Tutorial: How to Tea-Dye a Synthetic Wig
Because cosplay wigs are made of plastic fibers, they don’t tea-stain as easily as natural fabrics. You will need to leave them in the tea bath overnight if you want a truly blonde color. However, a tea-stained blonde wig will typically be a little more natural-looking than a store-bought blonde wig because there will be a natural variance in the color of the individual wig strands.
You can also tea-dye wigs to have a very slight off-white, cream color that looks better with most skin tones than pure white. It will make the wig look more natural overall while still giving you the white hair of the character you’re cosplaying.
The other caveat with tea staining synthetic wigs is that you must use a white wig. I tried to dye a light gray wig with this method, and it didn’t come out great, so I recommend making sure your wig is pure white to start with.
- Steep your tea bags. You want to use more tea bags for wigs than you need to for fabric. I recommend 25-50 tea bags depending on how long the wig is and how dark you want it to be.
- Add your wig and fully submerge it. Make sure to swish it around occasionally to make sure all the fibers of the wig are being touched by the tea dye.
- Allow your wig to soak for 30 minutes to 12 hours. If you want just a slightly off-white color, 30-60 minutes will be enough. If you want a natural blonde color, I recommend leaving the wig to soak overnight.
- Remove the wig, rinse it off and let it dry. Once you’re happy with the color, rinse off the wig until the water running off of it is clear, then let it dry. Don’t forget, it will dry a slightly lighter color than it is when you first remove it from the tea bath.
