Tutorial: How to Sharpie Dye an EpicCosplay Wig

Hey EpicCosplay fans!
We recently posted up a video on our Youtube account going over the steps about how to color one of our wigs with sharpies! We’ve posted it below but figured we would write up a blog post that goes over the steps on how to sharpie dye one of our wigs! This is a really easy method that we found works wonderfully with our wigs and we decided to write up a quick blog post to cover these short and easy steps in case you wanted to read up on how to change up the styles of your wigs!

Check out the video below or read on to look at the steps you need to take!

You will need a few materials to use this method to color your wigs. They are as follows.
1. White or light colored wig that is compatible with this method. All of our EpicCosplay wigs are dyeable with this method but some wig fibers cannot handle rubbing alcohol or sharpie ink. If you are unsure if your wig can or cannot go through this method you should send an inquiry to whom you purchased it from. This method will not work on darker wigs because there is no way to dye them lighter.
2. Sharpies in the color you want to dye your wig. The more sharpies that you have the more vibrant the color will be. 5 sharpies should be enough to get a very vibrant color.
3. 70% Rubbing Alcohol in 32 ounces. You may need more or less depending on the length of your wig.
4. Empty plastic Bottle
5. Scissors or an exacto knife
6. Pliers
7. Bucket or spray bottle.
8. Large Plastic Tarp or some plastic bags.
9. Latex Gloves

Take your rubbing alcohol pour half of the amount into the empty plastic bottle. You will be using the plastic bottle to start mixing your dye.
Take your sharpies and uncap them. Use the plies to pull the sharpie apart (it will come apart at the colored section and the grey tube). Pull out the inkwell and use scissors or an exacto knife to split the inkwell in half down the length of the tube. If you are using scissors, try to cut the inkwell over the mouth of the bottle so that any ink that drips off will drip into the bottle. After you cut the inkwell in half, drop both halves into the bottle. Repeat this step with all the sharpies you want and need. The more inkwells you deposit into the rubbing alcohol the darker and more vibrant the color will be.
After you’ve deposited all the inkwells into the rubbing alcohol cap your bottle and shake it hard. Let it sit for about five or ten minutes then go back and shake it again. Pour the rest of your rubbing alcohol into that bottle and give it a few more shakes to mix it all together. Now you’ve got your dye!

Before you apply the dye to your wig you should test the color to make sure it’s the color you want. Sometimes looks are deceiving and the color you see in the bottle is not the color that will appear on a wig (I had split some pink sharpies to make a dye and the dye looked orange in the bottle but was pink on the wig). The best way to do this is to take a little piece of your wig and spray or dip it in the dye. If you are satisfied with the color you can go ahead and keep going. If it’s too light or too dark you can adjust the color by adding more ink wells or more rubbing alcohol to strengthen or dilute the color.

After you are satisfied with the color you can go ahead and start coloring your wig. Note, make SURE to do this in a well ventilated area. Rubbing alcohol fumes can be quite strong and you will want to make sure that the area you’re working in has good airflow.
If you’re looking to dye the wig one color you can pour your dye into bucket or some kind of small tub and soak the wig in the solution. The longer you soak the wig the more vibrant the wig color will be.

If you are wanting to do highlights and lowlights you will want to pour your dye into a spray bottle and hand pick out sections of your wig that you want to color and spray them down individually.

Once you are done with applying your dye you will want to set your wig down onto the tarp or the plastic bags to dry. Setting it down allows the dye to dry. If you hang up the wig to dry the dye will drip down and not color the wig properly.

Once your wig is dry you will want to rinse it out till the water runs clear. This ensures that your color won’t bleed or your cosplays when you’re wearing it. After it dries from your gentle washing you can brush it out and style it the way you want to!

That’s it for our sharpie coloring tutorial! If you have any questions feel free to email us at epic@epiccosplay.com or post on our facebook page here!