Braided doll wigs, legend of the "Kristy-Jo" wig

 One of the dolls that I gave away to family was a Lenora who wears the "Kristy-Jo" Monique wig.

Example of the "Kristy-Jo" wig

 

This wig was something that I purchased and it was already braided and decorated with colorful Pony beads.  The braiding was flawless and the wig was very nice, but I kept wondering about the labor behind the process.

It was bothersome to me that I had paid money for a wig that I could have braided myself, and furthermore it became difficult to locate another "Kristy-Jo" style of wig that came in size 14, which is the size that My Twinn 23 dolls like to wear.

So, only a few days after I was laid up with a broken foot, I set about on the project of braiding my own doll wig.  If you go at a pace like me, don't expect for the finished result to happen in 1 day.  I believe it took 4 days for me to completely braid the brown wig with colorful Pony beads added.  Also the size of my braids were not nearly as uniform and straight as the "Kristy-Jo" example, but I was still happy with the result. 

braided brown wig with colorful Pony beads


After that was done, my foot was still broken, and I considered the first one to be practice, so I took a very, very long black wig to start with, that was nearly unmanageable because of the length of the hair.  This time I wanted to use mini Pony beads, in matte black.  And I set about micro-braiding the black wig with the black mini Pony beads.  

black wig braided with mini Pony beads
 

This probably took 7-8 days, as I would maybe complete 4-5 rows in a sitting and then take a break.  

Start by gathering a small amount of hair and thoroughly pull it away from the other strands.  Brush it to remove tangles, and then start braiding.  It helps to try to keep a tight braid near the scalp, then work your way down.  Once you've gone as far as you can go, stop and get a bead ready.  The strategy that worked for me was to slide the bead up the braid, after the braid was done.  Getting the bead on will be tough if you gathered too much hair to begin with, but you'll figure out how much hair to gather for the bead size, in no time.  

I usually managed to get the bead on by folding the tip of the hair in half, and then pushing the folded end through the bead hole.  This will lead to frazzled tips on the hair but you'll probably going to want to trim the ends with scissors when the whole wig is finished.

Check out the 2 wigs I braided, and if you feel inspired, try to create your own!

Two braided wigs

Wendi face mold, wearing the brown wig


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