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Costumes and disguises are great!

I say that not just because this is a costume shop, but because I grew up watching shows like Mission Impossible. Like me I'm sure hundreds of thousands of people got the idea that make-up was fast, quick and most importantly easy to take off.

I hate to pop any bubbles here but in most cases its not.

Case in point the Bald Cap. A great sounding idea for a joke, disguise, is the bald cap, what better way to trick people than to make them think that you cut off, or lost, all of your hair. Sure just go to your Local Costume Shop buy a Bald Cap and you are good to go. Not quite. Yes you can just buy a Bald Cap and put it on your head, but you won't look bald you'll just look like you have a flesh colored shower cap on your head. Ok you say I'll buy some of that glue stuff too. Well the glue stuff is called Spirit Gum and that will defiantly help. Instead of a shower cap now you have a head of the worlds largest in-grown hair. So how do you do it right you ask? Read on!

Lets start with the Bald Cap.

Bald Caps can be broken into to two types latex or glatzen.

We'll discuss both applications below. Lets apply our bald cap and we can go over examples of the different products needed along the way.

Here we go unwrap your bald cap and smooth it out, we are going to assume that you are putting this on someone else for now just to make the instructions easier. Place the cap on your subjects head most caps will have sideburn like tabs, make sure that these are is the correct position, also the back of the bald cap should be longer than the front giving you another clue to the correct position. With a latex cap have the subject hold down the top of the cap with their hand, (Glatzen will not really need to be stretched) while you stretch the side down over the ear and then mark the hairline with the pencil. Repeat on the other side, leave the back alone unless they are going shirtless. You want to pull on the cap and stretch it during this but not too much just enough to help hide the hair underneath but you generally do not want to give the subject an unintentional face lift. Take the cap back off and using very sharp scissors SMOOTHLY trim where you marked. Smoothly is the operative word here, any knick or jagged cuts could lead to the latex tearing just as you get to stretching it. When you're satisfied place it back on their head and proceed to step 2 below.

2) Spirit Gum. See my article on Spirit Gum for more detailed information but the short of it is make sure the face and cap are cleaned before you start with either alcohol or witch hazel, and make sure the spirit gum is tacky to the touch before attaching the piece to the skin. I like to start in the front with just a little line of spirit gum at the hairline only work in sections about 2-3 inches at a time otherwise it can get real messy. Brush the spirit gum on evenly and not to thickly. Using your pinky finger start tapping the line moving back and forth until you start to pull lines of the glue up with your finger, it is ready pull the cap into place and hold for a few seconds. I have the subject help by holding in place the side I am not working on, while I proceed a little bit at a time around the other side of the head. Depending on the clothing they will be wearing I like to keep the very back of the cap unglued. This allows a little be of air to circulate helping keep them cool and gives a place for any sweat to drip out too. So when you get to the back stop and start again from the front doing the other side.

3) Liquid Latex (or acetone discussed below too.) I don't care how well you managed to glue the edges down they are going to show. If you took my advice and are using a Glatzen Cap here's where the payoff comes, Latex Cap people read on and weep. Take your acetone and saturate a cotton ball, making it wet but not dripping. Starting about 1/3 of the way into your spirit gum line wipe with the acetone onto the skin, repeat all of the way around. The acetone will dissolve the excess cap material (the regular cap too if you are not careful,) blending the edge nicely and smoothly into the skin viola no edges. Latex Cap users dry your tears and read on, you have two options here the first is to use a stipple sponge and the liquid latex to create a broken or speckled pattern around the edge to help hide them. To do this all you need to do is pour a small amount of liquid latex onto a paper plate or other surface. Dip a section of stipple sponge into the latex and using light and random strokes dap the sponge onto either side of the edge you are hiding, you will not really hide the edge you will just create random patterns that will help camouflage it, the rest will come with the next step Make-Up. The second is to brush the latex onto the skin in very, very thin layers until you build up to the height of the cap. Working off of the cap brush towards it lightly towards the cap try not to brush onto the cap as that will negate the purpose. Castor Sealer (again optional but helpful) If you are going to use a Latex Bald Cap one of the problems with them can be the discoloration that using regular make-up can cause this is because normal make-ups have petroleum based oils which will start to discolor and deteriorate natural latex. Castor sealer is made from fish oils which do not interact with the latex and will provide a layer of protection. Brush a layer of castor sealer all over the cap letting it set for a little while and then pat off excess with a tissue.

4)Make Up Foundation Either type of cap you use will need Make Up on it to blend into the rest of you. Obviously the tone should either come close to matching your normal skin tone or you are going to change the color of your face anyway. If you are going to do your make up right the whole face should have some foundation on it anyway this will make blending and hiding the edges easier. You can use either a water-based makeup or a cream/grease based makeup for your foundation make sure you powder the base to set it before you continue on to the next step.

5)Bald Cap Stipple (optional but helpful) Take a good look at your skin, what color is it? Tan, pasty pink, brown? Look again in actuality what makes up your skin's tone in a combination of colors, flesh tones yes, but also blues, reds, greens and yellows. Not to mention freckles or moles if you have skin like mine. The single color that the foundation gives you will not really work if you are going for a natural look, and if you want it to looked shaved there is even more involved. This is where the Bald cap stipple comes in it has the variety of colors needed to better replicate the general colorations of the skin. Simply take a clean stipple sponge and select a color, I start with the darkest first get a slight amount of the color on the sponge and just start dabbing all over the cap, trying not to get too heavy with any one color and not making a pattern, powder when done.

To remove saturate a cotton ball with spirit gum remover and work it around the edges of the cap and slowly underneath the cap as it starts to lift. Remember the latex one is under some pressure and will likely pull itself off it you let it, don't hold the side you are not working on until it can all be removes easily. And there you have it, like anything to do it right you should practice.

If you have questions about this OR anything send them to Questions@fantasyfestival.com