Guest Post by West Ender Rebbetzin

My friend and fellow blogger, West Ender Rebbetzin wanted to write a post about her new "pony sheitel".  The post was originally on her blog and is re-pasted below with some extra pics of the cap!

A Sheitel Story by West Ender Rebbetzin

I have a pretty sweet Yaffa sheitel that is made from high-end “virgin” European hair (i.e. never treated, dyed, or processed).  It was marketed as a “semi-custom” / “out-of-the-box custom”, which I’m pretty sure is just a buzzword in wig marketing because there’s nothing custom about the cap or hair of this wig-- it's just a very well-made wig that was cut out of the box.   A true custom sheitel is for women with large or hard-to-fit heads, or other special needs.  

I paid a lot for this semi-custom business, but in the end was unhappy with the cut.  I didn’t find it particularly youthful or flattering, and the front layers were shorted than I would have liked.  

I wasn’t sure what to do.  I looked into reselling it, but there’s practically no market for used wigs, and it’s not hard to understand why.  When you can get a really awesome-looking Milano for $400-$600, why would you pay even $300 for a used wig?  Like a car, apparently, a wig loses its resale value as soon as you wear it out of the shop.  So, I was reluctant to give up the tangible asset, a very fine wig, for $300 or even less.

Then I started thinking about what my next sheitel purchase might be, when the time came to get a new one.  I looked around at what style of wigs I liked on other young women, and I was charmed by the pony sheitels. 

I think pony sheitels are “the new fall”—I see tons of young marrieds wearing them, they are often sold cheap (“kallah special-- buy 1 European wig, get a pony for free!”) They are advertised heavily in frum as as a great alternative to a fall when you want a casual sheitel.  A pony has even more advantages over a fall, because it’s quite cool for the summer to have the hair off your neck.

A Milano pony sheitel sells for about $500, but it occurred to me that possibly, just possibly, I could bring my Yaffa wig to my sheitel macher and see if it could be converted into a pony!  I did, and indeed, to “convert” a wig into a pony involves an investment of a whopping $5-$10 to have a wide comb sewn in at the nape of the neck.  This extra comb anchors the wig at the bottom, which gives a more realistic appearance that the hair is growing out of your head when pulled upwards into a ponytail.

Here is what my new pony looks like!  It’s been SO cool and breezy and fun to wear for the summer.   In my humble opinion, I think the hair at the neck looks quite natural when pulled upwards into a pony.  I left the original side bangs as they were; the front layers that are too short to fit into the pony, I clip back with one snappy clip each. I am quite happy with how this turned out!

A few last words about picking a brand of sheitel:

Yaffa isn’t generally considered one of the “better” or “higher-end” sheitel brands.  I think they are better known for their cheaper lines of wigs, like human/synthetic blends.  But as my sheitel macher told me: “a wig is always mazal,” meaning you never know when you’ll get a winner or a lemon, since they’re hand-made and hair sometimes misbehaves.  

I won with this particular Yaffa sheitel.  Despite being unhappy with the cut, it is a gorgeous and beautifully made wig.  The virgin hair is silky in a much richer, more natural way than my sheitel made from processed hair from South America.  The woman who does my wash and sets has said that my Yaffa is a “very nice piece”, and she sees a lot of sheitels!  So don’t be too afraid to go with a brand that isn’t the hottest in sheitels these days.  My Yaffa rules, and I have friends with Shevys (the most high-end brand that I know of in Brooklyn) that are losing hair after just a few months.

Have an awesomely wiggy week, ladies!

 *****

Thank you for that awesome post.  Considering the wig was not cut originally as a pony I think it looks great!  Those long side bangs really make it look natural.  I do not even notice that the front layers are being clipped back.  Also, usually pony sheitels have the hair near the back of the neck sewn upwards so it makes a more natural pony, but I think yours works just fine.  This is a great example of working with a wig you already own instead of giving up, trying to resell and taking a gamble with something new.  I think we can all learn from her example.

Not a very large skin top, which makes it even more suitable as a pony wig.  The comb they sewed in at the bottom looks excellent and allows the pony tail to be made properly.