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My how to attach a baldcap guide.


Guest Sakara

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Ok this is the run down on how ive been shown to attach a bald cap. I've applied i'd say around 8 caps since i started doing Asajj so ive learnt from my mistakes lol I also got some awesome advice from Neil Gorton who is the main makeup artist for the new series of Dr Who and Karl Derrick who has worked on many a blockbuster film!

 

STAGE1 - prepare head

pull hair back away from your face. Put the cap on your head sitting the fine edge where you want the front to sit.. pulling it gently to have it smooth on there. You can now mark around the ears (stay inside ear shape) and back of neck areas where the cap needs to be cut if theres too much of it. use a grey eyeliner pencil as this can be removed if any if left on the cap. remove cap.

Now prepare hair.

 

If you have short hair..bonus, it just involves slicking down your hair flat with gel so you have a nice smooth surface to work with. suggested that the hair about above your ears you smooth up and away from them so you have a clean area around the ears.

 

If you have longer hair, this is when it becomes tricky. Because Asajj has the lovely high neck collar this is useful to hide longer hair. Again slick down the hair smoothing it away from the ears and almost creating a duckass shape at the back ( think back of 1950s greaser boys hair) and pull hair into a tube as if you were going to make a low pony tail. Once dry the hair then hangs down the middle of the back of your neck and will be covered by the bald cap and collar. You can wrap something like cling film around hair near the neck to prevent any glue sticking to the hair. (ive found a product called kryolan-gafquet-hair-flattener that might help instead of hair gel as its drys solid fast but can be washed out with shampoo)

(I also suggest wearing a tight fitted high necked top to wear under the costume top to prevent the hair itching the skin.)

 

I had midlength hair when i wrote this..it was just touching my neck and had long layers. What i did was the most involved lol...but it worked! The night before i'd coat my hair in strong hairgel and use hairclips to section my hair away from my ears and back of neck clipping the hair as flat to my head as possible. Then i'd get a hair net and put that over my head. then i'd get a hairdryer and blast my hair dry so its rock solid. then i'd get extrastrong hairspray and blast that over the hair 'helmet' lol then hairdryer that. After thats done your hair is a helmet. i'd often keep the net and clips in overnight to make sure the hair doesnt come untidy. I'd wear a wig to where ever im going lol...and then i'd have a near perfect base to put my cap on.!

 

Try not to have any clips or anything left in the hair as they show under the cap....i know.lol

 

Next clean face. Use a toner around the area that you will apply cap. Spray on sweatstop or use strong anti perspirant, if you need it. Put moisturiser on skin except on forhead and hairline area where cap will go.

 

STAGE2 - the cap!

there are various cap types, all of which ive used...

latex cap This is the easiest to get hold of caps. Woochie is a well known brand and isnt bad, but from practice i prefer Kryolan as its better made and shaped. You can slightly blend away latex edges with Isopropl Alcohol but not alot. Latex breathes slightly more than plastic caps and is natural.

 

Glatzan /plastic caps These are what i use now. Some dont like to use them because they are made from chemicals over natural latex, but if youve an allergy to latex these are what you use! The glatzan also dissolves really well when you use acetone to blend away the edges. BE CAREFUL! try not to get any acetone on the skin it drys the hell out of it! I prefer glatzan as it seems alot more natural and doesnt wrinkle as much over time, where as i found the latex will overtime no matter how tight you pull it to start. I wore a glatzan cap at C.E and had it on all day without any wrinkling.

 

own made cap You can make your own caps using either liqued latex or cap plastic. You can get head molds for making caps.

pros - you have a cap shaped to your head, you can also dye the liqued red so that is simulates the blood in your own skintone and have no need for coloured pax....more of that later.

Cons - it takes ages to make a cap, caps take about 8 layers to make and if you screw up you wasted alot of glatzan plastic.

 

 

STAGE 3 - applying cap

now that you have a good base to work on you can apply the cap. Use Prosaide glue. Its pricy but a little goes along way and boy does it hold the cap. its also needed to make 'pax' , more of that in a minute.

1 -Apply a thin layer of Prosaide to your forehead where the cap edge will sit and above almost to the hairline. let it dry till its tacky. Apply a little Prosaide to the inner edge of the cap, let dry. Now carefully place front of cap where you want it to sit and press it down onto the glued area of your skin, smoothing the surface flat to prevent any wrinkles.

2- Once dry, gently but firmly pull the cap over the head stretching the cap slightly from where its glued on the front to the back of the neck. If you have no hair here, apply glue to the neck and let dry. If you have hair hair apply glue carefully each side of the hair on the back of the neck. Tilt head forward slightly and press cap to glued skin, smoothing out wrinkles. If you have long hair this will be hanging out the back of the cap and down you back.

3- Then go to one side of head.Pull the cap so there are no wrinkles on top of the head and glue down the front side of cap to where the ear starts and then glue the cap round the back of the ear. Now you have a covered ear and need to cut the cap away. CAREFULLY!!! Cut using a very sharp tiny pair of scissors like nail scissors cut where you have drawn, staying inside the lines. As the cap has been stretched this means that you wont cut too much away. If you need to you can always cut away more. Now you have the cap cut tightly around the ear, lift cap so its sitting behind the ear and carefully glue it down. Repeat for other side.

 

STAGE 4 - tidy

Now you use which ever dissolver you have for your cap and gently rub using a cotton bud over any thick edges. With glatzan you do this carefully as the acetone will dissolve it quite easily and you dont want any holes to appear! You can also use a little prosaide on a brush to blend the edges.

 

STAGE 5 - prepare for painting

Now you get some PAX. pax is Prosaide mixed with a little red acrylic ( Liquitex Basics is the best for this, but a child safe acrylic will work too as it's skin safe. Many artists acrylics can contain nasty stuff for the skin) usually ratio 1-1, but sometimes a little more glue to paint is good.

You stipple this over the bald cap after you've applied it. stipple with a chunky sponge and itl create a nice uneven matt surface on the cap ( human skin isnt nice and shiny as a cap) Also the red shade mimics the blood under our own skin so that when the makeup dries it'll look the same shade on the cap as it does on your skin. Only stipple pax on the cap, not on your skin. let the pax dry then you can apply makeup how ever you intend to do that.

 

 

REMOVAL.

Use Prosoff Remover for Prosaide or any prosthetic glue remover, . this is very gentle remover that will take off the prosaide without irritating the skin. also most oily body butters or face creams will work too, slower but be kind to the skin and put back some of the moisture taken but the paints

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Great job!!!

 

A lot more descriptive than the one i use for mine: wake up, look in mirror, make sure bald spot shines, trim unwanted/last hope remaining head fuzz.

 

Can I make a PDF out of it? I will put credits in whatever context you want.

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yeah go for it!

 

hehe i had a nightmare a few night ago where my hair fell out. I said to my partner..well if it happened it make doing Asajj so much easier :lol:

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Guest Anonymous
hehe i had a nightmare a few night ago where my hair fell out. I said to my partner..well if it happened it make doing Asajj so much easier :lol:

That's the spirit!!! As a side note, I just can't imagine the bald cap on my head. My hair is so friggin' thick and there's so MUCH of it, I just don't understand how it would possibly work with my particular hair under it. It's actually the same worry that I have about doing lekku...

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Guest Anonymous

I have hair past my waist in a braid & for some reason I love doin' bald characters!!! (Don't know why I didn't do Assajj... :roll: )

I just put my hair in a braid, as usual, but I'll put gel or somethin' on the top to keep it slicked down & prevent fly aways. Then just put the braid down the back of the outfit...

I've actually had people ask me if I'd cut my hair!!! :shock::lol::lol::lol:

 

I'm dying to try the Glatzen cap & the pax red stipling. :wink::twisted:

I've always used latex caps & I just can't get the damn forehead seam to go away.... :evil:

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Guest Anonymous
I have hair past my waist in a braid & for some reason I love doin' bald characters!!! I just put my hair in a braid, as usual, but I'll put gel or somethin' on the top to keep it slicked down & prevent fly aways. Then just put the braid down the back of the outfit...

Really??? Then maybe there's hope for me yet!! :wink:

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If and when i next do Asajj ill try and get step by step photos.....but as it is i have none at the moment....

 

here are some tutorials with pics that are pretty good

http://www.michaeldavy.com/downloads/Water-Melon%20bald%20cap%20application%20how%20to%20BW.pdf

 

http://llwyd.tripod.com/demos/baldcap.htm

 

dont know if might be useful for some...but this place holds classes!

http://www.makeupmania.com/Details/CL-5000-01-305B.cfm

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Guest Anonymous

Hello, I was directed here by members of my local Garrison.

 

I have an odd predicament - I'm making a Shaak Ti, and ignoring the headache of building the head appliance, I've run into an issue - I have a tiny forehead. I've figured out that with careful braiding and styling I can hide my hair (which goes past my rear) in the montrals/headtails, but I'd need to apply a bald cap of some sort to raise my hairline enough to do the markings and such. Is there any way that's possible? I'm doing a variant of her Force Unleashed outfit, so hiding it down the back of the costume isn't an option.

 

If all else fails, I suppose I could just build a latex extension on the front of the piece, but I've had terrible experiences re-using appliances (what with the latex and make-up build up, not to mention the sweat and reduced adhesion) in the past.

 

This is a excellent tutorial though, and it's awesome to read that it is possible to do bald characters even for those of us who can't rock the short-haired look. A Ventress build might just be in the future for me now....

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Guest Sakara

Hi do you mean having the hair come out of a hole from the bald cap?..sadly this wont work as the bald cap would tear..as it needs to be taut..If you can coil the hair up on your hair..you can get large caps that might fit over your head and hair

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Guest Sakara

That i dont know, but i do believe Fardel do various cap sizes so could enquire with them. Normally good makeup supply shops will sell various sized caps too.

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Guest Sakara

Just avoid those that are for fancy dress.

 

i found latex caps in various sizes for you...i prefer to use glatzan, but others prefer latex..its trial and error really and personal preference.

 

http://www.makeupmania.com/Details/IA-0126-01-000.cfm

 

Kryolan Large cap again latex...

http://www.fxwarehouse.info/mm5/merchan ... gory_Code=

 

This cap brand looks promising..says it has a strong top that can flatten thick hair....maybe worth a shot although it is expensive...

http://www.fxwarehouse.info/mm5/merchan ... gory_Code=

 

another xlarge cap -

http://www.mallatts.com/commerce/produc ... 9&catId=91

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Guest Sakara

Sadly single use each time....with the makeup on top and the edges being damaged theyre no good after theyve been removed.

 

You could always make your own using the liqued latex or glatzan and a baldcap head, sometimes called a red head...as theyre plastic red heads! but these come as one size. You could get a lifecast of your head (wearing a baldcap) so that youd have a perfect mold of your head to make new caps.

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Guest Anonymous

Hmmm.... Could you link a tutorial on making them yourself? (I'm already making a plaster mold of my head - might as well use it as much as I can).

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Guest Sakara

Youd need to seal the plaster of the head somehow to make it smooth enough for the cap plastic or latex to just peel off after.

 

ill see if i can write up a tutorial as i was shown how to make one by a tv makeup artist. but simple version is -

outline shape of cap on headmold. use a baldcap on own head to do this..

paint thin layer over headmold completly, going over outline slightly

after thats dry, paint next layer going in slightly on outline

repeat as above slowly going inwards from outline.

you need at least 8 layers

if you want a thick crown to cap youl need at least 12 layers.

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Hi do you mean having the hair come out of a hole from the bald cap?..sadly this wont work as the bald cap would tear..as it needs to be taut..If you can coil the hair up on your hair..you can get large caps that might fit over your head and hair

 

Bwahahaha! Scott and I figured out the trick to doing this! It took some careful cutting, some frustrated mutterings that I won't repeat here, and.... tape!

 

I needed my hair to be coming out the center back of the bald cap, so I pulled it into a very tight ponytail at the back of my head, and loosely braided it. Then we pulled on the bald cap, measured where the ponytail was located, and cut a small hole. Scott then carefully began pulling my hair through the hole. It began to tear, as expected, so we tried to reinforce the area with pieces of tape. It worked! Granted, this would only work for bald caps which would have that area covered, either by a headpiece or by something like the wrappings around Aurra Sing's ponytail, since the tape does show as a shiny border around the hole. (Though I wonder if it could be placed on the inside....) We didn't put the tape on until the ponytail had been pulled through and the first bits of tear had developed, so I'm wondering if it would help to reinforce the area around the hole BEFORE beginning to stress it by pulling the hair through. That will have to be an experiment for another day. Goodness knows there will always be more projects down the line....

 

Genius that I am, I didn't even think to take any pictures of the ponytail in the back, but here's the front view, anyway, to show that you can still pull the cap nice and tight with a hole cut in it, as long as the hole is reinforced. If I try this again, I'll take pictures of the back.

 

 

PamBaldCap.jpg

 

 

It's always interesting to find out how you would look bald....

 

BaldPam.jpg

 

(There was a day when I would have been mortified to share something like this. Now? Eh, whatever... here I am bald, everyone!)

 

 

Pam :-)

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Gorgeous application there Pam, and good to know with a little fiddling that a pony tail through a bald cap would work!...tricky as hell but doable!

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