How to Wash and Care for a Human Hair Wig (So It Lasts a Year+)

Why a generic wash guide does not work

Almost every "how to wash a human hair wig" article gives you the same routine: soak, shampoo, condition, rinse, dry on a mannequin head. That routine is correct for straight and wavy wigs. Run it on a 250% density afro and you'll destroy the pattern. Run it on a 36-inch braided wig and you'll unravel the braids.

Texture changes everything. So this guide is split into four methods — one for each family of wig we make. Find yours below.

The rules that apply to every texture

• Never use hot water. Lukewarm at most. Hot water opens the cuticle, and once the cuticle opens, the hair tangles, frizzes and loses dye faster.
• Never brush dry hair. This is the number one cause of shedding in human hair wigs. Detangle damp, working from the ends up.
• Never pull. If you hit a snag, hold the hair above it and separate it with your fingers.
• Use sulfate-free shampoo. Sulfates strip the cuticle and dry the hair out over time.
• Dry on a mannequin head or wig stand. Hanging by the cap stretches it. Laying it flat flattens the style.

Method 1: Straight and wavy wigs

For straight, body wave, deep wave and water wave units in 13x4 or 4x4 lace front construction.

1. Brush first, before water. Work through any tangles with a wide-tooth comb, ends first, while the hair is dry. This is the step that prevents most wash-time tangles.
2. Fill a basin with lukewarm water and add a small amount of sulfate-free shampoo. Mix it in until it's barely foamy — you want the wig in clean water, not in detergent.
3. Submerge the hair only. Keep the cap out of the water if you can; if not, the cap is fine for a short soak, but never scrub it.
4. Swish the lengths gently for 5–10 minutes. Don't wring, don't bunch, don't scrub.
5. Rinse with lukewarm water until the water runs clear. Squeeze the water out gently — press, don't wring.
6. Condition from mid-length to ends. Let it sit 10–15 minutes. Rinse cool.
7. Wrap in a towel and press out the water. Never rub.
8. Dry on a mannequin head, away from direct sun and heat. Full dry before styling.

Method 2: Curly wigs (jerry curl, deep wave, water wave, curly)

Curl definition depends on keeping moisture in the hair and never disrupting the pattern while it's wet.

1. Do not brush before washing — instead, separate the hair with your fingers into sections and untangle gently from the ends.
2. Soak in cool water with diluted shampoo. Work the shampoo through by pressing and squeezing the hair in the water. Never rub or scrub.
3. Rinse thoroughly with cool water. Leftover shampoo is what causes the "stiff" feeling after a wash.
4. Condition the ends only, 15–20 minutes. Rinse with cool water.
5. Apply leave-in conditioner or a light mousse while the hair is still soaking wet. Squeeze it through, focusing on the ends.
6. Scrunch upward in sections — cup the hair in your palm and push up toward the scalp. Never comb it down.
7. Dry with a diffuser on low, or air-dry if you have the time. Scrunch once more as it dries.

Once the pattern is defined, it holds for days. There is no need to restyle it every morning.

Method 3: Dense afro and kinky wigs (180%–250%)

These have very high density, which means more hair, more water to move through it, and more risk of matting at the roots.

1. Soak in cool water for 10–15 minutes before any product. This lets the water penetrate all the way to the cap.
2. Use a very small amount of shampoo and work it through with your fingers, from the ends up. Do not use a brush at any point.
3. Rinse in four parts — back, front, left, right — rather than all at once. Dense units hold shampoo deeper.
4. Condition lightly — dense hair holds more conditioner than it needs, and excess product weighs the pattern down.
5. Press out water with a towel. Never wring. A 250% unit holds a lot of water and it's heavy when wet — support the cap with one hand.
6. Dry on a wig stand with a wide head, or on a mannequin head. Never a narrow stand — it will stretch the cap.
7. Separate the curls with your fingers as it dries so it doesn't mat at the roots.

Method 4: Braided wigs (36-inch, full lace, knotless)

Braided units are the most delicate thing we make. The braids are hand-tied and take 2–3 days of work to make. A careless wash can undo days of that.

1. Never brush a braid. If a braid is frizzy, mist it with water and use your fingers to smooth the loose hairs back into the braid pattern. A brush will unravel it.
2. Soak the whole unit in cool water with diluted shampoo, for no more than 10 minutes. Long soaking loosens the knots.
3. Support the braids in your hands while you wash. Don't let them hang and swing.
4. Rinse by holding the cap and letting the water run down the braids. Don't squeeze the braids.
5. Do not condition the braids. Condition the loose hair at the ends only — conditioner on the braids makes them soft and the pattern collapses.
6. Squeeze, don't wring. Lay flat on a towel to remove the bulk of the water.
7. Dry on a wide mannequin head, with the braids hanging down. Expect this to take 24 hours or more for a 36-inch unit.

How often should you wash?

And wash it immediately after swimming. Chlorine and salt water both damage human hair faster than anything else you can do to it.

Shedding: what's normal and what isn't

A new wig sheds for the first 2–3 wears. That's loose hair from the wefting that wasn't removed during finishing. It stops.

If shedding continues past that, the cause is almost always one of three things: brushing dry, combing from the root, or not using a wide-tooth comb. See our detangling guide for the technique that cuts shedding substantially.

What never to do

• Never use a hot blow dryer on the cap — it shrinks the elastic and warps the headband
• Never brush the hairline dry, ever
• Never store folded — see our storage guide
• Never wear a wet wig — the weight stretches the cap and the lace
• Never use a regular brush on a wig — invest in a wide-tooth comb and a tangle-free brush for the lengths

Where to buy the things you need

• Glueless wigs — the easiest to live with day to day
• Curly and kinky wigs — use Method 2 or 3
• Braided wigs — use Method 4
• More questions answered