The vintage look is a pretty high maintenance look. Unless you have mad hair styling skills and several hours free, it is not easy to get the perfect hairstyle every time.

Even the simplest of victory rolls take curling, backcombing, spraying and moulding into place. You are looking at potentially 30 minutes to an hour of hard work. Wet sets and overnight pin curls require patience, time and product.

But that could all be a thing of the past due to a rising trend in vintage wig styling.

Someone who knows a bit about this trend is Carl Brown who has a salon in Liverpool and has started styling more wigs. He was very kind to talk to me about the rising popularity in wearing a pre-styled wig.

Carl believes that the popularity of shows such as RuPauls Drag Race and have helped wig wearing to be more acceptable. Coupled with the Burlesque scene which is more popular than ever means that people changed their look in a very short space of time by putting a different wig on.

Drag has come such a long way since the days of Danny LaRue, and performers want to look their best, and with a beautiful statement wig that is more possible than ever.

So, where do you start with a wig? I genuinely wouldn’t have a clue, but that is where Carl comes in. He is able to supply the wig prior to styling it in the way you desire, or you can take your own wig and have it styled from as little as £50.

Rolling the hair is the first process in styling the wig

If a custom wig sounds perfect to you, Bobbie Pinz is one of Carl’s favourites. When I enquired why, he went on to tell me that Bobbie doubles up on the weave so as to give a really thick lush wig to work with.

Rear View

Styling a wig isn’t easy though. The wig doesn’t react the same as natural hair so takes longer to perfect. For Carl to get the best effect he spends a couple of evenings curling and pinning the weave to get the desired effect. As he has a salon to run from day to day, the wigs are worked on in the evenings as they are time intensive.

The wave process

New wigs start from around £50 with styling costs on top. This is not a trend that will break the bank, however you can spend hundreds if not thousands if so desired.

Making sure it is perfect

I asked Carl who he would love to style a wig for and was not surprised to hear him mention Dita Von Teese, however as she already has perfect hair he didn’t believe there would be a call for her to use one.

Almost finished

This led me to thinking. If I could have a wig made for me, exactly how would I like it to look? Of course there are so many styles that I love, but struggle with curls and waves. A pre-styled wig that I could just put on for special occasions or nights out, no fuss or hassle.

Stunning colour

Or is that just taking the easy (and lazy) way out? Well I don’t actually think it is!

Waves for days

Whilst I can do a passable Victory roll, my brush-outs are terrible. I follow the Youtube videos, I have the recommended brushes and products and I still look like a fuzzy mess. I brush until my arm feels like it is going to fall off, and I still don’t achieve the look I desire.

I would love to have this wig!

I am destined to never attain that perfect, smooth hairdo so why not get the look I am desperate for by having a wig styled just for me.

It sounds like it could be the very answer to all my prayers.

Photos courtesy of Carl Brown Hair – Article originally published in Vintage Life Magazine August 2017