Clarke Griffin (The 100) Wig Tutorial

By Willow Enright

Clarke Griffin The 100 http://www.cultjer.com/img/ug_photo/2016_01/95177720160131112418.jpg

There are times in your life where you really feel like making a change. Coloring or cutting your hair can be fun and give you a new outlook on life, however there are times where going blonde just won’t work for you. Clarke Griffin (The 100) has some ever changing blonde locks, and we’re going to transform an ordinary wig into a version of her combined hair-do’s. ​

Antique Gold and Honey Brown Acrylic paint, Rubbing alcohol, glass head, saran wrap, and Black Canary Wig

Platinum Blonde Synthetic Black Canary Wig

Clarke's side braid as she kisses Lexa. http://cdn03.cdn.justjaredjr.com/wp-content/uploads/pictures/2016/03/100-lexa/lexa-dead-the-100-recap-spoilers-05.jpg

​Supplies: 

Antique Gold, Honey Brown, and Crimson Acrylic paint, Rubbing Alcohol, Head Stand (I used a glass Buddha head, you might be temped to use styrofoam, DON'T!), Saran Wrap (optional), Spray Bottle, Cardboard, Paper Towels, Cheap Small Rubber Bands, and Wig (This wig was originally purchased for a comic book Black Canary cosplay.)

Woo! Black Canary wig to start with, that's for sure!

Blonde hair extensions to mix in once it's all colored

Blonde hair extensions added into the wig at the temples and sparse spot at the crown

Cheap vs Quality

The wig that I started with was a super cheap synthetic Halloween wig that we got at Goodwill one year ago. So, the quality to start with wasn’t great, in fact it was a pretty typical bad wig. However, it was what we had to work with and I figured that I would at least give it a shot to see how it would turn out. After all, I love a good challenge. Only, if I were to repeat this process in the future, I would definitely invest in a higher quality wig. ​

Don't use a styrofoam head with this or it will melt. I used glass and covered it with saran wrap.

Liquid acrylic paint mixed with rubbing alcohol. 5-10 drops of paint to 1 cup alcohol, or add more paint for however dark you want the color to be.

Antique Gold mix

Color Chemistry

Since the coloring process involves rubbing alcohol it’s important to use a glass head instead of styrofoam, otherwise it will simply melt. I also covered it with saran wrap beforehand so that the paint wouldn’t stain the glass. I used a cardboard box to make a three sided place to spray, and placed paper towels underneath the glass head to soak up the alcohol. I mixed 1 cup of rubbing alcohol with about 10 drops of paint in order to get the richness of color that I wanted. Always start with your lightest color, Antique Gold in this case. I spritzed the entire platinum wig with this light color first. ​

Adding Honey Brown to the Antique Gold

Making sure that the Acrylic/Rubbing Alcohol mixture is getting the underside of the wig hairs

A little bit of red really made this wig pop as Clarke

Coloring Synthetic Hair

Changing the color was a lot easier than I had thought initially. The tricky part is making sure that you mix the paint in the rubbing alcohol extremely well so that it won’t clog your sprayer, or you will spend a long time trying to clear it. Eh, hemmm… as some of us may have done. Once the Antique Gold covered the whole wig, I added another cup of rubbing alcohol and 10 drops of the Honey Brown. Making sure to constantly mix the solution, spritz the second color in various random spots, including the underside of the wig.  Adding the red at the end was insanely easy. For this part of coloring you won’t need a full cup of alcohol, just ¼ cup and only 5 drops of paint. The platinum hair just soaks the color up nicely giving that slightly Clarke hue. Leave the wig to dry for 24-48 hours before styling. Also, don’t repeat the alcohol/paint process on the wig more than twice, making sure it is completely dry in between, otherwise the synthetic hair might disintegrate.

Styling

These bangs are wild and had to be braided together in sections in order to creat these front braids.

The front braids are combined at the crown of the head

This particular wig has bangs and Clarke doesn’t, so it made sense to me to braid them together along the temples using a dutch lace braid. I was then able to combine the two braids at the crown like Clarke does. There was also a lot of matted hair underneath from previous wearing. When knotted together in sections it became lovely texture, and a lot less 80’s punk mess. I repeated this process several times throughout the wig.

The really ratty bits of hair underneath

Knotting the ratty bits of hair helps to create body and texture without looking like an 80's punk band

Little knotted bits to add texture

Color and texture make it seem more like actual hair

To finish off the Clarke Grounder hair, I added several more small braids. I used cheap rubber bands that can be cut out instead of pulled out. Synthetic hair will not tolerate rubber bands being removed. It will rat the hair, break it, or pull it out. Let’s face it, rubber bands aren’t that kind to real hair either. Getting cheap ones will ensure you don’t care about cutting or ripping them.

The unfortunate front of the wig

Clarke Griffin wig, all braided and mulitcolored!

The process of changing synthetic wig hair color was daunting, and I wasn’t certain that it would turn out like I wanted. I was actually surprised at how easy and fun it ended up being. The colors turned out wonderfully! I just wish that I someone had told me to invest in a much better quality wig before attempting this process. Even though it would have cost more, the end would have been a very satisfying kickass result. Instead, I spent countless hours recoloring a crappy wig that really just can’t be used as a complete character wig due to its poor quality. Next time I will begin with a quality foundation. C'est la vie! ("That's life!") Stay tuned for next week's wig transformation: Lexa (The 100) Wig!