How to Dye a Synthetic Wig Ombre ~Mitsuri Kanroji from the Demon Slayer~

Recently, many wigs of anime characters are sold for cosplayers in stores.
These wigs have definitely made their life easier to dress up.
However, if a wig has more than two colors in ombre, you might not be able to get a perfect look that you want.
If a gradual blend between different colors is too clear, or the blended parts are not done in parallel, you may feel that it is not what a character actually looks.

When that happens, don’t you find yourself wondering what if you can dye wigs by yourself?
Learn how to dye and create a wig of Mitsuri Kanroji from Demon Slayer.

Dyeing wigs does not require a hard process.
I tried it for the first time, and I was able to get it done successfully.
I will go through how to create ombre step by step, so let’s get down to business!

What to Prepare

The following is what I prepared for creating a wig.

You can purchase most of them from Daiso.

There are many manufacturers that sell products to dye wigs.
Among them, I decided to use Colorante, a coloring product from Swallowtail, because it is specialized in wigs.

They have a huge selection of cute colors that you can choose to match anime characters.
＜出典：cheapest EC store for cosplay wig by swallow tail＞
As I mentioned earlier, Colorante is a dye sold by Swallowtail, a wig specialty shop.
Because Swallowtail specializes in dyeing wigs, the colors would come out beautifully when you use it.

In fact, there are some dyes that require salt or vinegar to dye wigs, but Colorante requires less which will allow you to dye easily at home.
( I noticed that the container I used was stained with color after dyeing. In order to prevent health issues such as allergies, I recommend you to prepare a new container for dyeing instead of using the one you usually use to cook.)

Also, there are some dyes that you have to color in a boiling pot, but with Colorante, all you have to do is just boil the water.
So, if you have an electric kettle, you don’t even need to use a pot and worry about your wig catching on fire.

In order to have Mitsuri Kanroji’s hairstyle as close as possible, I prepared a long white wig and two hair extensions, calledバンス(Vance) in Japanese, that you attach to a wig.
The color will not come out clearly if the original color of the wig is too dark, so I started with dyeing white color.

スーパーロングストレート ウィッグ ウィッグネット セット コスチューム用小物 100cm (ホワイト)

ブランド: ADOSSY

Amazon

CaseEden (ケースエデン) コスプレ ウィッグ コスプレ用ウィッグ バンス付き ツインテール ボーカロイド VOCALOID 鋼音ミク 鋼ミク 初音ミク ロング 120cm シルバー 銀色 銀髪 銀白色 ホワイトメルチェ・ウィッグネット2個セット

CaseEden

Amazon

The long wigs are white "Transparent Hair" from Assist.
【Click here to purchase and learn more.】
I picked this color so that the wig won't be see-through when I tie my hair up.
I also bought two white "Bon Vance" wigs from Assist, which have a significant feature of good volume.
【Click here to purchase and learn more.】
If the original color of the wig is too dark, the color will not come out beautifully, so make sure to dye the wig white.

If you have a tangle teezer, you can brush tangled hair on the wig. But it depends on if it bothers you as it is not necessary.

Since Colorante is in powder form, you need something that you can measure the number of grams. If you have an electronic scale, that would be best. I didn’t own anything to measure with, so I used a measuring spoon instead.

Dyeing the Wig

Let us get started with dyeing wigs!

This is the procedure when you are dyeing a wig with only one color. However, if you are using two colors, the dyeing process will change a little bit though it will be similar process.

Now, I will walk you through the dyeing procedure for 『Mitsuri Kanroji hair』.

1. Wash the Wig with Water

First of all, put the wig in a large heat resistant container and wash it with water.

This is for removing the coating agent on the wig, so that the colors can be dyed easily.
If you sprayed or waxed your wig before, make sure you clean it off well.

In order to avoid uneven dyeing, make sure you wash the wig by rubbing evenly.
Be careful not to rub the wig opposite to its hair direction as this can lead to tangling.

After washing the wig, gently squeeze it to drain the water.

Then, wrap it in with a towel, drain it by gently tapping it, and leave it on the towel.

2.Make the Dyeing Liquid

Dissolve the Colorante in hot water above 85 Celsius.
The temperature of boiling water is close to 100 Celsius, so you can just use it.

If there is undissolved Colorante, it will cause uneven dyeing. In order to prevent from it, use a small heat resistance container and dissolve Colorante completely.

Firstly, let’s make green dyes that you will use to dye the tips of your hair.
Apart from the dyeing liquid, fill hot water in a large heat-resistant container that you are going to use to dye.

Let me explain the ratio of hot water and Colorante below.

The average ratio of dyeing liquid is 2 grams of Colorante to 1 litter of hot water.
You can dye short to medium wigs with this ratio.

I summarized the guideline of how many grams you need depending on hair styles according to Swallowtail official YouTube channel.

Ratio of Colorante and Hot water by Hair Style

Since we are dyeing the long wig, we will do 4 grams of Colorante and 2 litters of hot water.
It didn’t mention anything about Vance, but we are going to dye two Vance clips with the same ratio as we do for Colorante in order to match the colors.

If the temperature of the water drops, it will be hard to dye, so we have to work on both the long wig and two Vance clips quickly at once.

First, dissolve 4 grams of Colorante in 500ml of hot water.
If it does not dissolve all at once, add some hot water to make it easier to melt.
It will be the best if you have an electronic scale, but I used a measuring spoon since I did not have anything to measure with.
In powder form, a tea spoon is usually about 4 grams.

Apart from the above, prepare the remaining 1.5 litters of hot water in a large container.
Once Colorante is dissolved completely, add them into the large container to make 2 litters of dyeing liquid.

Blend it gently and the process of making dye is completed.

3.Dye a Wig

Put the wig you washed earlier into the dyeing liquid.
We are going to make ombre with pink and green colors.
We will dye the tips of hair to green first, so place the tip of each wig in the dyeing liquid.

Put on disposable gloves to prevent the dye from getting on your hands.

The underside of the wig is hard to dye, so loosen and gently massage it.
Make sure you turn the wig over and dye the inside of it as well.
Leave the wig for 10 minutes.
When you are dyeing a gradual blend area, put the wig in the dye and pull it out quicker than the parts where you dye with a single color.
Check the image of the character and see if the design is well balanced.

For the bangs, pour the dye in a disposable cup and start dyeing.

The dye is very hot. But if you wear a pair of rubber gloves, you can work on dyeing in the cup as they are thick.
If the gloves are not thick enough, your hands get burnt, so use tongs or chopsticks.

Rinse the dye away.
The color usually turns out to be lighter than it is in the dye. So, you better leave the wig in the dye until it gets darker than the color you desire.
As long as you see that, you can take the wig out from the dye within 10 minutes.

In my case, I took out the green part in 8 minutes.

4.Rinse Away

Gently wash the wig by rubbing it so that the wig hair does not tangled.
Then, I normally wash the wig with detergent. This time, however, I will dye another color.
So, after dyeing the wig green, rinse it away only with water and leave it on a towel to drain.

5.【Mitsuri Kanroji Special Part】Dye Another Color

Prepare a pink dye in the same process.
Throw away the green dye in the large heat resistance container and prepare a new one with 1.5 litters of clean hot water.

Just like what you did for the green dye, mix the 500ml of the dissolved dye and 1.5 litters of hot water to make 2 litters of pink dye.
Once it is done, leave the rest of the wig in pink dyes.

We will start off with the Vance.

Bundle the green parts of the wig with a hair tie so it does not get dyed.

Let it sit for a while.
I took it out after about 8 minutes as well as the green dye.

Next, we are going to dye the long wig.
Similarly, bundle the green part of the wig with a hair tie so it does not get dyed.

Hold the green part and drop it into the dye from the top to make it easier to dip into the dyeing liquid.

途中の動作、唐揚げでも作ってんのかと思った。 pic.twitter.com/yNBrlPwS1T

— 🍡華乃ちゃん@コスコミュ！コスポート運営中❣️ (@s2masimaro) August 16, 2020

The top of the head is hard to soak in the dye, so gently rub it to loosen it up.
(As I mentioned earlier, the dyeing liquid is really hot, so be careful not to burn yourself.)
After soaking, leave it for a few minutes.

【A problem occurred.】
I took the long wig out from the dye in 8 minutes, but because the temperature of hot water decreased, the color in the wig was fading.

Obviously, only the long wig in the middle was lighter in color compared to other parts.

The higher the temperature of hot water, the easier it is for Colorante to dye, so if you keep working on it, the temperature of the water will decrease and the color will appear unclear.

If a case like this happens, it would have been better to "remake the dye again, even if it is a hassle," or "soak the wig longer in the liquid.

I made the pink dye again and colored the wig after checking the colors several times.

Finally, I was able to get the colors that match with the Vance.

This is the end of the special part of Mitsuri wig.
Now, all the dyeing process is done, so we will wash the wig with water.

Wash it several times, and when the color of the water starts to fade, wash it with a neutral detergent.
Dissolve the detergent in water and wash in it.
Then, change the water in the container to clean water and rinse it to remove the detergent completely.

5.Use a Fabric Softener

Dipping the wig in fabric softener will make the wig silky and smoothy after it dries.
This process is not essential for dyeing, but I recommend you to do because it prevents the wig from getting tangled.

Fill the softener in a fabric softener cap and add it to the water. Then leave the wig for about 30 minutes.
You don’t have to worry about the wig colors getting faded away from the softener.

I also combed the wig hair with a tangle teezer, so it became very smooth and silky.

みなさん、ご覧ください。

お風呂上がりの蜜璃ちゃんはきっとこんな感じなのではないでしょうか。

サラッサラ😆✨✨ pic.twitter.com/rqyewdujqg

— 🍡華乃ちゃん@コスコミュ！コスポート運営中❣️ (@s2masimaro) August 17, 2020

Every time the smell of your favorite fabric softener comes wafting in, I am sure it will make you feel happy.

6.Rinse off

Rinse the fabric softener off with water.
After rinsing, gently squeeze it to drain.

Use a Towel to Dry →Dry in the Shade →DONE!

Dry the wig with a towel, drain off the water, and dry it in the shade. And all done!
Drying in the shaded… drying outside without exposing to sunlight.

If the wig is not completely dry after drying in the shade, you can use a hair dryer.
In my case, it was not dry enough after a day, so I used a hair dryer to dry it when I was working on styling the hair.

Wig Dyeing Completed

What do you think about dyeing a wig on your own?
I was satisfied that I was able to dye it cute.
You can adjust the color tone and a gradual blend between colors by yourself, so you can easily make hair style close to a character.

However, I have a point to look back as my reflection.
Because I was overly cautious, the gradual blend was not dyed well, looking slightly whitish.
I should have soaked that area in the dye a little longer.

It was a good learning experience for the next time.

Lately, wigs can be dyed with Copic markers, so you may want to try dyeing the white part of the blend area with it.

Mitsuri’s Hairstyle

I did Mitsuri Kanroji's hairstyle based on the original drawing of Demon Slayer.
I carefully decided where to dye the wig by looking at the drawings, so the blend turned out perfect.

Dyeing a wig is very time-consuming compared to buying a character wig. But I would totally try dyeing again because I can make a hairstyle as close as a character.

Overall

How was the procedure of dyeing wigs?
If you take a look at characters from Demon Slayer, you realize there are actually many of them who have ombre hair.

There were also a lot of Colorante left this time.
It is 79 yen per color without tax.
With the green and pink dyes that I used this time, I assume I can color wigs at least 5 more times each, which seems like a great deal.

Once you remember the process, you can probably dye wigs without looking at any instructions.
The amount of time I took on creating Mitsuri wigs was about one and a half hour including time to soak in fabric softener.
Without the time for soaking in the dyeing liquid or fabric softener, it took about 30 minutes for me to do the whole process.

If you can make a character wig in such a short time and get the ideal look, don't you want to try dyeing it yourself?
If you try dyeing after reading this article, please let us know how it goes.
Also, go on our Twitter account from “Who Wrote This Column” below and feel free to leave your comments/ concerns. It is my pleasure to hear your feedback!

Thank you for reding! Enjoy your cosplayer life.