Deep Dive | A Cosplay Duet

Series: Final Fantasy XIII Versus
Character: Noctis Lucis Caelum
Cosplayer: Dark
Materials: Dark blue and black sharpies, Hair spray, Got2B Glued hair cement, Paper clips, Hair ties or rubber bands

Before you dye or cut the wig, make sure you gently rinse the wig in cold water. I would recommend holding it under a shower over just sticking it in a vat of water. It just makes it easier to keep the original style.

Afterwards, let it air dry and pin it to a wighead with sewing pins. Then gently brush the wig. It's not like a human's hair so don't pull to hard otherwise the hair will stretch or come out completely. It is plastic afterall.

The length of this wig is a bit overkill for Noctis, but generally I like to get a wig that's slightly longer than what I want. You can't really tell how well the wig will fit on your head until you actually try it.

The next step is to dye the wig. I prefer to make the wig as "realistic" as possible so I like to make darker roots. Test your sharpie color on a part of the wig at the base of the neck. That way if the color comes out differently then other people won't be able to see it.

When I dye the wig, I like to start with the wefts at the base of the head and work my way up. I color the parts closer to the roots with black, and fade out to dark blue. I left the very ends the original bright blue. You can also "mix" the sharpie colors on the strands themselves before they dry completely.

This photo shows the dyed parts compared to the original bright blue on the left section. Make sure the colors come out smooth by continuing to color over them. The dyed portions in this picture look streaky since I haven't done that part yet.

Noctis's hair is rather flat in the front compared to the back so it's best to separate the different section with hair ties or rubber bands.

I just used regular scissors to cut the wig at this point. Remember to leave plenty of room for leeway. You would rather have more hair than not enough. You can always trim the wig later.

Also, always have a reference picture on hand - note the laptop in the background.

Now divide the appropriate sections of the wig with hair ties. You can also pin back with sewing pins. Be very careful to separate the sections that you won't be using from the area you are currently working on.

I usually like to start with the bangs. For pointy bangs, take one of the sections and trim with your scissors. Hold them parallel to the hair strands and trim. This is key to having natural looking bangs. If you hold them perpendicularly then they won't be spiky.

I prefer to work with each section at a time starting with the lower wefts of the bangs. You can pin back the hair you're not working with. Put a little bit of Got2Be Glued hair cement on your fingers and gently pull in the direction you want the bangs starting at about half way down from the roots. You probably don't want to start from the roots otherwise you'll end up with very thin, spiky, unnatural bangs. Now continue trimming and then using hair cement with each section until you're satisfied.

Don't worry too much about messing up. You can always wash out sections with shampoo and water. Although if you do want to start over it's probably easiest to just wash the entire wig. But no worries, there's no hair cement or hair spray you can't undo with water and shampoo.

Alright! Now the bangs are looking good. Pick one of the sides and once again start with the lower wefts. Once again pin back areas you're not working with.

Cut the layers by angling your scissors parallel to the strands. Noctis has longer hair towards his ears so I just cut more hair closer to face and less at his ears.

We'll just use the same techniques from the bangs here. Start with the lower wefts. Take a section, trim, and use a bit of Got2B Glued. Continue until you've worked through all the layers on both sides.

The back of Noctis's hair is much spikier. If you want more intense spikes, take a look at the Roxas wig tutorial. I tried to keep Noctis's a bit toned down from Roxas'.

His hair has a slight whirl in the back so all his spikes have a general direction. Starting from the top this time, take one of the spikes and trim to your desired length, and then use a bit of Got2B Glued. Keep holding the spike, and use a little extreme hold hair spray. Spray in light layers from at least a foot away otherwise the hair spray will clump. VERY IMPORTANT - cover all parts of wig you don't intent to spray with a dry towel. Any parts that are touched with hair spray will stick together. It's not a pretty picture when you're trying to wash hair spray out this late in the game. Also, separating the strands by hand isn't the best option either as the hair spray will flake and make it look like your wig has dandruff.

After spraying each spike, I like to put paper clips underneath each one to keep them in position. Let each spike dry this way. After you finish with the larger spikes on top, try not to move the finished spikes around for at least a day. This will let them set.

For the lower back wefts, I put a bunch of Got2B Glued on my fingers and ran my hands through them making sure not to get too much in one area. I've experimented with going weft by weft, but found it generally doesn't work for Noctis's hairstyle. Real hair won't have a nice and neat layers so in keeping with that style, I wanted the strands to stick in all different directions.

Just a side note - I'm not sure this is a very good reference picture for the lower wefts in the back since I redid much of it later on so they wouldn't look as choppy. I also added more dye and smoothed the colors down for the wefts at the base of the neck.

Double check there aren't any random strands sticking out. Usually there will be a couple of very long strands that look out of place, especially starting with such a long wig.

Give your wig a final rundown, and before you take all the paper clips out, you can give the entire wig a few light layers of hair spray with plenty of time to dry in between each one. Normally I wouldn't recommend spraying down the whole wig, but for such a spiky wig, it's easy to lose the style after a three day con.

In general, it's always good to test out the wig with your entire cosplay on. If the bangs are too long you can trim them. Take a few test pictures too. Make sure you're satisfied with everything before heading to the con.

Another side note - make sure your eyebrows match with your wig! Eyebrows tend to be a few shades darker than your hair. But I digress, check out Ven's make-up tutorials for more on make-up. Now you're all set with your new snazzy, gravity-defying wig!

All cosplays and props belong to Dark and Ven of Deep Dive Cosplay. All original characters, character designs, and other concepts belong to their respectful owners.

	Before you dye or cut the wig, make sure you gently rinse the wig in cold water. I would recommend holding it under a shower over just sticking it in a vat of water. It just makes it easier to keep the original style. Afterwards, let it air dry and pin it to a wighead with sewing pins. Then gently brush the wig. It's not like a human's hair so don't pull to hard otherwise the hair will stretch or come out completely. It is plastic afterall. The length of this wig is a bit overkill for Noctis, but generally I like to get a wig that's slightly longer than what I want. You can't really tell how well the wig will fit on your head until you actually try it.
	The next step is to dye the wig. I prefer to make the wig as "realistic" as possible so I like to make darker roots. Test your sharpie color on a part of the wig at the base of the neck. That way if the color comes out differently then other people won't be able to see it. When I dye the wig, I like to start with the wefts at the base of the head and work my way up. I color the parts closer to the roots with black, and fade out to dark blue. I left the very ends the original bright blue. You can also "mix" the sharpie colors on the strands themselves before they dry completely. This photo shows the dyed parts compared to the original bright blue on the left section. Make sure the colors come out smooth by continuing to color over them. The dyed portions in this picture look streaky since I haven't done that part yet.
	Noctis's hair is rather flat in the front compared to the back so it's best to separate the different section with hair ties or rubber bands.
	I just used regular scissors to cut the wig at this point. Remember to leave plenty of room for leeway. You would rather have more hair than not enough. You can always trim the wig later. Also, always have a reference picture on hand - note the laptop in the background.
	Now divide the appropriate sections of the wig with hair ties. You can also pin back with sewing pins. Be very careful to separate the sections that you won't be using from the area you are currently working on.
	I usually like to start with the bangs. For pointy bangs, take one of the sections and trim with your scissors. Hold them parallel to the hair strands and trim. This is key to having natural looking bangs. If you hold them perpendicularly then they won't be spiky. I prefer to work with each section at a time starting with the lower wefts of the bangs. You can pin back the hair you're not working with. Put a little bit of Got2Be Glued hair cement on your fingers and gently pull in the direction you want the bangs starting at about half way down from the roots. You probably don't want to start from the roots otherwise you'll end up with very thin, spiky, unnatural bangs. Now continue trimming and then using hair cement with each section until you're satisfied. Don't worry too much about messing up. You can always wash out sections with shampoo and water. Although if you do want to start over it's probably easiest to just wash the entire wig. But no worries, there's no hair cement or hair spray you can't undo with water and shampoo.
	Alright! Now the bangs are looking good. Pick one of the sides and once again start with the lower wefts. Once again pin back areas you're not working with. Cut the layers by angling your scissors parallel to the strands. Noctis has longer hair towards his ears so I just cut more hair closer to face and less at his ears.
	We'll just use the same techniques from the bangs here. Start with the lower wefts. Take a section, trim, and use a bit of Got2B Glued. Continue until you've worked through all the layers on both sides.
	The back of Noctis's hair is much spikier. If you want more intense spikes, take a look at the Roxas wig tutorial. I tried to keep Noctis's a bit toned down from Roxas'. His hair has a slight whirl in the back so all his spikes have a general direction. Starting from the top this time, take one of the spikes and trim to your desired length, and then use a bit of Got2B Glued. Keep holding the spike, and use a little extreme hold hair spray. Spray in light layers from at least a foot away otherwise the hair spray will clump. VERY IMPORTANT - cover all parts of wig you don't intent to spray with a dry towel. Any parts that are touched with hair spray will stick together. It's not a pretty picture when you're trying to wash hair spray out this late in the game. Also, separating the strands by hand isn't the best option either as the hair spray will flake and make it look like your wig has dandruff.
	After spraying each spike, I like to put paper clips underneath each one to keep them in position. Let each spike dry this way. After you finish with the larger spikes on top, try not to move the finished spikes around for at least a day. This will let them set. For the lower back wefts, I put a bunch of Got2B Glued on my fingers and ran my hands through them making sure not to get too much in one area. I've experimented with going weft by weft, but found it generally doesn't work for Noctis's hairstyle. Real hair won't have a nice and neat layers so in keeping with that style, I wanted the strands to stick in all different directions. Just a side note - I'm not sure this is a very good reference picture for the lower wefts in the back since I redid much of it later on so they wouldn't look as choppy. I also added more dye and smoothed the colors down for the wefts at the base of the neck.
	Double check there aren't any random strands sticking out. Usually there will be a couple of very long strands that look out of place, especially starting with such a long wig.
	Give your wig a final rundown, and before you take all the paper clips out, you can give the entire wig a few light layers of hair spray with plenty of time to dry in between each one. Normally I wouldn't recommend spraying down the whole wig, but for such a spiky wig, it's easy to lose the style after a three day con.
	In general, it's always good to test out the wig with your entire cosplay on. If the bangs are too long you can trim them. Take a few test pictures too. Make sure you're satisfied with everything before heading to the con. Another side note - make sure your eyebrows match with your wig! Eyebrows tend to be a few shades darker than your hair. But I digress, check out Ven's make-up tutorials for more on make-up. Now you're all set with your new snazzy, gravity-defying wig!