... provided that the wigs are affordable and realistic as if it's growing out of your own head (such as lace front, silk, and monofilament wigs with believable hairline)?

My name is Angel and I am a STEM major student at Sacramento City College in Sacramento, CA. I am writing a paper on different chemicals and methods to restore colored/damaged hair, old extensions, and other human hair pieces that are regularly thrown away after use.

My OBJECTIVE is to restore old and damaged hair (waste product) in order to increase the supply of usable hair for wigs, which then can be given to hospital patients and make wigs more accessible.

It's a given that we need natural colored human hair and I am accepting old human hair pieces that people have used, but I am debating whether I should also accept non-natural colored hair as well such as green, pink, blue, purple, etc.

Once I discover how to restore hair, I can turn them into material for human hair wigs. But would people even be interested in fun coloured wigs? Would you?

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At my age (late 50's) I personally wouldn't wear them but I do know of other women my age who have colored their hair pink, purple, blue.... I think it's worth maybe doing a survey to see if there is an interest. I'm sure the teen population and maybe even children would be interested however the cost would be a factor. Best wishes to you on your research. 

The age thing makes sense. Where can I do a survey?

I am hoping that if this restored hair wig becomes a thing, it will compete with the prices of synthetic wigs (no matter what color).

I think you should talk to reputable wig makers.  There are processes already in existence to increase the longevity of human hair (e.g., glosses, etc.).  

Typically, the bigger issue that causes pieces/units to be thrown out is that the the cap or the attachment part of the piece/unit wears out.  For example, if you wear a wig for 2 years, every day, 12-14 hours a day, the cap is going to eventually stretch out.  Removing the hair and putting it on a new cap is time-consuming and expensive -- to the point that it is often easier to simply buy a new wig.

You have to remember that part of the cost of human hair wigs is the labor involved.  You will never be able to manufacture a human hair wig as low-priced as a synthetic because human hair wigs are most often assembled by people, not machines.  Human hair is attached to wig caps differently than synthetic hair is.  Human hair is more delicate.

Further, re "fun colored" hair -- this is putting the cart before the horse.  You need to figure out the science part of this first.

Thank you for all the information. I've spoken to a couple wigmakers a while ago, and have begun looking into wigmaking myself in order to understand better what is needed for wigmaking. The best so far are hand tied wigs, where you ventilate individual strands into the mesh base with a hook needle. It takes about 40-60 hours to ventilate per wig.

"You will never be able to manufacture a human hair wig as low-priced as a synthetic because human hair wigs are most often assembled by people"

100% hand tied synthetic wigs are pricey too, about $300 for even something made in China. When it comes to hand tied human hair wigs, it's usually over $1000 due to American/European labor plus the cost of human hair itself. The machine made wigs where wefts are sewn into the base are $50-$200 for synthetics, and machine made human wigs are that plus the cost of the human hair itself (which are usually of poor quality compared to hair used for ventilated wigs IME). My belief is that if we find a way to restore human hair, we can make hand tied human wigs at a similar cost of hand tied synthetics.

"Typically, the bigger issue that causes pieces/units to be thrown out is that the the cap or the attachment part of the piece/unit wears out."

I've been wondering about how long the cap itself works, because that seems to be the one that would take the most beating, rather than the hair itself. I'll learn more about this in the future. Speaking of repairing human hair, I've looked into Olaplex, glosses, and other treatments and the theory behind how they work. I am waiting on a better microscope, even though I began taking pictures from my current one. I don't think there's really a way to truly repair damaged hair, but there may be ways to lengthen its lifespan.

"Further, re "fun colored" hair -- this is putting the cart before the horse.  You need to figure out the science part of this first."

"It's a given that we need natural colored human hair and I am accepting old human hair pieces that people have used, but I am debating whether I should also accept non-natural colored hair as well such as green, pink, blue, purple, etc."

I decided that if someone gives their tie-dye colored hair to me to use, well, I can try to make use of it somehow.

I am in my fifties and I would be interested in non-natural colors if the quality and comfort was there.

I put blue or pink streaks in my pale blond wigs, so sure. I'd wear a colored wig. (And, I'm in my late 60s.)

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