How is a Wig Made?

  How is a Wig Made?

Wigs are made all over the world but most mass produced wigs are made in countries like China, Indonesia and India. Countries like Australia have very high labour costs which makes wigs very expensive.  Countries in Asia have much lower wages costs hence making it much more affordable for the average client to afford a wig.  It is amazing how from a few strands of hair that is made into a weft and with quite a lot of work, a wig is created.

Below are some images where you can see how a wig starts with the raw products of hair, lace, monofiliament fabric, skin tops and a few more items.  There is some machinery that helps with each stage but it is very labour intensive.  There is a real art to making  a good quality wig.  Below are some of the things we saw that were all part of the process.

Collection of Hair and Bundling:  Hair is collected  and prepared for manufacturing.  Hair is arranged so it is lying in all the same direction.  The hair is brushed against a hackle quite a few times which is just a large wire brush that is clamped to a table. It keeps the hair smooth and untangled as well as drawing out any small hairs. ( You can see on the left what a Hackle looks like)

Washing & Sterilising Hair : The hair is inspected to make sure it is clean and they will sterile the hair. The hair is gently and thoroughly hand washed in basins in soapy water with disinfectant. They are rinsed a few times to make sure there is no residue of soap.  Then the hair is  allowed to air dry or put in warmer ovens specifically for hair.

Making Wefts  :For a wefted wig, the hair is sewn onto a weft by machine.  The wefts are then made up into a wig.  Depending on the type of wig they are making there are different steps.  Some wigs are made with a lace cap while others are have a mono top or a skin top.

Making a Skin top:  Here you can see how a skin top has hair punched into it by machine.  You can see in the second photo that the hair needs to be trimmed on the inside of the wig.  After it is trimmed they place a special glue to keep it all intact.  Then it can be inserted into the rest of the wig.  Others have a mono top which is a fine monofilament mesh that the hair is tied individually onto to give the wearer a realistic look.

These are just a few of the processes hat it takes to make a wig.  Seeing the process makes you appreciate all the work it takes to make a wig and most of it is done by hard manual labour by very talented craftsmen.

See our full range of Wigs and Hair pieces on www.wigsonline.com.au.