Make your own hair halo

shera

Hi. I'm part of the March 2012 chemo thread -- and I'm sharing how I made a hair halo from my own hair. There are probably better ways (I'm sure!) -- my approach was a bit ghetto, but it looks like my hair when I'm wearing my hat. I'm mainly wearing hats and a few turbans through chemo, no wig, so it's nice to have something like this to throw on when I want to go out not looking obvious.

This is the end result:

 

Supplies used:

- 2 inch wide elastic strip

- 2 inch wide duct tape

- rubber cement (or other glue that dries flexible, not hard)

- thin monofilament jewelry or fishing cord

- wide-eyed sewing needle

- velcro dots*

 

 

 

*The hat pictured has halo sewn into the hat. 

 

I've made two halo strips, the second is the one pictured below - which will be interchangeable with different hats, using velcro dots. 

 

Directions: 

1. As I cut my hair, I saved sections into clips

2. Measure and cut the length of the elastic strip -- mine was cut 9 inches long to curve from ear-to-ear. 

3. Use duct tape and rubber cement to adhere sections of hair together in bunches. Lie ends of the hair on the sticky side of the duct tape, add a little (not too much) rubber cement to the center of the hair on the tape so it soaks through the hair. Let glue dry. Then fold the duct tape around the hair section. 

 

 

4. With the monofilament cord, sew/attach the hair section on to the elastic strip. Keep in mind: the side of the elastic strip that you are attaching the duct tape sections too - will be the side facing OUT - therefore not touching your head. So tie the threaded knots on the duct-tape side. You want to keep the side that will be touching your head as smooth as possible. 

Above side will not touch your head, will be against the hat. Below side will touch your head. (I ended up covering this with duct-tape for more comfort.

The first time I tried this - I didn't use a stretchy material and I couldn't get the hat on. This is why I attached separate duct-taped sections... to leave room for some stretch, shown below.

 

5. For extra security, you can add more rubber cement along the edge where the hair is poking out from the tape. Make sure to do this on the side of the hair that will be facing in.

 

6. 

- You can attach the strip semi-permanently to the hat by sewing it on (images below)

or 

- you can sew the velcro dots to the side of the halo that will face the hat (not your head). Use the scratchier dots for the halo. Attach the softer dots to the insides of a few hats. I do not have images for this --  work is still in process.  

 

As you can see--- I added another layer of duct-tape to cover the elastic because it's more comfortable against my head. 

 

Please share your ideas! I am not much of a sewer, which is why I was using art supplies, mainly. But... end result... it worked.

  

onvacation

Great!  I will have to try this!

apple

WOW WOW WOW

you are so very clever.  WHat a fantastic idea and you did a great job.

Can you switch the strip of hair to different hats.. did you save enough hair to make another one?  I am so impressed.

apple

tho it probably wouldn't be worth the time or trouble you could make a little business. just offering seminars.. how to make this.

Marple

What a neat idea.  You are very talented shera.  I was thinking that for those who have shorter hair one could ask their hairdresser for longer pieces.

shera

Thanks everyone. Id love to see how yours come out. Can you tell I was an art teacher? (for 15 years.. making this thread was fun)



Apple - yes I made two halos. One is sewn into that hat, the other, I plan to sew Velcro dots on one side-- and then sew the softer Velcro dots inside a few hats. I can post more picts when I finish with second halo.



Sharon - true! I had enough hair for two... but I've had friends offer theirs... anyone cutting off 2-4 inches could donate.



I think it would be cool to have one with strips of all my friends hair... red, blond, brown, black.... might look really cool, or very odd... but odd feels like the new now!

christina0001

Wow, that is impressive!

elimar86861

Love your art-teacher, do-it-yourself style.   It is such a good solution for a natural look!  

CAYH

Applause, applause - well done, shera!

Appreciate you taking the time to document it in such detail - I think this will be an excellent "make work" project for a good alternate look if I want a break from my wig...

 Thanks for keeping those wheels turning!

CAYH (Cindy) 

Merrinell

This is such a great idea!  Wish I had thought of it.  Unfortunately, all of my hair is gone, and I really had a lot of it.  People would stop me in the Mall and tell me they wish they  had my beautiful thick hair!  I'm just thinking, though.  I've purchased a couple of wigs that I don't really care for, and I may just cut one of them up and make me halos.  I'm pretty much the universal #5660 Gray mix, so that should work.

diamondslayer

Hey! This is great! And I LOVE tutorials!!! Thanks so much for doing all this and posting. I was thinking of something like this when I looked inside some wigs. I found that some have soft stretchy lace inside and thought maybe i might make a halo with soft stretch lace to see how that works. Like the velcro dots! HUGS

KCB

Shera this is great! I am so un-crafty but I have some hair left from my chop, and I feel inspired to try this on a good day...thanks for sharing this.

KristinFro

I've made a halo as well, but not with my own hair. I purchased hair, a wig cap, needle and thread from my local salon supply store. The hair is sewn on to the cap in rows, and is much cooler to wear with a hat than the wig. The cap ran about $2 and the hair was $14.99 (and I have a lot left over!). Here's some pics:

It was fun to make, took about an afternoon. I like it because I can also wear it with a scarf or bandana, not just the hat. 

Anonymous

did something similare, but did not take pictures unfortunately. I bought hair extensions at Sallys, folded it in half for thickness, stitched it and then applied velcro. I put velcro in a baseball cap and pulled the hair through the hole in the back and put it in a ponytail with a scrunchy. My hairdresser then trimmed it up so it had cute bounce and we messed with pulling out hair around the bottom a little to fill in. Worked great and only cost me about $50 for the human hair. I also had some fake bangs that I bought off tlc. They worked great with the ponytail, especially when golfing.

Angelfalls

Lovin' the creativity! And the step-by-step guide!! Thanks for sharing!!!

shera

KristinFro -- your halo is awesome! How did you sew the hair on to the cap?

I'd like to try something like this -- but have no idea how to attach hair to anything without using duct tape and/or glue!

  

KristinFro

Shera, I sewed the hair on to the wig cap with a needle and thread. It's special thread that you get at the salon supply store, along with a curved needle. Basically, this is what African American women use for a weave. Women will use this type of hair and sew it onto braids along their scalp, or you can also use hair glue (the woman I talked to at the salon supply store told me this can be very messy, though) and glue the hair directly onto the cap. The hair I used was a human/synthetic blend, but you can use anything. I might go back and get some curly hair and try that (my natural hair was very curly). It also comes in all different colors. The hair in the picture is a 4, dark brown.

I watched a couple You Tube videos (do a search on how to make a wig using a wig cap -- since Firefox won't let me copy/paste the video links) before I dove right in. It was fun! 

Edited to add: Don't forget the stryfoam head. It ran about $3 and made sewing the hair onto the cap much easier. I held the head in my lap and rotated it as I sewed the hair on. 

Baileybump

I'm inspired!  I saved my hair. . . but wasn't sure why.  Now I know what to do with it! 

shera

Thanks Kristin....  I might try the hair glue option. I am two right thumbs with needles (I'm left handed... what can I say).

It would be nice to have bangs.... and maybe even find fake hair similar to mine -- wavy loose curls. 

I'd actually purchased a full hair halo from Hats, Scarves, and More --- but the crown was so uncomfortable and bulky.... I returned it.  The cap on the one you made looks SO much more comfortable. 

Thanks for sharing! 

shera

Oh... I wore the hat-halo I made with my real hair, to the oncologists office today... and had them fooled. They LOVED it.  The ghetto duct tape inside made it even funnier to them. 

shera

Kristin -- yours is so professional looking... you could sell them for sure. I know I spent 40 dollars on one I just returned. And it wasn't nearly as nice. Just saying..... 

KristinFro

Thank you, Shera! I wouldn't mind making them if I weren't having the nueropathy in my fingertips. After I sewed this one, my fingers felt worse for a few extra days. It really wasn't hard to make at all -- I'm sure you could do it even with two right thumbs!

bayareamom

"sew" cute! I wish I had saved more of my hair. I just saved a snippet for my son per his request.

sciencegal

Thank you girls SO much. I am newly diagnosed and will be going to the salon on Saturday to get my long hair cut off prior to starting chemo next week. Now I know what to do with the ponytail I had planned to save. I thought it would just be for sentimental value but now I see it can have a fun purpose.



This thread cheers me up this morning, thank you!

fredntan

bump. 

ziggypop

What a fantastic idea. I never wanted to wear a wig, wore hats instead, but a little hair makes them look much more natural. You might want to post this on the hair/hair/hair thread as well.

Melrosemelrose

BUMP FOR THE NEWBIES!!!!!

smb719

sorry. Emailed you earlier. A closer look and I realized you were just showing the differedifferent layers of hair.