Lets liberate ourselves from grossly expensive shaitels

ElTam

Fri, Nov 28 2014, 3:37 pm

I am not a wrapunzel employee or affiliated with them in any way. I have always had cheaper sheitals (higher-end synthetics or mixed) and hated how they looked on me. After more than 10 years of hating covering my hair, I saved for a year and a half and bought a nice human hair sheital for a good deal of money. And I hate how it looks on. I feel like I flushed the money down the toilet. I never had bangs and I always had my hair sort of up and off my face. Almost impossible to achieve in a sheital without showing your real hair which I am not going to do. (Tried a band fall too. Looked horrible and hurt like the dickens.)

I discovered wrapunzel and I'm finally happy with how I look as I have learned a few simple wrap techniques. I also bargain hunted some gorgeous brooches this summer to jazz my look up. The most I paid was $1. I wear it every day to work and it's not a problem. (I know it wouldn't be cool in every work environment but I think in many, the holdup is in our own heads. I mean, would a Muslima not wear a hijab in the same job as you?)

If you are happy with your sheital, great! But I'm so grateful for this fantastic resource for those of us who aren't.

Last edited by ElTam on Mon, Dec 01 2014, 2:03 pm; edited 1 time in total

33055

Fri, Nov 28 2014, 4:08 pm

Raisin wrote:

sounds awesome. Maybe you could set up a website with these various techniques and add to it as you find even better ones.

In looking to find out how to make dull to average hair look amazing, I have come across techniques to fix other problems with sheitals. Your idea is a good one for someone.

monseychick

Fri, Nov 28 2014, 4:23 pm

Barbara, Frumdoc, Shabbat,and others lets have a flip your sheitl day. Just wear a hat to shul .. If its possible to be melamed zchus on communities that cover up for child molesters and commit all sorts of fraud and white collar crime.. Be melamed zchus on us too.....

Shabbat Shalom everyone

shabbatiscoming

Sat, Nov 29 2014, 3:09 pm

monseychick wrote:

Huh? I really dont get your post. Sorry. (also, barbara and frumdoc have not replied before your post, so Im really not sure what you are talkinga bout)

Sanguine

Sat, Nov 29 2014, 5:05 pm

This thread is for me. I've always covered my hair with mitpachot, berets, maybe a hat for shul... I never owned a wig (I would never use the word Shaitel in my life). So a few years ago my sister who does wear wigs sometimes gave me one that she was tired of and told me I better not put it in my Purim box since it was a good one.

At the beginning of the summer I got tired of all the shmattas I wear and decided to try on her wig. It gave me a nice feeling how I looked. So I dyed it to match my hair. Then I dyed my hair to match the wig (I never dyed my hair before but the wig didn't match my graying hair - the wig gave me the push to dye my hair since it was time I did).

Now I love this wig. It's a really good (expensive) wig. Real hair. Shoulder length. And it looks just like my hair. Everyone who sees it for the first time does a double take cause they think I stopped covering my hair at first sight.

But I didn't pay for it so I just treat it like my own hair. Once a week I wear it in the shower and shampoo it (my own hair I do more often). I just brush it and wear it to dry. I've worn it to a maayan. To the beach. Everywhere.

So I'm not someone who has to buy an expensive Sheitel - Yes, I got one as a hand me down but if I hadn't I never ever would have gotten one. I don't want it to look fancy. It's thick with a drop of a wave which is nice cause my own hair is thin and straight straight.

So I wouldn't feel a need for an expensive shaitel like this thread says, but for me, I only love this one and if it wasn't expensive I wouldn't.

Also, I would never wear a Wrapunzel. I only wore those mitpachot that comes with the elastic. Never anything fancy.

Dolly Welsh

Sat, Nov 29 2014, 7:11 pm

DrMom wrote:

Maybe you can convince a sheitel-wearer to forgo a very expensive custom real hair sheitel in lieu of a less pricey synthetic (Dolly can give tips on this), but women who, like shabbatiscoming said, wear sheitels for reasons of hashkafa or minhag aren't going to drastically change their look and give them up to wear a colorful printed scarf.

I agree. It is perfectly possible to look fine in a carefully chosen synthetic. They can be trimmed. The hair is amazingly realistic. You do need to wash them with shampoo made especially for synthetic wigs, but that's not hard or expensive.

The idea is to have a lot of them, which is not expensive.

To each her own.

Dolly Welsh

Sat, Nov 29 2014, 8:10 pm

A woman could transition out gradually.

While wearing her usual human-hair wig, she could shop at her leisure for a synthetic that was similar to it. She could wear the synthetic now and then, to see what people said and how it worked for her.

Then later, when the human hair one finally needed replacing, instead of getting another human hair one, she could wear only the synthetic.

When you decide on a synthetic that is good for you, it is very useful to get about five of that exact one. They are sometimes discontinued permanently, which can be upsetting if you want more of the same one and it's not available.

causemommysaid

Sat, Nov 29 2014, 8:24 pm

I'm going to keep my human hair wigs that make me look pretty and normal like everyone else in the world.

I am not going to wrap a huge piece of cloth around my head or buy a $20 wig made of plastic.

Thanks anyway.

(I don't know why wigs are so expensive. that is a completely different topic. I suspect it's because they have a monopoly and know that we have no choice just like with all religious artifacts but that is a thread for a different time.)

Dolly Welsh

Sat, Nov 29 2014, 8:28 pm

No, they are expensive because it takes three heads-full of human hair to make one wig.

And because human hair only grows six inches a year.

And because constructing them is complicated and difficult.

You can't judge synthetics by the party wigs you saw in a store window.

A human hair wig will always be better than a synthetic the same way a Lamborghini is better than a Lincoln, but not everybody has to have a Lamborghini, and you can do fine with a Lincoln. To each her own.

There is no sin in wearing polyester and lots of us do, although silk is undeniably a superior fiber. There is a place for nice but medium-level clothes, and wigs are clothes.

I have had some dagger looks from women wearing human hair ones who were entirely bemused by how good I looked in my synthetic. Which were more sixty dollars from China, but they can also be $75 or even $200. They knew how little I had spent and they could see how good I looked.

Last edited by Dolly Welsh on Sat, Nov 29 2014, 8:34 pm; edited 1 time in total

33055

Sat, Nov 29 2014, 8:37 pm

Dolly Welsh wrote:

Dolly,

There are huge markups on human hair wigs. I have been privileged to be able to buy some at cost and they were 1/4 to 1/3 of the price charged by my sheital macher. I also know some importers of human hair and they were around $50 a head.

Dolly Welsh

Sat, Nov 29 2014, 8:51 pm

The minimal markup on all merchandise is to double the wholesale cost. You can't stay in business at all if you don't double your cost.

Often it's more than double, to allow for promotion. The extra in theory goes for promotion.

That this mark-up is even more is because the product moves slower than most. That is because it has only a small, specialized market. Yes a lot are sold, but the market for any particular color and length isn't large.

To each her own.

causemommysaid

Sat, Nov 29 2014, 9:16 pm

Dolly Welsh wrote:

A human hair wig will always be better than a synthetic the same way a Lamborghini is better than a Lincoln, but not everybody has to have a Lamborghini, and you can do fine with a Lincoln. To each her own.

sorry but when we are talking about my head I will go with the Lamborghini.

besides synthetics are not Lincolns.

they are more like 1985 oldsmobiles.

33055

Sat, Nov 29 2014, 9:20 pm

Dolly Welsh wrote:

I got my wholesale sheitals for a little over $200. I paid around $1000 for them from the sheital macher working out of her home who had the pieces sent to get for approval. In other words if I didn't take them, she didn't have to pay for them.

Many things having to do with sheitals are out of line. We pay a frum tax for doing business with other frum people.

Why does the very same drying stand cost $12 in the frum store and $2 in the Dominican wig store? There are similar markups with wig heads also.

Why are the haircuts for the wigs so expensive? I never knew of a sheital macher purchasing a new sheital for a client if they are not happy with the cut. Why does it cost $45 for a wash and set?

The shame is that many frum ladies never learnt to do hair so they are dependent on their sheital macher.