Simulating Hair Spray: How to fix figure hair in place

20190604_0002 by Gary  Menten, on Flickr


For all the effort I'd put into the Kamiko figure I'd created to as closely as possible match my DAZ 3D creation, I just wasn't satisfied with either the hair or the bow.  In a previous post, I explained how I'd given her long bangs by pulling a lock of hair from back to front and fixing it in place using a small paintbrush and dilute simple syrup. (boiled water and sugar) and how I'd attached to bow to a bent piece of steel wire, painted red.  

This however left the rest of Kamiko's hair way too fluffy and prone to going out of place. The bow, was was often moving about and getting flattened out as well. To boot, flecks of red paint kept coming off the hair band.  See below.

20190602_0005 copy by Gary  Menten, on Flickr
Before Shot

Discovery 3 by Gary Menten, on Flickr
Before Shot

Dissatisfied, I decided to try the simple syrup technique on all her hair and find a better solution for the bow.  First, I wet all of the head sculpt's hair with tap water and dried off most of the excess. Then I carefully styled it all in place using a modellers paint brush...a #1, I think and the syrup.  This took longer than you might think, because of the bangs.  Next, while still wet but partially dry, I used a cocktail pick to puff up the hair where I want it it puffed up a bit, and finally let it dry over night.  

20190604_0003 by Gary  Menten, on Flickr
After

The next morning I made a new bow and after trying to fix it using thinner wire than before, basically decided to try something novel; sew it directly to her hair.  Since her locks were now fixed as if they'd been hair sprayed, this turned out to be a practical solution and I simply ran a red thread three o four times over the center of the bow and beneath a lock of hair that ran parallel to the long axis of the bow, and tying it off.  I used a bit more simple syrup to fix the hair around the bow, and this had an unintended by beneficial effect on the bow in that it was puffed up at the time and served to soak up the syrup to the point of saturation.  I only noticed this later when I noticed that the bow had dried as nice and stiffly puffed up as though someone had starched it into shape.  

20190604_0004 by Gary  Menten, on Flickr
After

For those who are wondering, you cannot of course use actual hair spray on wig hair and almost certainly not doll or action figure hair, which like most wig hair, is synthetic.  It might be possible to use wig spray, but I'd be afraid of what it might do to the head sculpt.  To boot, it probably would not have left me sufficient time to shape the hair like I wanted to and would be a bigger pain to clean up.  The dilute syrup works well, I think.  But judge for yourselves.  

20190604_0005 by Gary  Menten, on Flickr
After

As a final part of the makeover, I decided to switch out Kamiko's sports bra for the high-collared T-shirt and immediately loved the effect  It's almost a turtleneck and to boot, it helps to camouflage what I find are this figures worst feature, the bony shoulders.  The bra does look wonderful on my new S28A figure with it's meatier and more rounded shoulders and since I'm keeping that one on, I figured that Kamiko could try wearing a T-shirt for now.  Personally, I really like the whole makeover, but as always, your comments and or critiques are welcome.  

20190604_0006 by Gary  Menten, on Flickr
After

The syrup solution seems to work very well. And the new T-shirt look does make her appear like she means business even more so than before.

GubernatorFan wrote:The syrup solution seems to work very well. And the new T-shirt look does make her appear like she means business even more so than before.

It seems, paradoxically enough, both cute and menacing at the same time. I wonder perhaps if I should put a rank insignia on the collar?

That's a brilliant solution, and seems to have worked very well. It'll be interesting to see how it holds up over time. I wonder how effective this technique would be for people that live in hotter climes like the southern part of the US where it's either hot and dry, or hot and humid.

Stryker2011 wrote:That's a brilliant solution, and seems to have worked very well. It'll be interesting to see how it holds up over time. I wonder how effective this technique would be for people that live in hotter climes like the southern part of the US where it's either hot and dry, or hot and humid.

The before and after photos speak for themselves.  If your degree of dilution is right, it should hold up fairly well unless it gets pretty wet.  But if it does, you can apply it again.  

A number of the head sculpts come with their hair fixed in place to begin with, including the one I currently have on my S28 figure.  I wonder if this is the same formula they use to fix it?

Nice solutions, to both the hair and the shoulder issues. I think her new top looks great!

And how interesting that you came up with the sewing idea as well... that is also how I eventually figured out how to keep the 'braided' hair on my recent Padme figure in place. I used mohair/lambs wool on that one, so I was able to just put a clear hair gel in it to smooth the flyaways down, but in order to hold the actual shape of the ponytail it needed something stronger. Even the tiniest hairbands were too thick, and the wire I'd been trying to use was not cooperating. So, sewing it was.  It's so neat when 'convergent innovation' happens like that.

skywalkersaga wrote:Nice solutions, to both the hair and the shoulder issues. I think her new top looks great!

And how interesting that you came up with the sewing idea as well... that is also how I eventually figured out how to keep the 'braided' hair on my recent Padme figure in place. I used mohair/lambs wool on that one, so I was able to just put a clear hair gel in it to smooth the flyaways down, but in order to hold the actual shape of the ponytail it needed something stronger. Even the tiniest hairbands were too thick, and the wire I'd been trying to use was not cooperating. So, sewing it was.  It's so neat when 'convergent innovation' happens like that.

I've since added a British style rank pip to the collar, STNG style. I will probably add another if I can find the others.

That worked out really well! Also she looks much better with the shirt, I think there can be something like oversaturation with skin revealing skimpy outfits. She now looks like a 60's or 70's East Asian communist freedom fighter...maybe from a James Bond movie.

Ovy wrote:That worked out really well! Also she looks much better with the shirt, I think there can be something like oversaturation with skin revealing skimpy outfits. She now looks like a 60's or 70's East Asian communist freedom fighter...maybe from a James Bond movie.

Well, Well, Kamiko definitely has a retro bent, but Japanese-American in my narrative and she's a 21st Century person.

skywalkersaga wrote:Nice solutions, to both the hair and the shoulder issues. I think her new top looks great!

And how interesting that you came up with the sewing idea as well... that is also how I eventually figured out how to keep the 'braided' hair on my recent Padme figure in place. I used mohair/lambs wool on that one, so I was able to just put a clear hair gel in it to smooth the flyaways down, but in order to hold the actual shape of the ponytail it needed something stronger. Even the tiniest hairbands were too thick, and the wire I'd been trying to use was not cooperating. So, sewing it was.  It's so neat when 'convergent innovation' happens like that.

Interesting possibly, but not especially surprising as we had similar problems and encountered similar difficulties in the trial and error process of sorting it all out.

Stryker2011 wrote:That's a brilliant solution, and seems to have worked very well. It'll be interesting to see how it holds up over time. I wonder how effective this technique would be for people that live in hotter climes like the southern part of the US where it's either hot and dry, or hot and humid.

To add to my previous answer, a bit of experimentation suggests one is much likelier to break up the hair do by constantly handling the hair and putting pressure on it. Consequently, I am getting into the habit of repositioning the head by placing my thumb under the chin and index finger at the very top back of the head, well behind the bow, which seems to disturb it the least.

Pretty neat! All this time I was diluting clear school glue with water, but it came out wrong. I'm gonna try your method:D

MerylAkiba wrote:Pretty neat! All this time I was diluting clear school glue with water, but it came out wrong. I'm gonna try your method:D  

It's a trial and error process. The dilution must not be too thick or too thin, however it should be more watery than not.

I use water to style the hair, but of course, it won't stay long, and is quite useless in the wind when photographing outdoors. I was wondering if head sculpts can be washed, especially after you apply the syrup or whatever stuff, to simulate hair spray and keep the hair in place.

maxman wrote:I use water to style the hair, but of course, it won't stay long, and is quite useless in the wind when photographing outdoors. I was wondering if head sculpts can be washed, especially after you apply the syrup or whatever stuff, to simulate hair spray and keep the hair in place.

If you wash the head sculpt...other than the face, you will wash out the syrup. Every now and again, I wash the hair out with water and apply a new coat of syrup as eventually, things will get out of place.

Sorry if this is necro-ing an old thread, but I am curious as to any damage done? It's been nearly two years since you posted this, is her hair still OK? I would love to do something similar to some of my heads but am worried about whether it will damage the hair in the long run. Just to get it clear, simple water and sugar boiled together? Thanks heaps

Theflyingman wrote:Sorry if this is necro-ing an old thread, but I am curious as to any damage done? It's been nearly two years since you posted this, is her hair still OK? I would love to do something similar to some of my heads but am worried about whether it will damage the hair in the long run. Just to get it clear, simple water and sugar boiled together? Thanks heaps

No damage at all. Note however that with time the bonding comes loose, and that I find it necessary to first clean the hair with just plain water and a paintbrush, then while it's still wet, apply another dilute coating of simple syrup.

Page_1 by Gary Menten, on Flickr

Photo shot very recently

Page_1 by Gary Menten, on Flickr

Another fairly recent photo

Thank you, you're a champion!

I had not seen this! It's a brilliant "solution" to an extremely annoying issue! I have a figure on which I definitely need to try this technique!

Happy to see this topic resurrected!

davidd wrote:I had not seen this! It's a brilliant "solution" to an extremely annoying issue! I have a figure on which I definitely need to try this technique!

Happy to see this topic resurrected!

The key is in the the thickness of the syrup. Do NOT make it too thick. It should be a more like water than syrup.