Cosplay and Costume Wigs on Bulqq: A Tour of the New Section

Bulqq started as a place to compare human hair wigs: the kind you wear as your own hair, every day, for a year or more. But a lot of the questions we get are about a very different wig: the one you wear for a night, a convention or a stage. A Wednesday Addams wig for Halloween. Naruto's spiky blond hair for a con. A 60s beehive for a theme party. Santa's curls and beard for the office do.

Those are a different purchase. They're synthetic, they cost a fraction of a human hair wig, and what matters is the cut and colour that make a character recognisable, not how natural the hairline looks under daylight. So rather than mixing them into the main shop, we've built them a section of their own: Cosplay & Costume Wigs.

This guide is a tour: what's there, how to find what you need quickly, and how it fits with the rest of Bulqq.

Why a separate section?

Keeping costume wigs apart is deliberate, and it helps whichever kind of wig you're shopping for:

• The main shop stays focused. If you're comparing glueless wigs or HD lace fronts, you don't want a $25 clown wig in the results. The shop, the Wig Finder quiz, the wig comparison and Compare only ever show human hair wigs.
• Costume wigs get filters that suit them. In the cosplay section you filter by theme, colour family, length, style (fringe, buns, braids, spikes), adult or child size, and features like officially licensed, heat-resistant or lace front. The questions are different, so the filters are too.
• Prices and expectations are clear. Every page in the section says it plainly: these are costume wigs, and human hair wigs are in the main shop.

Every cosplay wig is currently sold and shipped by Abracadabra NYC, a New York costume shop. You buy on their site; we list the wigs, explain them and help you choose.

What's in the section

Themes

The wigs are sorted into themes, each with its own page:

A wig can sit in more than one theme. A Beetlejuice wig is both a character wig and a Halloween wig, so it shows in both.

Wigs by character

This is the part we're most pleased with. The character pages start from who you want to be, not from a product list. Each one explains the character's hair (what actually makes it recognisable), how to style a wig to get there, and the wigs that do it. They come in two kinds:

• Made for the character: wigs named and styled for that character, often officially licensed. For example, the Wednesday Addams wig, Elsa, Princess Leia or Kakashi.
• Gets the look: wigs that aren't sold under the character's name but have the right cut and colour. There's no "Mia Wallace wig" on the shelf, but a sharp black bob with a blunt fringe is Mia Wallace. The same goes for Morticia Addams, Doc Brown or Joe Dirt's mullet.

Each character page links to the character's Wikipedia article if you want a refresher on the look, and to related characters from the same world.

The cosplay wig quiz

Not sure what you want yet? The cosplay wig quiz asks six quick questions, plus one optional one: what it's for, who's wearing it, the kind of look, length, colour and budget. Then it shows the wigs that fit best, with the reasons each was picked, and characters you could go as. It only searches costume wigs, never the human hair shop, and there's no sign-up.

If you're shopping for a human hair wig instead, the main Wig Finder does the same job for everyday wigs.

The first-time buyer's guide

The cosplay wig buying guide answers the questions people tend to ask after a wig has arrived, so you can ask them before:

• Size: how one-size costume wigs fit (most adult ones suit heads of roughly 21 to 23 inches around), what to do if you're above or below that, and when to choose a child size.
• How to measure your head, with a link to our full measuring guide and the cap size finder.
• Synthetic fibre and heat: why a straightener can melt a costume wig, and how to restyle one with steam instead.
• Keeping it on through a long night: wig caps, pins and grip bands.

Every wig page

Each costume wig has its own page with the details spelled out: fibre, whether it takes heat, the cap, fit, whether it's licensed, who makes it. Where a wig comes in several colours, pick one and the photo, price and link all switch to that colour. Pages also list the characters the wig works for, the occasions it suits, and a "Will it fit?" box.

Sponsored

Cosplay wig or human hair wig: which do you need?

It's the most useful question to ask before you buy, so here's the honest answer.

Choose a costume wig if you're dressing as someone for an event, want a colour you'd never wear every day, need a shape that must hold (anime spikes, buns, a beehive), or you're buying for a child.

Choose a human hair wig if you'll wear it often, want it to look like your own hair up close, or want to style it with heat and change it over time. Live-action and realistic cosplay sometimes sits in between: a natural bob or a glueless wig worn for a character can be a good investment if you'll wear it again. Our cosplay styling guide goes into that trade-off in detail.

Where to start

• You know the character: go to wigs by character.
• You know the occasion: start from a theme, such as Halloween, decades or holidays, or read our costume wigs for every occasion.
• You're not sure yet: take the cosplay wig quiz, or browse ideas in Halloween wig ideas.
• It's your first costume wig: read the buying guide first, then measure your head.
• It's your first convention: follow our convention cosplay wig plan.

And if what you're really after is a wig to wear every day, the main shop and the Wig Finder are where to go.