EK's Writing Blog: The Silver Haired Warrior

Sunday, March 09, 2008

The Silver Haired Warrior

The Silver Haired Warrior
Here is an interesting challenge for the CosPlayer: Lord Sesshomaru's hair. Now, not knowing how tall he is, it is a bit difficult to say exactly how long his hair is, however knowing that his hair comes to about 3 inches above his ankles (nearly to the ground!) and assuming that his is 5'7" - 5'9" (he is very tall for a Japanese man, and stands 2 or 4 inches taller than any of the other characters in the series), we can come to a rough estimate of the fact that his hair is approximately a whopping 65 inches long!

To realize just how long 65" of hair is, consider this: when you see a woman with long hair, usually her hair will be 15 - 18 inches long, or falling to just above her elbows. Lord Sesshomaru's hair reaches down to his ankles and nearly sweeps the ground as he walks. This guy has got a lot of pretty silver hair to manage. Speaking as a woman with 20-inch long hair myself, I can tell you, that it takes a lot of care to manage long hair, and the longer it gets, the harder it is to care for.

For the CosPlayer who likes to really get into character, here is something to consider: Lord Sesshomaru is a warrior. He fights battles. He can fly. He does a lot of flying. He does a lot of fighting. All that jumping around in battle and than all that flying around in clouds (and clouds are humid), is complete and utter total murder on your hair, and yet, this guy has got the shiniest, smoothest, most perfect, silky smooth, untangled glossy hair the world has ever seen! There's only one answer to that: this guy spends A LOT of time combing, brushing, and washing those lovely silver locks of his, and when I say a lot, I mean a lot, we're talking 4 or 5 hours a day here. Sure, we don't see that in the show or in the books, that'd be boring, but think about it: we've seen him standing there bored out of his mind, twiddling with his hair, while he rolls his eyes as he listens to InuYasha yelling at him, than he flicks his hair in a very Cher-like manner, pulls out his sword, chops everyone up, flicks his hair again, puts his sword away, and than walks away like nothing happened. Uhm . . . how many other warriors in the show, do you see stopping to flick their hair between chopping people up? None, Sesshy is the only one who does that.

And let's take this notion one step farther. Who here is a major fan of his? All hands raised? Good. Now I ask you, which one of you doesn't know what a pompous peacock he is? Oh I know, fan girls don't want to admit it, but come on, just listen to how this guy talks! I mean, he not only is the best looking most powerful demon, he knows it and he'll tell you so while stomping you into the ground, because you are so far below his social standing. How many times have we heard him complain about half-breeds and low-lifes and his favorite phrase: "pathetic humans"? The first time we ever see him, he's commenting on what a waste of his time it is to bother with anyone below him. This guy thinks way too much of himself, which ultimately becomes his downfall and results in the death of the only person he ever did care about.

Well, knowing how vain and smug he is to begin with and than combining that, with the fact that he's got this mega-long ultra perfect hair . . . that sure spins a new light on his already undying vanity!

But how does all this affect you the CosPlayer?

Well, for starters, it affects how you would act while you are CosPlaying. The best CosPlayers not only look the part they are playing, but they act the part convincingly as well. Lord Sesshomaru's hair is just yet another sign, in a long row of other signs, that this guy has a major vanity problem.

Moving on.

Playing Lord Sesshomaru is a role of many problems. From a difficult costume, to a difficult personality, there is no problem harder for the CosPlayer to overcome than finding a wig that actually looks like Lord Sesshomaru's amazing 65-inch silver hair.

Have you ever gone shopping for a wig? I have. If you are someone who wears wigs often, than you know that the longer the wig is, the harder it is to wear.

I was 12 when I got my first wig. About 15 when I got my second, third, and forth ones. My teen years I lived in them. A curly brown Tom Baker wig (Yes I'm also a mega Doctor Who fan, thank you.); a neon blue wig (later replaced with blue hair dye); a frosted Tina Turner wig, which btw was whopping 32 inches long and I wore it every day!); and my least worn wig: a Lily Munster wig, at a near Sesshomaru length of 40 inches long.

The Lily Munster wig was my least worn wig for a reason: it was hell, absolute and complete total hell to try to go outside wearing a wig that long. All it took was a breeze so tiny you didn't feel it, to fill every strand with a million and one knots, and it was murder trying to brush them out of such an amazingly long wig.

Now that Lily Munster wig, is still a good 20 inches shorter than the wig you will need for an accurate Lord Sesshomaru costume, and believe me, finding a 65 inch long wig is not going to be easy. I mean, have you ever even tried finding a 65" long wig? I have, and it's not an easy task, and unless you are Crystal Gale, chances are you don't have naturally 65" long hair to dye silver, so you really do have to buy a wig to pull the effect off.

Your best bet will be to search for what is called a Lady Godiva wig or a Rapunzal wig, but even than these are hard to come by. Unfortunately these almost always come in only one color: a very fake looking golden-honey yellow, and for Lord Sesshomaru THAT JUST WON'T DO, NOT AT ALL, NOT AT ALL!

Never fear though, all is not lost. You will just have to settle for drastically shortening Lord Sesshomaru's hair, that's all. . . and than pray he doesn't bite your head off because of it! LOL!

Finding a 30 - 40 inch long wig is not very difficult. You may have to do a bit of Googleing to find one, but they are common enough to find after only a couple of searches.

Here's the thing: You may have a difficult time finding the right color. And what color do you need? A pale silver-blue-whisper-white. His hair is not white. His hair is not blue. His hair is not grey. His hair is pale silver. Have you ever tried to find a wig this color? I have searched and searched and searched and I have yet to find one. Don't use a grey wig, cause you'll just end up looking like an old man, and even though he is 250 years old, he did stop ageing at around 19 or 20 years old and so still looks very young, which he is, considering he has a lifespan of a few thousand years.

And even though his hair is silver, NEVER EVER use a silver tinsel wig! You don't want to make him look like a Cyberman out to get Doctor Who!

Most CosPlayers opt for a white wig, and that is what I would recommend. If you can find one a white glow in the dark wig, would look even better, unless of course you can find a whisper blue one, which would be more accurate.

Another option is to dye the wig yourself. Get a white wig and some brush-in pale blue hair dye, and lightly brush in streaks of pale blue into the bangs and around the tips.

A nice finishing touch would be to add some silver glitter flakes, thus making his hair look silver, without looking like tinsel.

Finding, Buying, and Costumizing a Lord Sesshomaru Wig:
Where to buy mega-long white wigs and how to customize them to match his silver-blue tint.

Searching for mega long wigs is a pain. Since I'm doing that kind of searching, I'll show you what I found, so that you won't have to spend countless long hours searching high and low for the near impossible.

While working with wigs you will discover they have many problems and frustrations; nothing big, just lots of little things. When working with a Lord Sesshomaru wig you well run into 2 rather nasty problems, that you would not have come across had you chosen to play some other character.

1.) Long wigs tend to run much thinner than real hair, giving it a desperately fake appearance, and the longer the wig, the faker it looks.

2.) Light colored wigs tend to "disappear in the light" and can give an unsightly appearance of of being near invisible. White is the worst color of all for doing this.

Both of these problems can be cured in one quick and easy step: buy 2 wigs and sew them together. Simple turn the upper wig inside out, and without cutting the hairs, cut the netting/lace along the weft lines. Now placing this wig over the other wig, hand sew through both layers, attaching the cut stripes to the netting of the lower wig. Finally, pull several of the wefts from the bottom wig, up though the hairs of the top wig, and brush them together.

This well make the wig much thicker, fuller, and give it a much more realistic appearance, and being thicker, the light does not go through it as well, either, thus curing both the problem of thinning hair and light go-through at the same time.

The links below, will take you to professional wig dealers, all of whom sell at least one wig suitable for use with a Lord Sesshomaru costume.

CocWorx Wig Shop
CosWorx by Cosplay.com wigs, cosplay supplies, fabric, photos and more:

Note: I recommend buying two wigs: one Ivy in white, and one Amanda in white. Sew the Ivy wig on top of the Amanda wig. This will give you the mega length of the Amanda wig, and the bangs of the Ivy wig. By doing this you will not need to cut either wig.

Sakura Wigs - Custom Cosplay Wigs: Unstyled Wigs Online Catalogue
Unstyled Wigs Product Catalogue

Welcome to our catalogue of unstyled wigs. Sakura Wigs offers unique and exclusive colors that other wig retailers do not carry! No more wasting time trying to color/dye your wigs to match a character!

We offer two lengths in a wide variety of colors: 60cm and 120cm.

NOTE: Their 120cm wig in white, has bands (an oddity for mega long wigs) and is near perfect as is and can be used without any editing at all; due to the thickness of Lord Sesshomaru's hair, however, I would recommend buying two of these wigs and sewing them together to get the right fullness.

Also, if asked, they will create custom-made one-of-a-kind wigs, if you want to go all out and get the ultimate Lord Sesshomaru wig, but be prepared to pay the price required to have a custom one-of-a-kind wig made, they are not cheap!

High-Quality wigs for cosplay, Halloween, clubbing or just for fun.
High-Quality wigs for cosplay (manga and anime), Halloween, clubbing or just for fun!

NOTE: I recommend using their Enchantment wig, but buying 2 of them, both in white, and than sewing the two together one on top of the other, than cutting bangs into the wig.

CosWorx Wig: Amanda
COSWORX EXCLUSIVE!
48" wig with skin top, made of the finest quality Kanekalon fibers. This is by far the best extra-long wig you can buy in party colors (red, blue, white, green, purple, etc) and it is only available here at CosWorx!
We had this wig specially made to our specifications, with cosplayers in mind!

NOTE: This wig does not have bangs, if you choose to use this one, you will have to cut it and style it to create Lord Sesshomaru's spiky bangs.

CosWorx Wig: Ivy
COSWORX EXCLUSIVE In Stock! 37" long from top of scalp. Cosplay.com wigs, cosplay supplies, fabric, photos and more.

NOTE: A bit on the short side, for Lord Sesshomaru, by a good 20 inches, however, the long bangs on this one are perfect for styling to match Sesshy's. This would make a great topper wig if you plan to sew 2 wigs together, using a much longer wig underneath it.

...and what do I plan to do?

I'm still researching Sesshy's wig, so I'm not entirely certain what I will do in the end, and I still have a year to go before I need to decide, however as it stands right now, here is what I plan on doing:

I plan to buy two wigs, both from Sakura Wigs, both the 120cm wig. I will be sewing the two together as stated above.

However, as Lord Sesshomaru's hair is not white, but rather a blueish silver color, I'll be useing wigs of two differant colors. The upper wig will be the Sakura 120cm in white, while the lower one will be the Sakura wig 120cm in lt blue #B05.

The following links are sites (including live chat message boards) where you can get advice, info, and help in customizing your wig:

Common Questions About Wig Styling - Cosplay.com
Common Questions About Wig Styling Costume Discussion: Wigs and Hair

Amphigory: Customer Wig gallery!
Gallery of our customer's custom wig creations! With brief info on how they created their costum wigs

Wig Styling with Ishida Uryuu by *behindinfinity on deviantART
Blog post about creating custom CosPlay wigs

Tutorial: Putting on a wig. - Cosplay.com
Tutorial: Putting on a wig. Costume Discussion: Wigs and Hair

CosWorx Wigs in Action! - Cosplay.com
CosWorx Wigs in Action! Costume Discussion: Wigs and Hair

CosWorx Wig Color Photos - IVY - Cosplay.com
CosWorx Wig Color Photos - IVY Costume Discussion: Wigs and Hair

How to Cut Bangs Video Tutorial - Cosplay.com
How to Cut Bangs Video Tutorial Costume Discussion: Wigs and Hair

Dyeing w/ Sharpies - Cosplay.com
Dyeing w/ Sharpies Costume Discussion: Wigs and Hair

Wigs Too Fake For You? Taking Drastic Measures
Living with Lord Sesshomaru's Hair Everyday

If you are a life actor (one who lives in character, 24/7) you may want to go for the most drastic means possible: transforming your real head of hair into Lord Sesshomaru's Rapunzal-like locks.

The best looking thing you could do, if you want your hair to look real, is to not wear a wig and have you natural hair altered to look like Lord Sesshomaru's hair. (I am seriously considering doing this, by the way, as I totally love his hair and would love it if my hair was like his.) If by chance you decide to go without a wig and use you own hair, you will have to go through some drastic changes to your hair, which I would not recommend being done at home. Head to a salon that specializes in Gothic, EMO, or Punk hairstyles, taking along with you several pictures of Lord Sesshomaru, especially ones that show his hair from good angles.

What they will do is a series of bleach washes, you may only need one if your hair is light, but several will be needed if you have darker or black hair. This can result in serious damage (including 100% hair loss) to your hair if done incorrectly, so be sure that you are dealing with a salon that dose this kind of this on a regular basis, as a salon that does not, may very well do it wrong. It can not be over stated that you MUST find a salon that specializes in Gothic hairstyles as they do this sort of thing every day.

Once your hair is completely and totally stark white, they will next build up you hair length through the use of hair extensions. The next step will be the coloring, dyeing your hair in varying shades of silver-grey and whisper-blue. Finally it is time to actually style it.

Once you have transformed you hair, this look should last most people three month before you have to have the roots retouched and the extensions reattached.

If you know what you are doing and willing to take the risk, you can bleach your hair at home, however I would not recommend it unless you have enough experience is hair styling and dyeing to make such a drastic change to you hair on your own.

Manic Panic: Bleach
NOTE: This will only lighten your hair, not turn it white; you will need to use a whitener after bleaching.

What's your take on this? I'd love to hear what you have to say about this post. Leave a comment and share your views!

-------------
If you liked reading this blog and want to read more stuff written by me, I have lots of websites, where you can read other things I write, here are a few of the ones I like the best:

Publishing Methods

Books on My Bookshelf.

Lord Sesshomaru is a Cross dresser?

*I Love Phookas!*

Copper Cockeral Cards & Gifts

A List of my CosPlay Aticles

Creating Character Profiles

How to Start a Publishing Company

Create Your Own Writers Retreat

EelKat's Secrets To Squidoo Success

What Can You Do With Squidoo?

Narration for Writers