How to wash a synthetic wig without ruining it EN

Most synthetic wigs are not worn out. They are washed wrong once, and never recover. Here is the method, and more usefully, the three things not to do.

The three mistakes

Hot water. The wave in a synthetic wig is heat-set. Hot water is heat. It relaxes the curl permanently and the wig comes out limp. This is the most common way a wig is destroyed, and it cannot be undone.

Rubbing. Human hair recovers from friction because it keeps growing. Fibre does not. Rubbing the lengths together makes a frizz that stays.

A hairdryer. Same reason as hot water, but faster.

How often

Every six to eight wears, or when the wig starts to feel heavy against the scalp. Washing more often does not make it cleaner, it wears it out sooner. If the problem is smell rather than dirt, airing it overnight on a stand usually solves it.

The method

1. Brush it dry first, from the ends upwards, with a wide-tooth comb. Never brush a wet synthetic wig — wet fibre stretches and does not spring back.
2. Fill a basin with cool water. Not lukewarm. Cool.
3. Add a little mild shampoo — sulphate-free, or a wig shampoo. Baby shampoo works.
4. Put the wig in and move it gently through the water for two minutes. Do not scrub, twist or wring.
5. Rinse in clean cool water until it runs clear.
6. Press it between two towels. Press — do not rub.
7. Leave it on a stand, or an upside-down bottle, to air dry away from radiators and direct sun. Six to twelve hours.

It dries back into its original shape on its own. That is the whole point of thermofixed fibre, and it is why no styling step appears in this list.

Conditioner: lengths only

A wig conditioner or a leave-in spray helps with tangling, but keep it off the cap. Product at the roots builds up, the parting starts to look greasy, and the wig reads as fake at exactly the place people look first.

Storing it

On a stand if you have one, so the cap keeps its shape. In its net in a drawer otherwise. Not on a shelf where it gets compressed, and not in a car.

If you use heat anyway

Heat-friendly fibre tolerates a straightener up to roughly 150 °C. Test on a strand underneath first, keep the iron moving, and accept that the original wave will not come back — you have re-set it.

Every model we sell is heat-friendly fibre. To see the range, start with the full catalogue, or the colour range if you are after a shade no dye could hold.