So you ordered your wig and spent a couple sleepless nights awaiting its arrival with anticipation!! Then it arrives and it’s just…not…what you expected. It looked better on the mannequin or it’s not the right size, or maybe it was an impulse buy. Whatever the reason, if the wig in your hands isn’t one you want to keep, read on to see what your options are
1. Check the return policy
Most sellers have a return policy that gives you a certain number of days to send the wig back to them. Check for restocking fees as they are common. Some sellers will give you a credit rather than giving the money back. Synthetic wig sellers tend to have return periods of 1 week to 1 month and lower or no restocking fees. Human hair sellers tend to have 2-5 day return periods and 10-15% restocking fees. If you decide to return the wig it needs to be in the same condition that you recieved it, meaning the lace Is intact, not products were used, it has not been heat-styled, etc. Basically, the wig you send back needs to be indistinguishable from the wig you recieved.
2. List it yourself
There are a number of facebook groups to buy and sell pre-owned wigs. You may want to start here if you did some modification (such as cutting the lace) before you decided it wasn‘t for you. Unworn wigs or wigs with lace still intact tend to sell better than used wigs. If it’s new or like new plan to sell it for 10-30% less than what you paid. If it’s gently used, plan to sell for 20-50% less than what you paid. If it;s we’ll-loved, plan to get 50% or less than you paid. You can certainly start out asking for more, but it’s not unusual for wigs to sit waiting to be sold for months if the asking price is too high. Also consider offering to trade with someone else who is selling, which may speed up the process.
3. Get help listing it
Silk or lace sells gently used wigs from top notch brands. Wigs by Tiffani lists her brand’s pre-loved wigs on her website, right next to the new pieces (marked as “resale”). The trade-off is that enlisting the help of a ”bigger name” will help you reach more people, but they will take a cut of the sale price, which means less will come back to you. This may be worth it if you don;t have the time or interest in selling it yourself.
4. Modify it
If there are only some things you don't like about it, you can send it to a professional to be modified. Wigs can be re-sized, re-colored, rooted, bangs cut, layers added, knots bleached, thinned, etc. If it just needs to be tweaked, consider this option. Keep in mind that it’s typically easier to add color that remove color on hair that has already been highly processed. Anna Mullet and Nathalie Koopmans are 2 well-respected options in the alt hair community and they can be found on Facebook.
You can also check out How to Modify a Wig for more help.
5. Give it time
I’ve seen plenty of people say that they couldn’t sell a wig so they gave it a second chance and ended up loving it. If you don't like it at first, give it a week or 2 (or a month or 2) and you may feel differently.