How to dye a synthetic wig with Sharpie

Hey EpicCosplay fans!
We recently posted up a video on our Youtube account going over the steps about how to color one of our wigs with sharpies! We’ve posted it below but figured we would write up a blog post that goes over the steps on how to sharpie dye one of our wigs! This is a really easy method that we found works wonderfully with our wigs and we decided to write up a quick blog post to cover these short and easy steps in case you wanted to read up on how to change up the styles of your wigs!

Check out the video below or read on to look at the steps you need to take!

You will need a few materials to use this method to color your wigs. They are as follows.
1. White or light colored wig that is compatible with this method. All of our EpicCosplay wigs are dyeable with this method but some wig fibers cannot handle rubbing alcohol or sharpie ink. If you are unsure if your wig can or cannot go through this method you should send an inquiry to whom you purchased it from. This method will not work on darker wigs because there is no way to dye them lighter.
2. Sharpies in the color you want to dye your wig. The more sharpies that you have the more vibrant the color will be. 5 sharpies should be enough to get a very vibrant color.
3. 70% Rubbing Alcohol in 32 ounces. You may need more or less depending on the length of your wig.
4. Empty plastic Bottle
5. Scissors or an exacto knife
6. Pliers
7. Bucket or spray bottle.
8. Large Plastic Tarp or some plastic bags.
9. Latex Gloves

Take your rubbing alcohol pour half of the amount into the empty plastic bottle. You will be using the plastic bottle to start mixing your dye.
Take your sharpies and uncap them. Use the plies to pull the sharpie apart (it will come apart at the colored section and the grey tube). Pull out the inkwell and use scissors or an exacto knife to split the inkwell in half down the length of the tube. If you are using scissors, try to cut the inkwell over the mouth of the bottle so that any ink that drips off will drip into the bottle. After you cut the inkwell in half, drop both halves into the bottle. Repeat this step with all the sharpies you want and need. The more inkwells you deposit into the rubbing alcohol the darker and more vibrant the color will be.
After you’ve deposited all the inkwells into the rubbing alcohol cap your bottle and shake it hard. Let it sit for about five or ten minutes then go back and shake it again. Pour the rest of your rubbing alcohol into that bottle and give it a few more shakes to mix it all together. Now you’ve got your dye!

Before you apply the dye to your wig you should test the color to make sure it’s the color you want. Sometimes looks are deceiving and the color you see in the bottle is not the color that will appear on a wig (I had split some pink sharpies to make a dye and the dye looked orange in the bottle but was pink on the wig). The best way to do this is to take a little piece of your wig and spray or dip it in the dye. If you are satisfied with the color you can go ahead and keep going. If it’s too light or too dark you can adjust the color by adding more ink wells or more rubbing alcohol to strengthen or dilute the color.

After you are satisfied with the color you can go ahead and start coloring your wig. Note, make SURE to do this in a well ventilated area. Rubbing alcohol fumes can be quite strong and you will want to make sure that the area you’re working in has good airflow.
If you’re looking to dye the wig one color you can pour your dye into bucket or some kind of small tub and soak the wig in the solution. The longer you soak the wig the more vibrant the wig color will be.

If you are wanting to do highlights and lowlights you will want to pour your dye into a spray bottle and hand pick out sections of your wig that you want to color and spray them down individually.

Once you are done with applying your dye you will want to set your wig down onto the tarp or the plastic bags to dry. Setting it down allows the dye to dry. If you hang up the wig to dry the dye will drip down and not color the wig properly.

Once your wig is dry you will want to rinse it out till the water runs clear. This ensures that your color won’t bleed or your cosplays when you’re wearing it. After it dries from your gentle washing you can brush it out and style it the way you want to!

That’s it for our sharpie coloring tutorial! If you have any questions feel free to email us at or post on our facebook page here!

Some you might already know I sold wigs in the past and most were Premium fiber. I get asked religiously if the wigs can bleach and dye? To my knowledge the wigs can dye but not bleach.

Just to point out Synthetic (cosplay) wigs I’ll never recommend tp anyone don’t waste your money. As you know by now I wear a lot wigs and there all premium fiber wigs (20% human 80% synthetic can take up to 400 degrees). 

I’ve run some tests on the wigs and well I’ve realized I can dye the wigs 5 ways and that’s what I’m going to share with you today.

I recommend the color blonde (613) it’s the easiest  to change color. Please stay away from white clothing when doing any of these because your clothing will mess up big time. You have been warned.

For the first way products I use to die a synthetic wig is: 

1. Eyeshadows 

I bet y’all didn’t know this, I learned this from itsmyrayeraye back when YouTube was creative and fun not generic like it is right now. Anyways, Yes you can use your old eyeshadow palette that’s maybe couple years old and gentle twirl the hair in the eyeshadow pans until you see the curl of your desire.

I mostly did this to my black (#2 – #4) wigs because the colors come out better than doing it with a blonde wig (#27, #30 & #613). The eyeshadow will only last for the day.

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2. Lipstick 

Don’t be so surprised it’s almost the same way you use the eyeshadow but this way is time consuming. I personal prefer the creme stick lipstick, some use the lipstick palettes, the sticks are easier to twirl up on but also easy to break if you wrap the hair too tight. I don’t recommend doing your full hair just apply it on streaks or the ends. 

I’ll stay away from liquid lipsticks there too messy. Lip stains can be used because it will stay on the hair a little longer than the rest of lip products. 

My favorites are red and purple lipsticks they show way better on both black and blonde hair.

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3. Permanent Maker (preferably a sharpie)

I am sure you know this one. Permanent markers have proof to be the second best result with dying blonde (#613) premium fiber wigs. Now I’m going to share how to dye synthetic wigs with sharpie permanent marker it’s pretty easy.

Products you’ll need:

• • Of course a blonde wig
  • Most definitely the 3-6 markers
  • Conditioner
  • Pot & water

Instructions to get it done:

• • Start boiling the water on the stove for 10-15 minutes
  • Get the sharpie burst the marker open until you see the ink stick.
  • Take out the ink stick remove the coat on it.
  • Place the naked ink stick inside the boiling water.
  • Wait until the water changes color then you add the wig.
  • You can turn off the stove if you wish but I prefer the pot boiling.
  • I go ahead and add conditioner to the water you can do it after the wig absorbs the color.
  • Once the color is properly absorbed you can take the wig out of the water and let it dry.
  • Once dry style as usually.

Bare in mind the color of the wig may not come out rich as how the marker will be when writing on a piece of paper. You’ll get more of pastel colored wig.

4. Real human hair dye 

There’s multiple dyes out there the temporary and the permanent ones. Here’s the funny part about this I never thought this could work because its a synthetic wig and the dye is for human hair. Well to my surprised this bad boy did the job on my curly blonde wig. I have instagram posts too ha! 

So all I did was put my wig on a plastic bag and spray the temporary dye on it and boom it stayed on for the day. No mess up maybe on my hands but it could easily wash off . I wouldn’t recommend wearing a color shirt when doing the because the wig may mess it up being rubbing against your neck.

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Hello Kitty #nailsby @_tashinailzworld ??

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5. Clothes dye 

The clothes dye gives the best results and it stays for couple weeks depending on how often you wear the wig. The same way the permanent marker method is done to get results you can use it for the clothes dye. OR you can simply mix the clothes dye with conditioner and place it on the hair. You don’t need to use any conditioner if you don’t wish to. I use the conditioner to get the to not be stiff, crunchy and all dried out. I prefer the wig with suitable fragrance and bit soft and pastel looking color.

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Additionally, can synthetic wigs be dyed? some persons mention using tea bag, coffee and kool aid I’ve never receive good results using those on synthetic hair only on human hair/wigs

What other ways have you dyed your synthetic wigs?