Ventilation - The Art of Knotting Hair

I have had a couple of queries regarding how to learn to ventilate and/or comments from people who remarked that they were struggling to ventilate, so I thought I would post a little help here.

Ventilation is a difficult process to describe accurately solely by words, so I thought I would post the video that I found most helpful when I was learning:

Tips:

1. Get a large piece of tulle or wig net instead of lace, a ventilating needle & holder and some hair. Pin a piece of the tulle or wig net to your block SECURELY. Ricky doesn't have his pinned very securely, but then he is a professional so he can get away with this, but if you are learning and your tulle/net is flapping, it makes it just that bit harder as you don't know - at this stage - how to compensate for it.
2. Practice catching one hair in the needle. It is much easier to learn to ventilate if you focus on one hair.
3. It's all about the tension! - The way that a knot is formed relies very heavily on the wig maker having the correct tensions between the hair that is held in a loop in one hand and the needle that has caught the hair and is pulling it through in the other hand... if the tension on the needle is not strong enough, you will struggle and end up losing the hair out of the needle.
4. Don't pull too much! If you pull the hair strand hooked on the needle too far away from the loop in your other hand you will struggle to maintain the correct tension. Keep it small and neat. You need enough hair pulled through but not too much that it becomes loose and falls off the hook. 

Once you have mastered ventilating several rows of single strand hair, you can then progress onto using a piece of lace (which has smaller holes) and practice some rows on there. 

Wig Making Questions: Ventilating Loop, and How Much Hair Needed?

I had a question from a reader asking about ventilating and the amount of hair needed for a wig.

Question:

I know that you're supposed to loop the hair between your thumb and index finger before you begin the ventilation process... I was wondering if the loop is supposed to be even meaning if the hair is 24 inches long originally, will it be 12 inches as you ventilate it or does it not matter?

For total beginners - When you ventilate you need to create a curve (loop) in order to catch the hair in the ventilation needle, which means you can then pull it through the lace hole and do your knot. This is achieved by folding over the top of the length of hair where the root end is - remember the hair you buy and use needs to be cuticle correct or it will tangle and matt up when the wig is worn/washed.

To help keep your bulk, raw hair organised, use a pair of drawing cards. Write 'root' at the top, and always place the hair you are using with the root end lying at the end marked root on your drawing cards. You should be able to tell the root end when you buy the hair, as the hair is usually bound more strongly and obviously at the root end. Depending on how the hair was collected, you can also tell by looking at both ends: one end will normally look 'cut'.

Drawing Cards

Tip: Hold them together with an elastic band or a pair of clamps. If the cards fall on the floor, they may fall apart and all the hair get mixed up in different directions, which would make the hair unusable. 

Root End Marked

 Drawing Cards - The 'Teeth' Hold the Hair in Place and You 'Draw' a Small Amount Out to Ventilate

In answer to the question - Firstly, it should not be even. It depends on the hair used. With processed hair, you can generally get away with longer returns if the cuticle has been completely stripped away (of course it is hard to know whether this has been done or not!). With cuticle intact hair one is aiming for a fold (return) of about 1 inch. Of course this is not a completely exact science, so somewhere around that length should be okay. In my case, I am aiming to do a 1 inch-ish return and this is what I would advise people to do unless the hair is heavily processed and very coarse, thick strands. A good way of judging how it will look is to take a scrap piece of lace, then ventilate about 20 hairs in two 10 strand rows, and just see if the returns are poking up.

 Hair Folded Over to Make a Return

The Loop - this is the holding position for ventilating. Hold the folded loop together between your thumb and index finger. Then draw hairs from the loop through your lace, monofilament or tulle.  

Tip: don't take too much hair at a time from your drawing cards or you might get finger fatigue from trying to grip it all! This also helps to prevent hair wastage when learning, as you may drop some or find it gets caught up and need to chuck it in the bin if the root to tip becomes mixed up.

One problem with returns is the 'salute' you issue - where the returns stand up and poke out of the ventilated hair like a load of regrowth or broken hairs. I have noticed this seems to be more a problem with thick, coarse hair as the returns are not fine and soft enough to fall flat. When using European human hair, this is less of an issue as the hair is finer and softer. It is a complaint that some wig wearers make because it looks odd (unnatural) and irritating, and I have seen people requesting 4 inch returns when they order a full lace wig from China to try to combat this. In theory, as I said before, if the cuticle has been entirely stripped away, this might work okay, but if the cuticle is there, you would risk matting and tangling issues. This is because the cuticle on the hair shaft is like a load of tiles on a roof. When the cuticle is closed and the hair is healthy, the tiles lay fairly flat, but when the cuticle is opened or damaged, some of the tiles stick up. On normal hair growing out of the head, all the strands of hair have the cuticle facing the same way - downwards. When you ventilate hair onto a wig, assuming you have cuticle intact hair that has been kept with the root-to-tip the correct way up, you end up with the long main part of the strand hanging with the cuticle as it would be on your head, downwards; however, on the return, the hair strand is now upside down with the cuticle facing upwards.

If the cuticle opens up (say when you use hot water or a deep heat treatment on the hair) or becomes damaged, then the parts of the cuticle hanging downwards can snag against the return which has the cuticle facing upwards and cause tangling or matting issues. As a result, a shorter return is preferable to a longer return as there is less return length to tangle and snag against the main hair strands on the wig.

Question:

Also, how much hair is needed normally for a lace front wig? (100-120% density)

How much hair you will need depends on how long the hair is, as even for the same density, the longer the hair, the heavier it will be.

Length - remember that you will lose at least 1 inch for the return; however, I bank on losing 2 inches (I am a cautious person). Then, you need to take into account whether you will want to have the wig cut after you made it. If you do, you will lose maybe another inch or two. So if I want to make a wig that is 12 inches long, I would buy a minimum of 14 inches, maximum 16 inches in length.

To get a length of 14 inches, to be cut down to 12 or 13 inches finished length after styling - I personally would be looking to buy between: 170/180 grams (14 inches) to 190/200 grams (16 inches) of raw, bulk hair. This is about 6 to 7 ounces. I like to allow for a little wastage, so would tend to round up rather than down. With a bulk hair vendor, you can usually buy in small increments - certainly in the UK you can buy by the 10 gram increment.

I have tried to think how to make some kind of formula for this. The best I can come up with (I hope this works! BUY AT YOUR OWN RISK - double check with the hair vendor, as they should also be able to advise how much you need) is:

For every increase of 2 inches, add 20 grams, for every decrease of 2 inches, remove 20 grams. This is approximate, it depends on the thickness of the hair (think about it, if the strands are finer, you will get more strands than if they are thicker!). The range gives you a little adjustment because if you end up with raw ponytails, you may find you cannot add them together to weigh exactly 160 or 220 or whatever. I would tend to favour the upper number, better to have too much than too little and, in my case, I have a big head so more foundation to cover (hehe).

10 inch wig: you would need at least 12 inches of hair, you would want to order 150/160 grams.
12 inch wig: you would need at least 14 inches of hair, you would want to order 170/180 grams.
14 inch wig: you would need at least 16 inches of hair, you would want to order 190/200 grams.
16 inch wig: you would need at least 18 inches of hair, you would want to order 210/220 grams.
18 inch wig: you would need at least 20 inches of hair, you would want to order 230/240 grams.

Converter: http://www.metric-conversions.org/weight/grams-to-ounces-table.htm

Generally, if you are buying bulk hair from a supplier like De Meo Brothers (US) or Hugo Royer (UK), it is a good idea to buy a little extra hair for repairs and/or in case you misjudge how much you need. The upside being, the more wigs you make, the more hair you will have in stock (assuming you don't use all the hair each time you make a wig) and you can eventually gather compatible colours together, and blend them to make a hair piece or wig if you want to.

Density - If you want a heavier density wig, then add on another 25-30% so:

Medium density weight x 1.25 (to add 25%)
Medium density weight x 1.30 (to add 30%)

I hope this helps.

Disclaimer: Buy at your own risk. I accept no responsibility for these numbers being inaccurate!

Learner's Challenges: Wig Ventilation Density

In my opinion, one of the more challenging aspects of wig making for a learner to get right is: density.

As someone who abhors over dense wigs on myself - I look ridiculous, figuring out density is, and has been, a pretty important part of my wig making journey. Unfortunately, once I started ventilating, it quickly became apparent that density is not something you can learn overnight, so to speak. It is one of those things you learn through practice and possibly some innate sixth sense. I am learning to trust my instinct a little more.

One of the reasons I think density is very difficult to assess and get right as a learner, is that it is something of a stretch to try and realistically imagine what an entire wig will look like (no matter how much you are dreaming of the finished product) when you are ventilating the nape or the back or even the crown. In my case, with the wig, I started off well and then panicked and imagined I was adding too much (I had visions of Attila the Hun), so I backed off and went super light and ended up with... well, not enough in one area.

Of course you may be thinking: 'ah, but you can always go back later and add more hair'. While this is true, I do not think it is strictly the best way to go about things. It is messy and I am a perfectionist. Adding hair on top of already ventilated hair is not really my cup of tea and it is also INCREDIBLY time consuming and slightly insanity inducing. You have to try and keep all the other hair out of the way while you work on an area, and take it from someone who has done repair work, that is no mean feat. I guess some wig makers probably enjoy or relish the task of repairs, I personally do not. I prefer to start with a tabula rasa, a blank slate, and go from there.

So for me, this whole wig density business is something I am trying to get right. As I may have discussed before on this blog, I am a person who needs a lighter density and volume on the top, but I quite like more lushness going on from say the ears, downwards. My own bio hair was like that - flattish to the head and then lots of it around my shoulders and going down my back - and it does tend to suit me a lot more than the puffy wigs.

Where I am running into issues now is getting enough density at the front of the wig so that it hides the foundation, especially the galloon, and yet does not look fake. The front of the wig is probably the most important area to get right - that and the part line/crown (which are exposed). Generally people are looking at you/your hair more closely when they are talking to your face. As a result, I am now ventilating quite densely into the galloon at the 'sideburns' area. I have been striving to cover it up before starting to ventilate into the lace above it. I feel as if I am stumbling blindly around, but I take comfort from the fact that this wig is meant to be a learning curve and a practice session.

 Image is clickable - click to enlarge. On the left is the beginning of the heavier ventilation to hide the galloon from the front view when on the head. On the right is sparser ventilation into the galloon, as no one will see this area because it is covered by hair and unlikely to be exposed. The paper is inserted in the pocket I have made for wig springs, that I don't want to 'sew' together by ventilating hair into both pieces of lace!

 Note how, on the above image, the ventilation looks so sparse. It's amazing how different a wig looks once you start working on the area above where you are ventilating:

This just goes to show how you do not necessarily have to ventilate extremely densely to make a wig work. However, there is a fine line between under-ventilating hair into an area (as I have found out) and over ventilating so that you end up with a wiggy, hot mess (quite literally). Certainly when you are getting near the part line or the front, it is worth bearing in mind what type of base you are trying to cover. If you are ventilating a full lace wig or a lace front, then beautiful, natural, graduated ventilation is the key and it works REALLY well. If you are making a wig like I am, where you have a base that is seamed and has galloon edges, you really need to be conscious of the fact that if you do not ventilate densely enough into this area, you may expose the wig foundation (base).

Let there be light!

My mum decided to buy me the combination lamp mentioned in this -http://makingwigs.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/winter-lighting.html - post! I am so excited. It has REVOLUTIONISED my wig making. I kid you not!

Suddenly I have more speed. I also am not getting major 'eye blur' (loss of eye focus) when I look up from working on my wig. I can even see the TV after looking down last my wig work for a while... without having to wear my glasses. This is encouraging as it surely means I am not straining my eyes.

I have noticed it is very helpful to be able to see the knots and lace with such clarity. I think that it is even improving my actual knot tension/tightness, as I can see what I am doing properly.

Who knew that something so simple could make such a difference?

I shall post update pics on my next blog entry.

New Pictures

I wanted to show my progress...

To...

I have realised a couple of things about this wig construction:

1. It would have been better if I had made the lace deeper and placed the monofilament galloon back further - this would help me to disguise the galloon easier. It would also mean I could start the crown further back on the head than I will be doing on this wig.

2. Having the extended nape adds more hair to the bulk density when you look at the wig. In future I would not opt to do this again unless I absolutely wanted to wear my hair up for a certain style/event.

3. Ventilating long hair takes a longer time than ventilating short hair due to pulling the hairs through the knot.

Update Pictures

Finally I have time to do this and post. Things in my life have been very busy and somewhat difficult/challenging, so I don't really have much time to do my usual work. Anyway, I have spent the past couple of weeks trying to get an hour of ventilation done 5 days a week. I have really gotten back into the swing of things. I want to get this thing finished! It feels as if it is never ending - having a big head and making an extended nape doesn't help for sure.

Here's the wig:

And the hair...

As I have said before, the hair is not the best. It's really bad hair in my opinion; highly processed and loads of different hair textures (some are horrible and I try to throw before ventilating if I see them). However, it is serving it's purpose of giving me something non-precious to ventilate with for practicing. The hair type is 'pouffy' in that it looks more than it is. When I braid the hair that I have already ventilated, it's not as thick as you would imagine from looking at it hanging down like that.

Moving forward...

I am going to continue ventilating as I am already doing and then when I have ventilated over the the top galloon, where the honeycomb tulle finishes, I will then start ventilating 1 hair per hole.

There is one patch at the bottom right hand where there is not enough hair ventilated and when I have finished doing the current section, I will go back and add some more to that before I move onto doing the vertex and sides.

I also need to buy some metal springs as I don't like the plastic ones I have and I want to add some to make ear tabs.

My Challenge

Following on my last blog post, I have set myself the challenge.

I want to get to the markers (see photo below) by this time next week - so Thursday 23rd. It should be a little challenging as I have quite a lot of things on over the next week. However, I shall give it a go and report back.

Mini Challenge & Eventual Wig Cutting and Styling

I did some ventilation today in the comfort AND WARMTH of our office/studio room. It's far warmer in there than in the house right now (don't even ask!). We are still getting snow. Brrrr.

So I was looking at my wig block... and I keep moving a small pin up the back of the head and aiming for it, but it's like moving the goalpost... so I never quite get there! A while ago, I set myself the challenge of doing x amount of ventilation by a certain date. I can't even remember if I succeeded.

Anyway, on to my point. So I have decided that tomorrow I am going to go in the studio and create a new sparkly marker with a heart shaped pin (more visible that way) and set myself a target of ventilating to that pin by a certain date. I shall document it on here with some pictures... I like to challenge myself and motivate myself... no one else is going to!

I also think it is really important to set yourself targets with the wig making, otherwise it is easy to stop or to get bogged down and progress becomes really slow. I want to get this finished so I can move onto the next project! I have lots of wigs and hair pieces I eventually want to make.

My second topic of the day is: cutting and styling...

As I have a type of alopecia that results in partial hair loss, and I am not currently shaving my head, I still need to get my own hair cut/styled so that when I am around the house, I don't look a complete fright! I have a really nice stylist who does this for me; she runs her own salon. I have been talking to her about my wig making and she has agreed to cut the wig for me when I finish it. I think it will be a good experience for her and for me. If the wig doesn't fit me properly, I will get her to cut it on the block, otherwise I will get it cut on my head.

Have a great weekend y'all.

Snow... & Wig Making

Overnight we had 6 inches of snow. Mmm... leading to pics like this...

Don't worry, I picked the snow balls off her and dried her by the fire and she's back to normal now!

So days like this...

Are great for doing this...

I am getting there... slowly, but surely!

Progress in Pictures

Last time I posted, I was at this stage:



Here is my latest update on wig making progress...

I am continuing to keep the density light and will progress to light-medium by the time I am an inch or two below the crown. I am pleased thus far! P.S. I just realised I did not take the picture of the "alternative wig cradle" as I had promised to do in my last post... so I will definitely go do that and will add it tomorrow.

Video Update

For anyone who does not find this blog from my YouTube channel, here's my latest video:

New Pictures... Finished the Nape

Here's some pictures to update the blog - I have finished the extened nape. I will perhaps add more hair to the edge (where the galloon is - to conceal it more effectively) and at the end of making the wig, I will ventilate a couple of rows to the inside to help conceal the edges. Sorry they are not the best quality - I shot them with my phone and the lighting was not the best! I think you can get a better idea of density from these versus the braided shots of the post before. There's not as much hair as one might think!

I am now working on the mid-section where I have the wide galloon. In this area, I have lace overlapping tulle, so it's quite hard work ventilating it. The lace holes are on top and small, so I am ventilating into that rather than aiming for the tulle. I hope to finish this section in the next couple of days and then move onto ventilating into the tulle by itself.

Lastly, and for fun, I set the hair I have ventilated into pin curls - they came out well. After I defined some of the frizzier ones a little better:

Ventilating - Step 1 ~ The Extended Nape

The past couple of weeks have seen me finally getting time to set to and start ventilating. It's great - I really enjoy it and I find it very relaxing. However, let's be frank for a moment... Boy oh boy does it take a long time! I know I am not 'up to speed' yet; I can feel each time I pick up that needle holder, that I am getting into the process and the rhythm quicker than the time before, which is progress.

As one would normally ventilate a wig from the nape upwards, I have been focusing on the extended nape to begin with. Admittedly, it will take me longer to ventilate this wig than if I were making one without an extended nape, as that extension is a good deal more hair to add than if it were not there. This is compounded by the fact that the lace I used in that area is very fine (lots of tiny holes). It would be easy to add way too much hair there! As I do not want to end up looking like Cousin Itt: http://tinyurl.com/7qw6j6o, I decided to go light on the ventilation. I would say the first inch is probably what most people would term light density and the rest is very light. I am realising that I truly am a less is more hair wearer. The pictures I am showing are from a little while ago, as I have actually now finished this section (and will post more up-to-date pics shortly). So what you see is the more densely ventilated area at the bottom, starting to lighten out towards where the honeycomb lace starts.

I have plaited/braided the hair to keep it out of the way while working. At this stage it seems easier to plait/braid it, than to try and use clips, which get in the way as I have not worked a large section. When I take the next round of pictures, I will be sure to photograph the hair loose, so you can get an idea of the amount that has been used.

To be honest, I do think that at this stage there is a real art to getting density right. It is hard to judge! I have been trying to think about my own hair and how that looked before I had any hair loss. The hair I am using is not good hair - it is processed and a mixture of strands, it is naturally wavy and I know it would be really easy to put too much in, as my own hair strands have always been finer than this. So... with that in mind, I am trying to achieve coverage (of the foundation) without over-dense ventilation. I keep reminding myself that this whole process is me learning and mistakes are allowable.

A tip - if you are ventilating a lot, find a movie or some music (or something!) that you can listen to. I really think it helps to keep a rhythmn and to just get into the zone. I have been ventilating to DVDs, the radio, tv shows. I even ventilated to all 3 Lord of the Rings movies - strangely inspiring and motivating seeing as so many of the characters on there are wearing lace front or full lace wigs!

The Next Step - Sorting out the hair...

The next step in the wig making process, for me, is ventilating the hair onto the main body of the wig. In order to do this one needs some 'spare' hair. Beyond deciding such things as - the hair origin (European, Chinese, Indian, Mongolian etc), hair type (virgin, cuticle, processed), hair texture (wavy, straight, curly, body wave etc) and length, you have a few choices. You can either use hair you already have (old wefts, old wigs etc) or buy some new hair (either as wefts or bulk/raw hair in ponytails). As mentioned in my last blog post, I already had some masses of hair on the most ridiculous wig known to man. Due to my novice status, I decided that this was the msot appropriate hair to use. I think that in the earlier stages of wig making it is probably a better idea to use less expensive hair. Then if you go completely wrong, you won't be as devastated as you would if you were using virgin cuticle European hair, for example.


Side note - I do have better hair - raw and wefted, which I hope to use later when I am more proficient. Certainly if I were choosing hair, I would be inclined to go for raw ponytails of caucasian/European origin - because that texture is the same as my bio hair.


As the hair is already attached to a wig, I set about the process of brushing the wig out, separating the hair and removing some. I decided that first separating the hair in half (to effectively create two 'tails') was a good idea as there is about twice the amount of hair I want in my new wig. On the left hand side you can see half the hair has been braided; to keep it neat and out of the way. The right hand side represents half the hair and is what I am going to use on this wig.

You can see just how much hair is in half the wig in this next picture, where I am holding that braid in my hand.

At this point I have the half, to be used, hanging loose ready to be sorted.

As the hair is already ventilated onto this wig, I don't want to just cut it off as a ponytail/braid. If I did this, I would lose a lot of the upper length. In order to keep this length, I need to remove the hair in the stages I am going to use it. As most people start ventilating at the bottom of their wig foundation, I need to take the bottom lengths to use on the bottom of my wig foundation. So, I braided the rest of the hair and only left free the part I want to remove from the bottom right hand nape.

I then clipped this braid up. The hair hanging down is only half of the hair at the bottom of the nape of the wig.

I have drawing cards ready to place the hair into (they are the flat brown and grey squares to the right of the wig two pictures above). This helps to keep the hair neat whilst I am ventilating and enables me to remove small amounts of hair to work with. If you do not have drawing cards and get a pair, remember to write "Root" on one end of them (I wrote it on both sides) so that you know which way up your hair is! You put the loose hair into the drawing cards with the root end of the hair at the end you have designated "Root" and the tip should be hanging out the opposite end. This enables you to keep it cuticle correct. 

I carefully cut sections of the loose hair away. I tried to keep fairly near to the wig cap so that I could keep most of the length. I just used regular scissors for this.

Then I placed the hair in the drawing cards.

After I close them up, I always put an elastic band around them. That way, if I (or anyone else!) ever knock them onto the ground, they won't fall apart and ruin the hair (because if the hair gets mixed up, it won't be cuticle correct anymore).

Now I am ready to start ventilating.

Lastly, I want to wish those celebrating Chanukah:

חנוכה שמח

Here's my donuts, that I made:

For those of you celebrating Christmas in a few day's time...

Happy Christmas! 

I will be back with more pictures soon!