Wig Dyeing Part 1: Creating your dye

One of the things I've noticed when looking at others' guidelines for how to dye wigs is that everyone seems to do it differently, sometimes in significant ways and sometimes in subtle ways. In addition, it always seems like a key step is left out here or there, possibly just because it's assumed to be logical, but having been there myself, it's often puzzling at times. Plus, there's often too many "always this" and "never that" type things, and while there are some absolutes, there are many slightly different routes to take to reach a result.

Therefore, I felt like writing down, not so much a how-to, but a "how I do it". This is not to assume that my way is the best, but hey, it works for me. Maybe it will for you as well. Plus, it prevents people having to "reinvent the wheel" so to speak and maybe avoid some of the mistakes I have made. My routine will differ from many others because I tend to work in small amounts with large concentration of ink, for several reasons, but can be adjusted to your own method that you choose.

First off, the materials.

Isopropyl Alcohol 90-92%.

You can get large bottles of this relatively inexpensively at drug and/or department stores, get the large bottles, you'll use them. I recommend this over the lower-percentage rubbing alcohol (while 70% is the most common I've also seen 50%) for several reasons. First, the evaporation rate is much faster which means that there is less chance of running, and it is ideal to use in an airbrush for that reason as well (more on that later). Second, in my experience, it seems to have better "grab" for the ink, as far as taking hold on the wig with minimal rubbing or rinsing off, and if you are using the Sharpie method you don't need to soak the fiber nearly as long to extract the ink. Finally, the higher percent is what you will want to use for cleanup, both small mistakes on the wig (overspray, etc), drops on the floor or counter, or even worse, having to strip a whole wig of a botched job (messy but possible in most cases).
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Now, for the ink to use as the colorant/pigment for the dye (and where to get it).
Wig dye is actually kind of a weird catch-all term as some of the things we are using count as pigments and some as dyes by nature, but they are all colorants in the end. For the purpose of clarity I will continue to just refer to it as "Wig dye" since that is the norm and splitting hairs over the difference isn't going to accomplish anything other than being boring.




Sharpie markers.

Sharpies are the most commonly used item, and for good reason; they're easy to come by in a large range of colors and fairly affordable. Messy to deal with, wear gloves if you want, or look like a weirdo with colored stains on your hands and around your fingernails for a few days afterwards because it's hard to avoid staying completely clean. I usually end up with the stained hands. Sharpies can be used directly on the wig for more intense results, but not only is this process a bit tedious, it can be hard to control especially as the marker begins to dry or run out of ink. Plus, this whole thing is focusing on the idea of wig dye.

The best method I've found involves small clear plastic bottles like the kind you would get soda, juice, or bottled water in, so set aside two of those beforehand. Ideally you would have a pair of needle-nose pliers with a wire cutter at the base, but if you have just basic wire cutters that will work too. Cut off the very base of the marker right below the rounded end. If you go any farther down you will "bite" the ink capsule and it will ooze and make the next step messier. Hopefully, you should be able to see the ink tube right there, if you have needle-nose pliers, great! Just grab it by the end and pull it out. If not, will, you can usually fish it out with a pin, or a toothpick, or something, just by stabbing it into the tube and hooking and pulling upwards. If you haven't shaken the marker or squeezed the tube in this process, it should be relatively clean on the outside. Gently set it aside on something unimportant, a piece of cardboard, a paper plate, etc. I usually do two markers at once to save time and make sure I don't run out of ink. Now, using an razor knife or a pair of very small, sharp scissors (the small thread scissors for embroidery work well, but you're going to need to clean them up afterwards), slit the ink tube straight down the middle lengthwise. I then scrape the fiber filling out of the tube with the pliers or a popsicle stick, which is always a mess, but makes the process a little quicker in my experience.

Take either the pile of inky fluff, or the split-open tube if you skipped the last part, and drop it down into the first bottle. Pour about an inch to inch and a half of alcohol over it, basically enough to cover it fully depending on how big of a bottle you picked. If you left the tube intact in which case if it's standing on its end just put a bit of alcohol in the bottom. Cap the bottle and shake shake shake for a few seconds, and then carefully pour off the liquid into the second bottle. If you did the "messy scraped out fluff" route, the big wad of fiber should catch in the neck of the bottle and you can even gently squeeze the sides of the bottle to wring more of the dye out. If you did not, you'll have to be careful that the tube doesn't slither out and fall into the second bottle. Repeat this 2-3 more times, you should begin to see the fibers get noticeably lighter until they look like they have barely any ink left in them, at which point it's time to stop. You now have a "master" batch of ink that you can use, lightening is as simple as just diluting with more alcohol, but be careful, the color that it looks in the bottle will not be the same as the wig, so test it before you make any changes you can't undo.

Do not use paint Sharpies, which are oil-based. This currently includes all metallics except silver (see below).
Fluorescent Sharpies are usable but will give inconsistent results as the the fluorescent component separates from the pigment when you dissolve it in alcohol and does not have quite the same effect on wig fiber as it does on paper.
Pastel Sharpies are in a similar situation, they will work, but due to the way they are formulated you will not always get the color you are expecting from the marker, and you will need to have some trial and error. For instance, the pastel pink sharpie will yield pale orangey-peach dye with a bright yellow-orange pigment floating at the top. However, I have had some good results with most colors I've tried, but still had the best luck with mixing the basic primary and secondary colors when trying and get a specific shade.
Black Sharpies are actually a very dark purple (quite noticeable when diluted) and will not yield true black results.
Metallic Sharpies are handled slightly differently. There used to be Copper and Gold, but now Silver is the only one that remains. The pigment in these does not fully dissolve in the alcohol and will settle to the bottom of the container when left sitting. This has a benefit in my case, however; I will take several (very small) containers and pour the liquid in them, allowing them to settle for a day or two, then gently pour off much of the extra alcohol, then shake them up and pour them all together. Given time, this will allow you to achieve a much higher concentration of pigment, although you will still want there to be at least 1/2-2/3 of the solution to be liquid when it is settled. Silver comes in handy in several ways, not only can it be used to add silver color to wigs, but it is opaque and can be used on black and other dark wigs with obvious results. Additionally, because it is opaque and metallic, a small amount of it can be used on a dark wig to give it a "frosted" look with the effect of lightening it slightly without making it too obviously silver-colored. However using too much of this color will build up on the wig giving it a very matte, chalky appearance as well as making the fiber stiff. I recently found a source for (albeit slightly overpriced) Gold Sharpies that claim to be alcohol/water based but have not yet tried them out to see how well they work.


Other brand Art Markers
Other artist markers can be used using a similar method, I have known people to use Prismacolor and Design markers to color wigs, but in my experience they are either too pricey for me to justify wasting (when something else works just as well and you get more for less), or too risky (many art markers use some other type of solvent that could at best be incompatible with the alcohol method or at worst, cause damage to the wig fiber).





Acrylic Artist Ink
These are actually better to use in my experience as they come in dropper bottles and can be measured out very easily to achieve exact shades and blends, and are easy to reliably reproduce provided you keep track of what amount of what you used. In theory, most waterproof or water-resistant colored acrylic ink that is listed as sold for drawing and technical pens should work, but I've had luck with these brands and am always trying out new things to see if I'm missing out on anything. I have used the following products with good luck and positive results.

EDIT: Initially this was its own section but the selection got big enough that I have broken it off into its own post for better readability/information, Artist Inks for Wig Dying review. [link]

I prefer to store my prepared dye in in either 1-2ml airbrush jars, if I have extras to spare, or small 1oz screw-top plastic bottles from the art store. I don't know if they have a specific name, but they're somewhat like a half-height test-tube with a flat bottom, stocked in the paint section so presumably, for storing paint.
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Next up: Spray, splash, pour, soak? Dying the wig.