Denethor's Hair
Darrell Green
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Denethor's hair:
I am in process of doing an impersonation level costume and scene replication for Denethor and the infamous tomato.
I am a few minute steps away from completion but cannot come to grips with the hair.
My hair is long and I wish to make it this Denethor gray-brown. I started at dark brown and have now dark red after numerous products.
I finally decided that I would give temporaries a try and all have failed. They are either clumpy, slimy, none completely dry and none are coming anywhere near my black robe. I need dry comb-able and stylable gray hair.
I am only days away from attempting alcohol paints on some sample hair. I am completely willing to make it up at this point. No products that I have found do anything they claim to do. I have been coloring my hair for years and have numerous people to ask in the business but NONE have done this tri tone gray brown.
To add to this horror, I have a very sparse crown at the front and I joke that I have 20 hairs left to work with. I do a full and successful combforward for Bard the Bowman but his hair is black and sparse areas can be covered with root sprays and drawn hairs.
I see no wigs that cover only this area as it is the known location for MALE pattern foreheads and NOT female. So, only toupee are made for this crown shape and they never are LONG. This leads to the possibility of trimming a female wig but they never ever ever come in gray brown and I am not transferring the color failures from one location to another. If there is something to make a brown wig gray then I could obviously attempt it on my own hair but it seems to not exist.
Denethor's crown hair is ridiculously dense, likely a wig, but seems impossible to find.
Have mercy on a poor simple-minded student that stepped into the realm of near impossible hair project.
Who do we have that can offer guidance or sources?
How, in the history of coloring, has there never been a white or gray toner? How can this be this hard?
After talking to several hair professionals I am under the impression that this brown gray is not only a Unicorn for rarity but would take approximately one full year of salon appointments ( not an exaggeration ) to achieve? And only after that would I be able to add the toupee which would also need the same color? I would of course also attempt the Bard combover if my hair were the right color.
Can't this be done with some form of whitewash? Everyone, including the supply houses say no.
And no wigs or toupees that I have seen are this color which would require this non existent coloring process be done anyway.
Save me Obi-wan. You're my only hope for gray......
And yes, I tried the temporary sprays. I can achieve the color with sprays but cannot style nor allow it to touch my costume.
I am in process of doing an impersonation level costume and scene replication for Denethor and the infamous tomato.
I am a few minute steps away from completion but cannot come to grips with the hair.
My hair is long and I wish to make it this Denethor gray-brown. I started at dark brown and have now dark red after numerous products.
I finally decided that I would give temporaries a try and all have failed. They are either clumpy, slimy, none completely dry and none are coming anywhere near my black robe. I need dry comb-able and stylable gray hair.
I am only days away from attempting alcohol paints on some sample hair. I am completely willing to make it up at this point. No products that I have found do anything they claim to do. I have been coloring my hair for years and have numerous people to ask in the business but NONE have done this tri tone gray brown.
To add to this horror, I have a very sparse crown at the front and I joke that I have 20 hairs left to work with. I do a full and successful combforward for Bard the Bowman but his hair is black and sparse areas can be covered with root sprays and drawn hairs.
I see no wigs that cover only this area as it is the known location for MALE pattern foreheads and NOT female. So, only toupee are made for this crown shape and they never are LONG. This leads to the possibility of trimming a female wig but they never ever ever come in gray brown and I am not transferring the color failures from one location to another. If there is something to make a brown wig gray then I could obviously attempt it on my own hair but it seems to not exist.
Denethor's crown hair is ridiculously dense, likely a wig, but seems impossible to find.
Have mercy on a poor simple-minded student that stepped into the realm of near impossible hair project.
Who do we have that can offer guidance or sources?
How, in the history of coloring, has there never been a white or gray toner? How can this be this hard?
After talking to several hair professionals I am under the impression that this brown gray is not only a Unicorn for rarity but would take approximately one full year of salon appointments ( not an exaggeration ) to achieve? And only after that would I be able to add the toupee which would also need the same color? I would of course also attempt the Bard combover if my hair were the right color.
Can't this be done with some form of whitewash? Everyone, including the supply houses say no.
And no wigs or toupees that I have seen are this color which would require this non existent coloring process be done anyway.
Save me Obi-wan. You're my only hope for gray......
And yes, I tried the temporary sprays. I can achieve the color with sprays but cannot style nor allow it to touch my costume.
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Comments
https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/working-with-wigs-wig-and-hair-basics
with mind blown. I was fully engaged, the first time I watched this course, 2 years ago, but from the eyes of a complete spectator. I was watching from the perspective of if I might use this for a costume..... IN THE FUTURE.
I have since avoided wigs and fought to grow my own hair for whatever costume I needed out of shear skin crawling discomfort with wigs. I even created the world's greatest comb-over (I call it the comb-forward) just to avoid this anxiety induced panic that I feel when attempting wigs. I think we can agree, together, as a group, that gluing your own hair to your own forehead to avoid using a toupee...... is quite a bit of effort. This was not cut hair but just flipped forward from the back of my head.
So, this is the part where I admit having severe ADHD. I, in all real physical sensations, feel fight or flight when faced with an enormous learning curve while also having an immediate need for the knowledge. Yes, I learn excessively fast but comfort is not part of this experience. Imagine trying to eat a fruit salad in a room filled with fruit flies and you have a short sleeve shirt and shorts on for a bit of extra landing space for the flies.
Wigs are an ENORMOUS learning curve.
Don't be that fool that says, "But why don't you just use a wig?"
Hehehe.....just .....just use a wig...
It is like telling a mechanic that rather than change the sparkplugs they should, "Just get a new engine." Or, when a baker says their cookies were a little dry, you say, "Ya, but why waste your time with recipes when you could just get a new oven."
A wig needs to be the right size for your head but in more than one measurement. So, measure your hat size, your glasses frames, your target character's hairline, their hair length, texture, color or colors, wear and age damage, where their hair parts on top, the direction their hair roots point at all different locations on their scalp, the thickness of the strands, the amount per square inch and any thinning areas. When you get all that prepped and the wig created, by custom hand tying, you can now block it on a dummy head (insert 5 steps here) and only then can you style it like your target actor (we are talking impersonation level) and need to know HOW TO STYLE HAIR OR SYNTHETIC HAIR. When done you prep your own head for wearing this wig (just start cackling at this point because you are trying to do this ALONE). You then attach the wig (ALONE) and ONLY THEN can you finish with lace edges, makeup, and laying some edge hairs.
.....just......just use a wig
So, after some very serious and long term avoidance techniques, I am rewatching Connie Grayson Criswell's wig course.
I am in awe of all that I missed the first time around. I think it was because I didn't know that I needed to know all the many fiddly bits of info that is in this course. Hint: they aren't at all fiddly nor trivial.
What a truly amazing brain dump from such a talented person. No skipping steps, no JUST use a wig, but instead, a thoughtful, step by step how-to.
With ADHD you either accidentally binge watch or you MUST be in dire need of the info to rewatch something this detailed. Right up to the point you convince yourself that half methods and skipping steps isn't possible, you just bumble along hoping you find some miracle shortcut. And yes, that miracle shortcut is common in most things so it just reinforces the craving to skip to the experimentation. Wigs, at an impersonation level, have no miracle shortcut. Read my words, my fellow ADHD shortcutters, and know that I did your suffering for you. I tried to get around it. You really do need to watch the course as many times as it takes to complete your project.
My only personal advice, beyond watching this course, is to NOT buy a close enough wig, but instead, scour the earth for a wig that just screams DEAD MATCH, even for finished curl, length, color and styling. When you find it, get it in your head size and ALWAYS lace front. Even then, you will need to rewatch the course, now that your "immediate need of the knowledge" endorphins you forward to being able to do so.
Because my costume builds include the element of impersonation level disguise, I am needing to match the actors hairline. This step, whether by laying hair or by tying a custom lace front in combination with the use of a wig would be a true treasure for all cosplay artists and impersonation attempts. Just my additional hurrah to the original request by Jeffery.