Pro Tips: How to Really Care for Your Sheitel

Making sure to treat your wigs with love and TLC is essential for long-lasting wear. Here, Marlene Kolangi from Kaituz shares her tips to help you out.

1. Ideally, have someone wash and style it for you.

This one may feel like a little bit of a disappointment, but unless you’re a pro, you may just not be trained on the true details of sheitel haircare—and that’s okay. By pro, we don’t mean just doing your own hair either. Wigs have a whole rulebook of their own.

“A lot of people don’t know how to hold a blow dryer properly,” Marlene says. “They might not know how to brush a wig right either, so it doesn’t shed. A lace top for example, is more delicate so you need to treat it in a special way. When styling, a lot of people also often hold the curling iron in a way that burns the hair and creates split ends.”

Of course, if that’s just not an option for you financially right now or you’re living in a place without access to a professional, Marlene will teach others how to handle their wigs, but down the road, it can cost you more. “If I get a wig for a wash-and-set and I notice knotting or a lot of frizzing, I can get to the root of the problem sooner,” she says. “If a woman is doing her hair at home and then comes back to me a year later, it’s hard to know what transpired if I haven’t seen it in so long.”

2. Brush with your hands.

Like we said above, these beauties need a lot of TLC, so the best way to brush them is actually with your own hands. This way, the style stays in longer and you’re not pulling on the wefts, or the strips of cloth that hold the hair. The bristles of the comb can get stuck in the wefts and you might start tearing them, especially if you’re brushing your strands too hard or too often. Marlene says she’s constantly running her fingers through her wig throughout the day to prevent tangles.

Then, in the evening , she uses a deep conditioning spray (try this one!) to smooth the hair before brushing. It gives you a major assist when it comes to getting knots out that may have built up. Whether you’re using your hands or a gentle brush, she says to start at the bottom of the wig and work your way up, never brushing from the root.

3. Wash according to your wear.

There’s no hard-and-fast rule of how often to wash your wig—it really depends on use. “If you’re wearing your wig every single day and it begins to smell after six weeks, you wash it,” Marlene explains. “If you’re wearing your wig once or twice a week, you can get away with washing it every three months.”

She also notes that virgin hair can be worn longer than processed hair, since it can look stringy if you wash it often. “Virgin hair holds up dirt better and longer,” she explains. “So, you might only have to wash it every 8-12 weeks. As soon as it starts to smell though, you should bring it in. It’s important to take care of your own hair underneath as well because that will impact the smell of the sheitel and require you to wash it more often.”

4. Even if you’re not wearing your wig frequently, it still needs love.

If you’re in a period where you’re just not putting on sheitels as much (we see you, coronavirus), make sure to shake out those locks to keep them fresh.

“It might start to look limp if you just leave it for a while,” Marlene says. “I would just shake it upside down and brush it slightly from the bottom up with a hairbrush.” Using a flat-paddle brush (like this one) will ensure you pull out the least amount of hair.

5. Store your hair properly.

It may be tempting to just throw your wig on the bed when you get home from a long day out, but taking a few minutes to store it properly at the end of the day is key. A wig head is an ideal place to call home, but if you have a lace top, drape it over the head so you don’t stretch out the cap. As an alternative, take a two-liter soda bottle and position your wig over the top of that (this is also a great tip for traveling!).

For more tips from Marlene, click here!