Homestuck characters if you have the same hair color as a character whose hair is supposed to be slicked back use your real hair. It’s really hard to find a wig that looks good slicked back and can look really tacky.

On the other hand, slicking your hair back can help with putting wigs on, especially if you have thick hair like me. I just slick it back and use a wig cap. If you need to slick your hair back for any reason there are plenty of hair products that can do the trick. I use hair cement and it helps AMAZINGLY.

submitted by drkotobuki

Mod note: It’s hard to find a wig slicked back, however, it’s very easy to make one. Natural hair tends to look much worse than a wig because the product needed to slick hair back makes it look greasy and gross, and that is the sort of thing that gets you on blogs like omgpleasestopcosplaying and weeaboostories. 

There is this tutorial, but not all wigs are conducive to that. When slicking back a wig, purchase extra wefts in the same color. Style the wig back, then attach the wefts to the underside of the front of the wig, bringing them forward and slicking them back as well. This covers the netting material on the front of the wig and gives you a beautiful result, seen here with a Germany cosplay. This is also the same tactic that many cosplayers, who want to put their wig in a high ponytail or upward style, use to cover holes in the bottom of wigs left by changing the direction of the wefts.

As for slicking your hair back for a wig, that’s a really good idea. Everyone should always try to use a wig cap because it just saves you so much time, effort, paint and bad shots, and slicking hair back helps it stay under the wig.

I know it’s always suggested to get a wig unless you’re a pro at styling so just as a bit of advice for people using their real hair for Eridan try and find some clip in extensions. Spray is okay but in my experience it looks nasty after a while. Extensions are wonderful and can easily be hidden and taken off so no scrubbing your head after a long day at the con, or worrying about it cracking or fading away. For extensions think the kind of like the kinds you see at Hot Topic, but not as crappy or thin. I suggest looking on Ebay and such. Or if you have sewing experience and are willing to do a bit of crafting, buy some loose purple hair extensions and make your own clip in! I’ll go ahead and do a tutorial when I make mine (pictures, text, the whole shebang) so people can get an idea of what to do if they can’t afford a wig, can’t style/commission it styled, or have very thick cooperative black hair like myself :>

Note: I actually found a native american store nearby that sold dyed horsehair. Since I’m going for a more realistic look (making my own gills and such even!) I thought it was perfect, especially since I am using my own hair for this cosplay. It even has some black strands mixed in so it looks very nice. If you can get human or horse hair (if human prolly get blonde and dye it yourself I guess?) and make your own extension I’d highly suggest it because then you can use product, wash, style, etc without having to worry about those pesky synthetic fibers!

submitted by stitchez

Well I always will suggest a wig. Alyways. If you can manage it, go for that.

However, if you really can’t, our Eridan uses these products. He first sprays on white to get his hair to a blank canvas sort of state, then purple. If you skip the white step the purple will look awful and won’t show up well. 

WHATVEVER YOU DO, DO THIS BEFORE YOU APPLY YOUR MAKEUP. It drips over your face so you’ll have to monitor it and wipe the drips off until it dries, then apply the next color and repeat. You’ll mess up your makeup if you do it before hand.

(That ask I sent earlier got cut off, apparently I don’t know the word count for tumblr asks so here’s the whole thing.)

I saw the ask advising Gamzee cosplayers to always use wigs and I just wanted to say that I’ve had a lot of success using my real hair as Gamzee and wanted to share some some styling advice.  The great majority of people WILL need a wig but if you have really thick hair that’s layered correctly and dyed the right color (the length can vary) it can be styled really nicely.  I personally put messy pin curls up in my hair the night before I wear the costume and brush it out and tease the hell out of it in the morning and it works very well.  I would recommend a lot of experimentation a good while before any events so you can order a wig if your real hair doesn’t work out but I think it is possible to successfully style your hair for Gamzee and don’t want to see anyone completely rule out the possibility.   For reference, I have a cosplay tag on my page and you can also see the costume at http://cosplay.com/costume/351249/

submitted by jokerstrife

You know that debate on whether or not safe sex should be taught in schools over abstinence?

It’s sort of the same thing.

I can preach “GET. A. WIG.” as much as I want but at the end of the day it’s not my choice and I know that some people won’t listen, so I need to make sure that they know how to go correctly without one, so they don’t end up with awful hair at a convention.

The awful hair is the baby.

This metaphor is awful. Accurate, but awful. I apologize. 

Well, as a rule, I always suggest that cosplayers wear a wig. It looks neater and you can hide the horn attachments underneath, plus it makes your cosplay look much more professional.

However I know that not everyone can afford a wig, and at the end of the day, no matter what we say, it’s their choice. So, followers, here’s some advice ^.

Wig. Always wig. I personally like this one for Gamzee because it’s thick and is about the right length. On the MSPA forums, someone linked to these two curling tutorials that may help you style it, but other than that I would just see how much you can do using Got 2B Glued styling products to make it messy.

As for how to care for it, since it’s a cosplay wig, I would just do a couple of things. One, store it on a foam or plastic wig head in someplace lacking harsh conditions, as in, not an attic or basement or something. You can find wig heads online or in wig and hair care/beauty stores. When you transport it don’t throw it in with luggage, try to keep it on the wig head, but if you can’t keep it in a bag separate from other items. You should really be fine with that but here’s a couple of wig care sites.

If you can afford it, always buy a wig, especially since your hair is way off for the canon color.

As for the makeup, there are some testaments that Ben Nye doesn’t clog pores, so you could probably go with that!