How to Make a Rapunzel Wig

Let me begin by saying that this is not the definitive way to make a Rapunzel wig; this is just how I made it.  For the most part, I'm pretty pleased with the results, From the back it looked fantastic, I just wish I could have achieved the Rapunzel hair "swoop."

 Great screenshot of said "swoop"

Unfortunately, the wig I purchased was constructed in such a way (a pin head style wig? I heard that term thrown around once) that there was no way I was going to be able to achieve this. Oh well, we can't have everything we want...

So how did I make the wig?

Step 1: Buy wigs

I purchased two (yes, two) long blonde wigs on eBay. I was pretty picky about the color. Most were listed as platinum blonde and Rapunzel is not a platinum blonde. Her color is really closer to golden blonde.

Step 2: Make the side braids. In the movie, Rapunzel has little side braids that are a form of a french braid. As I am totally inept at braiding, I opted to just do two normal braids and pull them back. The wig I bought had long bangs, so that's what a braided as Rapunzel does not have bangs.

No gravity defying swoop :(

Flowers will be glued to the wig later, so one large flower will hide the short hair.

Step 3: Make hair extensions (these are so the wig can have that really fat braid look from the movie)

As I came to realize, the vast majority of wigs are pretty thin and when braided, will never be able to have that fat braid like the movie if left as is. Hair extensions need to be added to achieve this thickness. This is how I did it:

     Part A: I bought three packages (one for each braid) of loose hair braiding extensions from the web. I got them from www.ikickshins.net. Try to buy a color close to what the wig color is. I know, I know, this is nearly is nearly impossible.  This is why I bought more than one wig. 

     Part B: Use clear caulk to make the weft. Make sure to rub it in good and deep as it needs to stick to every hair. Caulk one side, let it dry, then turn it over and caulk the other. Make sure this is done on wax paper so the weft can be easily lifted off the paper. Let the caulk dry completely. This took about a day for me since I put it on pretty thick.

Only side one is caulked here

When dry, trim the caulked hair so there is a nice, straight edge.

     Part C: Make those suckers even thicker!!

To make the braids even thicker, I glued batting into the center of each extension. The extensions will lose some fullness when when braided, so this will help maintain it. Regular craft or Elmer's glue is fine here. 

     Part D: Murder the second wig. Use sewing scissors to carefully cut out the wefts of the second wig. The hair is actually sewed into the wig in long thin rows. Do not just cut the hair off all willy nilly. Keep the wefts intact. Wrap and hot glue these wefts around the top of the extensions you just made. It should look something like this:

Sort of grotesque, isn't it? I tied some string around it intermittently to keep everything neat.

Make sure to reserve some hair. It will be needed it later.

Step 4: Sew the brand-spanking-new extensions into the primary wig.

Try to position them so the hair of the primary wig hair is both above and below the extensions. It is important the mismatched extension hair as concealed as possible.

Step 5: Braid, braid, braid.

Not as easy as it sounds. A friend would be very handy handy at this stage to help. I did not have a buddy and the additional help would definitely saved me much aggravation. I would only undertake this part when you are in a very patient mood (I was not. I'm glad no one there to witness that tantrum).

Step 6: Patch the exposed spots.

At this point, use the extra hair previously saved and the oodles of flowers bought to patch the areas where the mismatched extensions are showing through. Disney did us a great favor by covering Rapunzel's hair with flowers. I used hot glue to attached the hair and flowers.

Step 7: Use some of the reserved hair to wrap where the braid is tied. That's the look she had in the movie.

Step 8: That sucker is heavy!

In all likelihood, the wig is now too heavy to stay on when worn. This can be easily fixed by sewing those little combs into the inside of the wig. One did the trick for me, but two may be even better.

And voila! The wig is done!

Okay, so there are several of things I would do differently. To begin with, I would not use long wigs. I thought it would be easier, but it's not. Much of this tutorial is based on one created by echoing-artemis at deviantart.com. She used many medium length wigs. After working with this wig, many medium wigs would have been much easier. My wigs tangled (hahaha, puns) something fierce! 90% of my time was spent untangling the stupid wigs. That was the real magic of Rapunzel's hair! The inability to actually tangle, otherwise, I'm pretty sure her hair would have been a rat's nest, lol.

Echoing-artemis' tutorial can be found here:

http://echoing-artemis.deviantart.com/art/Rapunzel-s-Wig-Tutorial-1-205175201

Since I did use long wigs, I wish I had bought one more. It really ended up be thin in areas, and was pretty difficult to fill. It would have been nice to have an additional wig's worth of weft to wrap around the extensions. If you can afford it, by extra wigs, you really won't regret it.

Keep in mind, this is not a project you can do in a day. It took me about a week. Also, synthetic hair will get EVERYWHERE!! Just a FYI so you're not horrified.

I know this probably seems confusing. You can post a comment if you have any questions about how I made my wig or refer to the great tutorial I linked to above. Good luck!