My favourite wig brand? And Why?

Over the last five years, I have purchased many wigs from a number of different brands and have made some expensive mistakes. I have bought wigs which have looked completely natural and I have bought wigs which bore no resemblance to the seller’s website photograph whatsoever but more of that later.  For now let me talk you through some of my all time favourite brands . . .

Favourite Wig Brands:

I love the Ellen Wille range of wigs. They are realistic and have a range of colours which are so sophisticated; you will look like you have just left the salon. Wigs prices start from as little as £80. My most expensive from this range was £199 which was the Code Mono. It was one of my most comfortable of wigs and after a little trim, I wore it for special occasions. However, it did suffer from the dreaded ‘collar rub’ so didn’t last as long as my shorter styles.

I recently bought a Raquel Welch UK Collection wig called Upstage. This has a lace front and mono parting. It is expensive – it cost £450. I intend to use this for occasional wear as I want it to last as long as possible. I will buy it again though as I have my renewal ceremony coming up in October so this would be the ideal occasion to wear this. The quality of this wig is amazing however you don’t need to spend this amount of money for a good quality, realistic looking wig and like I say, this would be an occasional purchase for me.

In my opinion, the Rene of Paris range is my favourite. Rene of Paris is the umbrella term and includes the Amore and Noriko collections. The quality and design of these wigs are outstanding. They have a vast range of colours which contain highlights, lowlights, rooted (where the roots look like re-growth of your own hair) and they come with standard wefted caps, monofilament partings and/or lace fronts.

My first wig from this range was the Rene of Paris, Tori wig, which has a wefted cap so doesn’t have the monofilament part. For a longer style, I also like the Jackson wig from Noriko. Both of these contain perma-tease which gives volume to crown area and stops it from becoming lank and lifeless. Some people don’t mind this but I find they can look ‘wiggy’. These are the least expensive pieces, usually just under £100. For me, they are a good introduction to wigs and the styles are such that you can wear them out of the box.

My all-time favourite has to be the Codi from the Amore collection. I tend to go for the colour Toasted Brown which has natural copper tones on a medium brown base. The Codi is a straight bob with a double monofilament top so you can part it anywhere and it looks like your own scalp! I can wear this out of the box if I want to but will generally cut a blunt fringe into it. This faily expensive piece, at £194, but it is worth it. Mine can typically last up to 12 months. I wash this wig once a week with synthetic wig shampoo and then condition. Leave it to dry and it’s ready to go.

If ever I could give advice to anyone just starting out, I would say be very aware of websites which are selling top brand wigs for very low prices. I did this once. I bought a ‘Tori’ wig for about £35. I thought it was a bargain. I waited and waited and after three weeks, it arrived. It was packed in a plastic bag and had come from China. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. It was a dreadful, poor quality piece of fibre and had one side shorter than the other. I contacted them for a refund and they offered me £10 and because our laws don’t apply there, I could not seek full redress. If you come across these sites, don’t be tempted. It is not worth it. The big give away which I now know, is when you look at their section on delivery. It states that it will take around 21 days to hand make your wig and then there is approximately 7 days for delivery from China to the UK.