Bald Cap

This week I focused on applying a bald cap! I decided to attack the challenge of applying it to myself with minimal help from my professor. In this post I will be providing information about how I applied the bald cap and I will post some links to other blogs and videos that I used as research before tackling this project. Below is a recent picture of me.

As you can see, my hair is a bit longer than shoulder length meaning I had some work to do when it came to hiding it beneath a bald cap. After looking at many sites online the most common way to deal with hiding long hair underneath a bald cap is to create a low ponytail and leave it hanging out the backside of the bald cap. I did find one reference in the book Special Effects Make-up by Janus Vinther about putting the hair up such that it can be hidden completely. 

I attempted this style of hiding my hair, but my hair is relatively soft and it would fall down before I could even get the bald cap on. I decided to try the same technique, but with the addition of taping my hair down to my head. 

In the above picture you can see three bands of tape holding my hair. Each piece of tape had a strip of baby wipe in the center of it so that I didn't cover my entire head with tape. After attempting to put the bald cap on, I added one more piece of tape going vertically from my neck to the top of my forehead for extra security. (You can also see my work station in the back ground behind my head)

Next I put the bald cap on, positioned it, and drew lines with my brown brow-liner pencil. 

 

This step is important because this will determine how the cap will ultimately fit onto your head. When the cap is on, pull the ear flaps down and forward toward your chin. Hold them there while you are drawing the lines. You may need help for this part, but I was able to use one hand to hold the cap by stretching my thumb under my chin to hold the other side. The picture on the right is from the instructional video that Ben Nye created that is sold with his makeup kits. This was by far the most useful video I have seen on applying bald caps. The ear cut out is kind of an upside-down U shape that is drawn about 1/4 of an inch from the edge of the ear. I also wanted to trim some of the cap away from my temples and forehead for a better fit.

Once all the lines are drawn on, cut off the excess latex. I used blunt-nosed scissors (the type for trimming nose hairs). You can either take off the bald cap to do this or leave it on. If you are leaving it on, I suggest having someone help you cut out the ear pieces.

The next step is gluing. There are various materials that can be used for gluing. For my first application I used spirit gum. This method was alright but it requires drying time and the bald cap can peel up if you don't sit long enough with pressure holding the cap to the gum. The second application I tried out Pros-aide medical adhesive and I fell in love with this product. It requires very little drying time, and is incredibly effective at adhering. Gluing can be done by folding back the cap and applying glue directly to the cap or directly to the skin. I prefer the skin method because it is easier to get it smooth. If you are sealing the cap all the way around, do the neck portion second. Move on the the above-ear section, and then below the ears. You don't need to glue all of the latex down, but instead you can cut off the excess once the glue dries.Below you can see where I cut off excess latex around my ears.

                                         

after the entire bald cap has been secured, seal the bald cap onto your head. For my first application I did this with latex and a sponge by blending the cap's edge into the skin, for my second application I did this with Pros-aide and a q-tip, creating a bead of glue along the edge of the cap. I prefer the Pros-aide method because it create a smaller edge. 

My next step was to cover the entire cap in pros-aide. I did this based off of this blog's suggestions. By doing this you are creating a surface that will not absorb the cream makeup as readily as the latex will. After this is dry, powder the sticky glue. 

Apply makeup to the cap with a torn sponge (no sharp edges) and a blotting-motion (rather than sweeping). You may want to start with a color lighter than your skin tone as a sort of under-painting method to help hide the cap. Stipple some highlights and lowlights to create texture. Apply makeup to your face as well and use the same highlight/lowlight stippling. 

Below is the picture from my first attempt. I was super disappointed with how this turned out. 

And here are two pictures from my second (more successful attempt)

The second picture was taken outside. This picture shows some of the areas where I didn't brush off enough powder OR could have used more of the darker stippling. I also added in a "beauty mark" near my temple (where I actually have one) for more realism. Here is the link for a high quality photo (for zooming)

Supplies:

Bald cap (mine is from Woochie, ordered on Amazon)

Tape (for long hair)

Brown brow-liner pencil

Scissors

Adhesive (I prefer Pros-aide medical adhesive)

Sponges (foam and stippling)

makeup (I use Ben Nye products)