Hi everyone! Today I want to talk about how to search wigs on Ebay. I’ve noticed that my spanish speaking fellows sometimes have troubles looking for the wigs they need for their costumes. This is mainly a post for those friends who don’t know the english terms needed to buy the perfect wig, but I’m sure it can also be useful if you’re an english speaking cosplay begginer! (*There is some obvious stuff I’m not gonna translate).
The world of wigs is huge and it’s full of specific terms we are not used to use in our everyday life and that can be very interesting to know to improve our searching. Different hairstyles, roots, colors, fibers, extensions, ponytails… Knowing how to look for all this stuff makes us able to find a whole variety of products.
If we write just “wig” in the search box, all the existing wigs on Ebay will appear as a result. You can see there’s a menu on the left side of the page with several predetermined searching options to improve the results by clicking on the ones you’re interested.
Length:
The length of the wig. You can choose between short, medium or long.
Texture:
Here you can choose between curly, straight and wavy.
Hair type:
Here you can click on the kind of hair fibers you want: human or synthetic hair. In our case, as cosplayers, we’re usually more interested in synthetic hair as human hair is way more expensive and its color range is limited to more natural colors.
The most used fiber for synthetic wigs is kanekalon. This is a plastic material that can be ruined by heat styling it. We’ll see more options later.
Color:
We can also choose between different colors. It’s very intuitive as you can click on little colored squares.
Cap construction:
This is one important subject and one of the most unknown ones. Cap construction is the way the hair is attached to the wig and how its wefts are organized.
These kind of wigs usually have a little circular plastic piece on the upper zone. From there, some wefts come out conforming the hairline. Aside from this structure, the rest of the hair is made of a wefted construction where synthetic hair is sewn into horizontal strips of material. These wigs are not made to be styled so they won’t be very reccomendable if you’re planning on making ponytails or more complicated styles because the cap is going to be visible and it will look quite ugly.
They’re pretty useful if we want to mix wefts from two different wigs. I’d reccomend them for flowing hairstyles with bangs.
These wigs are lighter than the first ones. The hair is sewn closer, which gives them more volume and a more natural look. They’re better ventilated because they don’t have any plastic piece. These are less suitable to have bald sections when styled.
– Lace front:
This is a very special kind of wig in which the hair is sewn to a tulle fabric giving it a super natural looking hairline, which makes it suitable for worn up styles. These wigs are more expensive than the other ones, but they’re totally worth it if you want a flawless credible look.
You only have to cut the lace the measure you want and apply mastix to fix it to your hairline. (I urgently need to start using these wigs).
– Monofilament:
These wigs are made of a thin mesh nylon fabric that resembles a natural scalp. This fine material is preferable because it allows propper ventilation, leaving less heat trapped underneath the wig, reducing friction to the scalp. They give the illusion of natural hair growth since the sheerness of the fabric at the scalp blends with the actual color of the skin. They’re also more expensive than the other ones and their colors are more natural.
Brand:
You can also choose the brand of the wig. I must say I’ve never chosen a wig for its brand, but it’s also an option.
Condition:
– New with tags.
– New without tags.
– Pre-owned.
Style.
– Bangs.
– Bun.
– Full wig..
– Hair fall/ Half wig.
– Ponytail.
– Top piece/ Wiglet.
Price:
Here we can select between a range of prices. I usually spend between 9 and 25$ on each wig I buy but you know that, depending on your special needs, they might be more expensive.
Format:
There’s also the “auction” or “buy it now” option on Ebay. I usually buy them at the moment. I don’t like auctions because they’re frenetic. And, when it comes to order a wig for a con we’re attending in a month, there’s no time to loose.
Anyway, in the end, the auction usually reaches the “buy it now” price, so bidding is eventually not worth it.
Delivery options:.
Make sure the wig you’re looking for can be delivered to your country!
Show only:
– Returns accepted.
– Completed listings.
– Sold listings.
As you may have seen, in all these menus there’s also the “see all” option to refine your search. The same happens with the “more refinements” link at the end of the list.
Another thing you might have noticed is the “not specified” option, that covers the spectrum of the non tagged or very specific items. The description in each wig is usually pretty descriptive (ha-ha) but these predetermined options sometimes don’t show all the interesting items for us. That’s why sometimes is better to search manually.
Search manually means putting keywords on the search box. In addition to the ones we’ve seen before, here you are a short list of useful terms you can use:
– Heat resistant.
– Gradient.
– Two tone.
– Bob.
– Braid wig.
– Punk wig.
– Men wig.
– Bald cap.
We can also search by the name of the character we’re cosplaying as. It sometimes work when it’s a very popular one.
Sometimes the color we’re looking for is ambiguous. To look for specific regular tones, try to search “dark red”, “brown orange”, “light pink”, “red purple”… these kind of terms will limit your results.
So, well, I think now you have plenty of resources to be able to find the perfect wig for your costume.
Stupid advice: Don’t conform yourself with the original hairstyle the new wig has. Ventilate it and style it just like you want it.
Hope you found this useful. Thanks for reading!
