First there came the process of selecting a wig to use. Since she has pigtails, I selected a parted wig. Infact the wig I chose was the Leia Style fro Arda wigs. This was a good choice as the wig is thick and the part makes it easy as pie to work with the pig tails as it already has them! Here's a link to the wig for those interested: http://arda-wigs.com/products/leia
After the wig arrived, I tried doing the many curls approach, aka the standard approch. Don't do that, it is an utter failure for this style. Sadly, this is where I have most of my photos, so that will be a seperate tutorial here in a few days. But it did serve the purpose of showing that the pig tails needed to be cut down. the wig is super long, trust me, it needs cut. If the curls were higher on the head the length would probably be okay, just experiment and see.
Once your wig is cut and straightened, if not already done, tie off your pigtails like so
What you want to do now is seperate each pigtail into two or three sections, as if you were going to braid it. Taking one section, wrap it around a large barrel curling iron. For those not familiar with Arda wigs, they are heat resistant and don't melt like wigs you get from the halloween store. Once the hair is wrapped around the barrel, set it down to where the barrel is holding the hair down as most large barreled irons do not have a guard, or at least mine doesn't. Tip: wait until you have the iron propped up to turn in on so you don't burn yourself, unless you have heat resistant gloves, then you don't have to worry.
Note of warning at this stage of the styling process, be careful if your iron has several heat settings. I wasn't careful and ended up scorching the inside hair on my first curl. This turned up working out for me as it added stability to the curl (I ended up doing it to my second ponytail's first curl too but this time on purpose) and thusly it was able to support the other two curls better. If you aren't sure how wigs and heat work, don't try this scorching thing. Nor should you leave the wig and iron together for more than a few minutes. Seriously, whatever is on the ol' tellie, or that internet cat video can wait until the next step.
Next Step being: cooling time! Once you feel heat through the hair, and I mean a good bit of heat, not just "oh that's luke warm, that's good" turn your iron off. Do NOT remove your iron. The fibers of your wig shape and hold form as they cool, so you need the iron there as the hair sets to hold shape. This step takes a bit so feel free to go do other things, like watching whatever i was on the tellie or that cat video. Or heck, work on other cosplay things, or go outside...probably the later, sun is good for you or so they say. After a while, come back and check your wig. Feel any heat? No? Good! Feel free to remove the iron and BAMF you have your first curl. Repeat these steps for however many sections per pigtail you have.
So now that your wig is curled, Set your head on a wig stand or whatever else you use to style your wigs. Taking two sections, twist the curls around eachother until you have a large cylinder you are happy with. Once that is achieved, repeat with your second pony tail. It make take recurling your sectons to get better results, but believe me, it is worth it, as you get something like this when done:
Once happy with your curls, it is time to pull out your hair spray. Feel free to douse the wig in the stuff, the curls need all the help they can get to hold, as gravity is not their best friend. Don't worry about adding too much hair spray in case you have to redo curls later, it easily rinses out and hardly keeps you from redoing your do. Now take a step back, Captain Morgan the nearest chair, and take in your handiwork. You just created a lovely spiral curled wig without the mess of the drill curl method and in less time than the standard many curls hot water method. Happy stalking everyone!
