Your Not Alone
You may find comfort in knowing that the history of wigs is rich and spans thousands of years, evolving alongside changes in fashion, culture, medicine, and politics.
- Approximately 30–40 million people regularly wearers wigs in the world!
- 90% of celebrities wear hair
- 50% of women will experience hair loss
Hair Replacement vs Ready To Wear
There are two main categories in the wig industry:
- Hair replacement segment often sells hair systems (cranial prosthetics, medical wigs, custom hair systems) that are often custom made and sized. These "systems/units" are semi-permanent, meaning they a "bonded" on the head by a professional who uses adhesive. Hair replacement systems tend to be expensive with annual membership, monthly service fees, and custom hairpieces. The monthly maintenance that is required is time consuming and many customers often feel "chained down" and dependent on maintenance.
- Ready to wear segment sells wigs knowns as fashion wigs, costume wigs, daily wear units. These wigs are pre-sized, pre-styled and are designed to be worn out of the box. These wigs tends to be budget friendly because they are mass-produced. This segment is flooded with sea of sub-par wigs that often look fake, fit poorly and they tend be very itchy.
Encelia Hair | Best Of Both Worlds
At Encelia, we’ve watched both sides of the wig world—and we see what’s working and what absolutely isn’t.
Traditional hair-replacement systems rely on a bonding culture rooted in fear: fear your wig will fall off, fear of being seen bald, fear that you must hide your hair loss at all costs. This mindset keeps women feeling dependent, restricted, and often suffering from harsh adhesive reactions.
Meanwhile, the ready-to-wear market is overflowing with itchy, ill-fitting, artificial-looking wigs that leave women settling for less.
Encelia is here to change that. We’re taking the freedom and ease of ready-to-wear and merging it with the realism, security, and fit that women love about hair-replacement systems.
Five cap sizes ensure a true fit—no messy adhesives required. Our focus on comfort means we use materials and construction methods found in performance athletic gear, so our wigs breathe, stretch, and move with you. And because every woman deserves a natural-looking wig, we obsess over the details: hairlines, scalp realism, density, and quality.
These shouldn’t be luxury features.
They should be the baseline.
Good Wig vs Bad Wig
When you’re new to shopping for wigs, it’s natural to focus on finding the perfect color or length. But what most people don’t realize is that comfort and fit matter even more.
If a wig itches, you’ll hate wearing it. If it’s too small, it can cause headaches. If it’s too big, you’ll be worried it might slip. A wig is powerful—it can drain your confidence or make you feel unstoppable.
At Encelia, we believe every wig, at every price point, should fit beautifully, feel comfortable, and look incredibly realistic. It sounds simple, but this combination is surprisingly hard to find.
If it's too tight, you'll get a headache. If it's too big, it might fall off. Pay close attention to the ear tabs, if they touch your ears, you'll be in pain in a couple of hours.
At Encelia, we proudly over five cap sizes (two stock sizes, three custom) to ensure that your wig fits. In addition, our caps are sized down to fit women with hair loss vs ready to wear wigs are sized to fit women with hair.
You could have the prettiest color or style but if your wig is itchy or digs, trust us, you're not going to wear it. So, flip your wig inside out and run your hands across the lace, does it feel smooth or ruff? Look at the seams or joints, do they seem bulky?
At Encelia, we have worked insanely hard to provide you with the most comfort caps at the market. All our caps are double lined with a cooling mesh that is moisture wicking and quick drying. The seams are seamless so they joints won't dig or apply pressure. And the list goes on.
It goes without saying, if it doesn't look real, your not going to feel confident wearing it. A lot of detail goes into the making of a great wig.
So, let's break down the wig ↓
Hairline
The most important aspect of the wig because it is the first thing you see. Things to consider:
- MATERIAL: Look it the color, the texture, and the size of the holes. At Encelia, we use soft Swiss lace because it seamlessly blends into the skin and it's comfortable to wear.
- KNOTTING: Review the size of the knot, is it big or small? At Encelia, we use one hair per knot and the knots are tiny.
- DENSITY: Does it look heavy or can you see the lace? The hairline should slowly build so consider density. At Encelia, we find that a lower density softens the front while still concealing the lace material.
Top
There are four kinds to tops.
- Wefted - if the top is made with wefts, meaning the hair is attached to ribbon and then machine sewed into the wig cap. The tops will normally have permatease, which is means the hair is teased to create volume. Permatease is used to hide the wefts.
- Lace Top - lace or a monofilament materials is used on entire top or a portion. The hair is hand tied to this material. Lace tops tend to feel lighter, airy on the head but you can often see the knots and the lace.
- Silk Top - a lace top with a layer of silk is added inside to make the wig more comfortable to wear.
- French Drawn "Silk Tops" - the most advance technique in wig design. The hair is hand tied to lace but is then pulled through to transparent silk, which hides the knots and lace resulting in a top that looks like real scalp. Caution: pay close attention to the color - many of French Drawn Silk top look too pink or too white.
From there, you want to consider the density. You want the part to be natural - not too full and not to thin. At Encelia, we use a french drawn top that looks unbelievably natural.
Hand Tied vs Wefted
Hand tied wigs are lighter and can easily be worn up or down. Hand tied wigs are more expensive because every single hair has been hand knotted to the cap.
A wefted back means the hair is attached to ribbon via a sewing machine and then the ribbons are attached to the wig cap. The wig cap can be open or closed.
- A open wefted back, also known as capless, means the hair can come back into the cap. When the hair comes into the cap the wig becomes very itchy.
- A closed wefted back means an internal layer is added inside the cap to prevent the hair from coming inside the cap, therefore, they tend to be more comfortable to wear.
Fine Details
Other things to consider are:
- The shape of the ear tabs, do they sit low or high? do they sit further back or forward?
- The quality of the stay (bendable tabs), the anchors of the wig and critical aspect, do they stay bent?
- Shape of the nape (back of the wig)
Human Hair Quality
- Remy vs Non-Remy
Remy hair is collected from the head in ponytails and great care is taken to keep the cuticles intact or aligned. When the cuticle is kept intact the hair is preserved, meaning its natural healthy normal human hair. Remy hair continues to look and feel good throughout its lifespan.
Non-remy hair is known as fallen hair, meaning it is sorted after it has been cut. The cuticle is removed so the hair doesn't tangle.
At Encelia, we only use Remy human hair because we want your wig to continue to look and feel good throughout it's lifespan. Learn more here.
- Denier (thickness per strand)
Simply put, human hair comes in three deniers: Fine, Medium, Thick. At Encelia, we use a medium denier because it has great movement and it wont split or break.
Synthetic Hair Quality
Synthetic hair is light years better than it was ten years ago. There are two main types:
- Standard (no high) - they are made with various kinds of fiber so do your research.
- Heat Friendly - means heat can be applied to the hair. At Encelia, we use PET fiber because it is less toxic, learn more here.
We also are the ONLY wig brand to offer women a revolutionary new luxury synthetic fiber. This is cut fine and has the exact same shape as European human hair so this hair has amazing movement. Moreover, it isn't shinny, tangles less and behaves/acts like real hair-meaning it curls well, looks wet when wet and it has a long life! Learn more here.
Thank You!
I hope you found this wig guide helpful. As you can see, a lot of thought and detail goes into the making of a great wig.
If you have questions or concerns, book a FREE consultation with me.