Cosplay can be an expensive hobby, it can be an expensive way of life and if you haven’t planned things out properly, or if your budget just isn’t that great, then sometimes you may need to just reuse something out of an old cosplay! If you’re worrying about budgeting and planning for a cosplay then you should check out the previous article from The Arcade about how to keep track of things and keep on top of everything. But if that article only helped for a while and you’re like me and have so many cosplay plans that you don’t know how to stop yourself, then maybe you might need to recycle a previous cosplay or bits of a previous cosplay. This article right here is going to help give you a few tips on how you can achieve that, from restyling and washing wigs to the tools of the trade that you may need in your repertoire in order to fix up those awesome cosplays of yours!
WIGS
There are times in a cosplayers life when you want to cosplay another character and by some grace of the cosplay gods, you actually have the perfect wig that will work but… OH NO! It’s actually already styled for another character cosplay that you’ve done in the past. This is something I can actually speak from experience about. During the Summer, it was decided that I would cosplay Natasha Romanoff from The Winter Soldier, but the wig I had was far too long and far too curly, not to mention tangled up in so many different ways. I actually considered getting a 
brand new wig for Natasha but time was not on my side so I made the decision to re-purpose my curly long wig and restyle it into a shorter, absolutely poker straight wig. But before you start chopping and straightening, you’re gonna need to do a few things first… like shampooing the wig and de-tangling it!
Firstly, when you’re de-tangling a wig you’re gonna need a few things! A wide tooth comb, a de-tangling spray, a wig head and stand. Pop your wig onto the wig head and the stand, it’ll make it easier on you and you won’t need to re-position your wig until you’re ready to take it off the stand and head. Spritz your wig with a little bit of the de-tangling spray, not too much but just enough to make it easier on your comb. Now this is important; start from the bottom of the wig and be gentle as you comb through, otherwise you’re going to loosen the fibres from the top and end up with a wig that’s falling apart. Always start in a small sections, this can help break up the tangles as well.
Now that your de-tangling is done, you can actually get into washing your wig and the fact that it’s de-tangled already is really really gonna help you an awful lot! You don’t need to do this a lot when you’ve got a wig, but every so often it’ll just help freshen up your wig and make it look good as new! Make sure you check if your wig is heat resistant or not because the heat from the hot water can damage a non heat resistant wig. Use luke warm to cool water for most wigs! Your best bet is to get yourself some wig shampoo as it’ll be best for your wig, but a natural shampoo will work if you can’t get your hands on a wig shampoo. Use a minimal amount and place this into a basin, or your sink with the warm water. Swirl your wig in the shampoo water and use your fingers to get out any residue that might be left from glue or make up, and make sure to rinse your wig out after this is done. Pat out the water with a towel, and use a de-tangling spray if 
you want just like we mentioned before. You can leave your wig to dry now, or use a hair dyer if it’s heat resistant, and once it’s dry… you can get into styling your wig!
When it comes to styling your wig, in any which way, I suggest getting yourself some hair dressing scissors, or a sharp pair of scissors to use. In your kit you should also get; hair clips, a comb, and a razor comb! A razor comb is fantastic for blending edges, for thinning out hair and for giving you more of a natural finish. Whenever I’m styling my wigs, I usually get my own mother to help me because she’s damn good with a pair of scissors and she can give another opinion on how it’s looking. So yes, I would suggest getting a second opinion when you’re styling your wig, just ask someone how it’s looking, how the back is looking when it’s on you, how it’s sitting, all of that! It’ll really help you in the long run!
EDITING
Another thing when it comes to recycling your cosplays is your actual clothing, not just your wigs! While wigs are very important, sometimes you may have the right wig already and you just need to swap around a few different things from 
older cosplays. If you’re using CosPlanner already then you basically have a list of your cosplay items right at hand and it can make it far far easier to see what you’ve got and what you may still need. For example; I have cosplayed Lara Croft (reborn version) but decided that I wanted to cosplay Kim Possible at some point, and instead of going out and buying new cargo pants, I realized that my Lara pants worked perfectly for KP as well…. I just needed to wash them and make sure the dirt from Lara wasn’t going to be left behind!
Sometimes though it may not be as easy as that and you may need to edit something to do with the cosplay! You may have the perfect pants in colour, but the style may not fit and therefore you’re gonna need to do some tailoring. Now, if you’re like me and can’t actually make your own stuff or if you’ve got some trouble with sewing, I would suggest looking for friends who can help you out, or going to a tailor, or even talking to a commissioner to see if they can help you out.
In your recycling kit, or at least in mine, I will always have; a sewing kit, makeup brushes, dark eyeshadows to use for dirt (but you can get fake dirt now too!), scissors, hair clips, pins and… a nail file to use for distressing clothing (it’s surprisingly fantastic on the go!!).
Really when it comes to recycling your cosplays, you just need to look at what you’ve got yourself and see what can be reused and re-purposed, it’s all up to you guys! Wigs can be expensive and we can’t always afford newer ones and therefore washing, restyling and recycling them can really help an awful lot. But clothing wise, it really is up to all of you and sometimes you’ve got another five cosplays in your closet, you just haven’t realized yet!
Let me know in the comments if you’ve got your own ways of recycling, or washing/styling your wigs! We’d love to hear about your re-purposed cosplays!
