The Goldylost guide to caring for your wig or topper

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1. My care philosophy
2. Brushing and daily wear
3. Washing, step by step
4. Drying
5. Products we trust
6. Styling fundamentals
7. Straight styling
8. Curls and waves
9. Storage and travel
10. What can damage your piece
11. Frequently asked questions
12. Glossary of terms

Your Goldylost wig or topper is 100% Remy human hair, hand-tied knot by knot and finished by hand in our Sydney atelier. Treated kindly, it behaves like the finest cashmere in your wardrobe — soft and full of shine. Treated roughly, it behaves the way any natural fiber does under heat, friction, and harsh chemicals: it dulls, tangles, and wears out long before it should.

I’ve written this the way I’d talk you through it in the shop. The first half is the everyday routine — brushing, washing, drying, styling. The second half is what quietly damages a piece, how to store it, and the questions I’m asked most. There are three short videos along the way, so you can watch as well as read.

01My care philosophy

If I could give you just one rule for looking after your piece, it would be this: be gentle. Nearly every bit of damage I see on pieces that come back to us started with rough handling somewhere — scrubbing it in the wash, brushing wet hair from the roots down, sleeping on it without a silk pillowcase, scrunching it into a ball before it goes away. Human hair is strong, but it isn’t indestructible, and the lace and silk in the cap are more delicate again than the hair itself.

My second rule is that less is more. Less washing means a longer life. Less heat means the color holds. Less product means nothing builds up on the lace. The instinct most new clients have is to over-care — to wash after every wear, to drown the ends in oil — and it’s the quickest way to tire a piece out. Wash sparingly, condition only the lengths and ends, keep it on a stand, and you’ll be surprised how short the routine actually is.

02Brushing and daily wear

The best habit you can build is a gentle brush before you put your piece on, and again when you take it off at night. Five minutes, twice a day, with a wig-safe brush or a wide-tooth comb. Always start at the ends and work your way up, holding the hair between the brush and the cap so you’re never tugging on the knots.

For longer pieces, gather the hair in one hand and brush small sections from the tips to the mid-lengths, then up to the roots — the way you’d untangle a little girl’s hair without making her cry. The most delicate part of any wig or topper is the knots. Every single hair is hand-tied into the lace with a tiny knot, and pulling on the hair is what breaks them, and over time your wig or topper starts to lose hair. It happens most at the high-touch points, especially the hairline, which is exactly why a gentle hand matters so much there.

03Washing, step by step

We wash our pieces every 10 to 20 wears, and honestly, the less often the better.

We recommend a salon-quality, sulfate-free shampoo and a hydrating hair mask. Sulfates are the ingredients that make most drugstore shampoos foam up so dramatically, but they’re harsh — they strip away moisture and dry the hair out. That matters even more on a wig or topper, because the hair has no scalp feeding it natural oils, so once it’s dried out there’s nothing to replace what’s lost. A gentle, sulfate-free formula keeps the hair soft, hydrated, and behaving the way Remy hair should.

The wash routine

1. Brush the piece through gently first, from the ends up, so it goes into the water tangle-free.
2. Fill a basin with lukewarm water — never hot — and swirl in a little sulfate-free shampoo.
3. Lay the piece in, always holding the inside of the cap — never just drop it in and swish it around. Gently move it back and forth. Don’t scrub, twist, or wring it, and be especially soft around the lace front and the silk top.
4. Rinse under lukewarm running water until the water runs clear.
5. Smooth a little hair mask through the lengths and ends only — keep it off the lace and silk, where it loosens the knots over time.
6. Rinse the mask out completely. Any residue left behind makes the hair look dull and feel heavy.
7. Every month or so, treat the lengths to a deep conditioning mask — leave it on for about 10 minutes before rinsing for a little extra softness.

Watch the full wash routine

04Drying

Gently squeeze the excess water out with your hands — no wringing, no twisting. Wrap the piece in a soft towel and press to draw out excess water. Once most of the water is out, gently brush it through with a wide-tooth comb, then set it on a wig stand to air-dry, combing it into your part once it’s damp rather than soaking.

Air-drying always gives a silkier finish, and it’s much kinder than heat. One thing we’d ask you to never do is give your wig or topper a blow out — meaning drying it while pulling the hair taut with a brush of any kind. That pulling is the fastest way to break the knots. If you leave your piece with a hairdresser to wash and style, please make sure they understand this too. We see a lot of wigs come in for repair after a hairdresser has blow-dried them the same way they would a client’s own head. If you’re in a hurry, you can gently blow-dry — just face the air downwards along the hair and keep the heat on a lower setting. Once it’s fully dry, it’s ready to style.

05Products we trust

These are the salon-quality lines we reach for in our own atelier — all sulfate-free, gentle on the lace, and kind to human hair. They’re easy to find and not especially pricey. Use any of them with confidence.

06Styling fundamentals

You can heat-style a human hair piece just like your own hair. Always use a heat protectant first. It puts a barrier between the heat and the hair, and it’s the difference between a piece that stays soft and full of shine and one that dries out before its time.

Work in small sections rather than big ones, and keep the iron moving instead of holding it in one spot. And stay well away from the lace and silk with any heat tool.

Tools that make it easier

Styling your piece is much easier with a few helpful tools on hand. Alongside the ones below, it’s worth keeping a spray bottle of water, a heat protectant, and both a rat-tail comb and a wide-tooth comb nearby.

07Straight styling

This is the easiest and quickest style. Your wig or topper will usually air-dry to a relaxed straight, and from there a hair straightener gives you a sleek, polished look. Spray the hair with heat protectant and then work your way through the hair in small sections.

How to style straight

08Curls and waves

Curls and waves behave on human hair exactly the way they do on your own — set by heat, held by a quick cool-down. Mist with heat protectant, take small sections about an inch wide, wrap each around a curling wand for a few seconds, then drop the curl into your hand and let it cool there. For a classic curl, we recommend curling away from your face toward the back, then doing the same on the other side. That cool-down is the step almost everyone skips, and it’s the very thing that decides how long the curl lasts. For soft beach waves, run your fingers through once the whole piece has cooled.

How to style curls and waves

09Storage and travel

When you’re not wearing your piece, it belongs on a stand — a fabric-covered wig head, a cork head, or a collapsible travel one. A stand keeps the cap in shape and the hair sitting straight, and saves you from the tangle that always happens when a piece is left in a drawer.

Mind the head size. Mannequin and cork heads come in different sizes, and yours should sit slightly smaller than your cap, never larger. A head that stretches the cap is the most common cause of cap distortion we see.

For travel, pack a collapsible stand and a silk drawstring bag. The piece travels in the bag inside your carry-on, and the stand lies flat in your suitcase. When you arrive, set the piece on the stand at the end of the day and let it find its shape again overnight.

10What can damage your piece

Most of the everyday hazards are easy to avoid once you know what they are.

Ocean and pool

Salt water and chlorine are hard on human hair, just as they are on your own. You can absolutely wear your Goldylost piece to the beach or the pool — but every time you do, you shorten its life a little. If you spend a lot of time at the beach or the pool, our hat wigs are perfect for those days: they’re more durable, they sit beautifully under a cap or a sun hat, and they come in at a lower price point, so you can save your hand-tied piece for other days.

Sunscreens

Some sunscreens contain avobenzone and octocrylene, two chemical filters that react with colored hair and can pull blonde and gray pieces toward an unwanted orange or yellow. Mineral sunscreens — the ones with zinc oxide or titanium dioxide as the active ingredient — are a better option.

Perfume and fragrance

Perfume is alcohol-based, so spraying it on or near the hair dries it out and can change the color. Chemical sunscreens do the same — we see it most along the hairline and the nape, where the hair rubs against your skin — and so do fragranced products worn on your skin. Wherever you can, use natural, fragrance-free products only.

Blonde and gray care

Blondes and grays gently oxidize over time, drifting warmer and more golden. When they need it, a purple shampoo diluted in a sink of water — never applied directly to the hair — will bring back the cool tone you fell in love with. Be careful not to overdo it, though: too much purple shampoo dries the hair out and can leave it looking dull. When a rinse isn’t quite enough anymore, a re-tone in our atelier or at a wig-savvy salon brings it right back.

Products to avoid

Most salon-quality products are perfectly safe on your piece, with a few exceptions. Dark oils — think argan oils with a deep tint — slowly deposit pigment into blonde hair and leave it brassy, so reach for clear oils instead. Colored root sprays can stain the silk top of a topper or the lace at the front of a wig, so keep those off the piece entirely, even if you love them on your own hair. And detox or clarifying shampoos can be very drying for the hair, so steer clear of those too.

Never use bleach on any of our pieces. A hairdresser experienced with wigs can lighten our virgin hair pieces, but we don’t recommend ever bleaching our colored pieces.

Friction and rubbing

Constant rubbing against rough surfaces — a wool collar, a high car seat, the same baseball cap day after day — causes tangling and breakage right where they touch. Notice where your piece rubs and adjust what you can. I wouldn’t wear a tight hat over a wig for hours on end; if you want head coverage, a hat wig is built for exactly that.

Direct sun exposure

Long stretches of direct sun fade color and weaken the hair, the same way they do on your own. It lifts the deeper tones first — a dark root or lowlights — so over time your blonde ends up looking like one flat shade and eventually needs a recolor. A quick spritz of UV-protection mist before a beach day or a long afternoon outside genuinely buys you more color life.

“If you’re going to be a wig wearer, it’s worth taking a little time to learn how to care for your hair. That small effort is what keeps it beautiful.” — Clementine, Goldylost

11Frequently asked questions

These are the care questions I hear most. If yours isn’t here, send it our way — this section grows out of real conversations.

How often should I wash my piece? Every 10 to 20 wears, and lean toward less if you can. The cap and the lace will thank you for it.

My piece is tangling — what do I do? Brush gently from the ends up, work a good hair mask through the lengths, and rinse well. Stubborn tangling is usually a sign the piece is overdue for a wash, or that a product has built up on it. It can also come from damaged hair, most often at the nape (from friction) and around the hairline (from touching it or from hot tools). If a good hair mask doesn’t resolve it, we offer keratin treatments to smooth the hair again — and we can even replace the damaged hair with new hair.

Are there extra steps I can take to protect the knots? Yes. You can use a knot sealer — a spray applied to the inside of the hairline that helps lock the knots in place and slow the hair loss that comes from everyday wear and friction.

Can I sleep in my piece? We’d recommend not to — sleeping in your piece will significantly reduce its life. If you do, wear a silk bonnet to protect it.

Can I dye or tone my piece at home? Never at home — and honestly, we wouldn’t even recommend taking it to your local stylist. Coloring a wig or topper is very different from coloring hair on a head, so if you want to adjust the color, always go to a colorist who is experienced with wigs, or send it to our atelier.

Can I cut it myself? Never — and we wouldn’t recommend your local stylist either. Cutting a wig or topper is very different from cutting hair on a head, so always go to a stylist who is experienced with wigs, or send it to our atelier.

How do I keep my blonde from going brassy? A regular purple shampoo rinse, a UV-protection mist before time in the sun, and a re-tone with us every six to twelve months.

My piece smells — what now? It’s almost always overdue for a wash. Lukewarm water, sulfate-free shampoo, gentle swishing, a full rinse. If the smell lingers after that, send it to us for a professional refresh.

Can I use my normal styling tools? Yes — just always use a heat protectant first, and keep the iron off the lace and silk.

What’s a professional refresh? About once a year, we’ll give your piece a deep wash, re-tone the color, and re-cut it where it needs it, all in our Sydney atelier.

What if my wig has lost hair — can it be repaired? Yes. We offer repair services and can hand-sew new hair back into thin areas.

12Glossary of terms

The vocabulary of care is small but specific. Below are the terms that appear in this guide and in most conversations about wig and topper maintenance.

Avobenzone

A chemical sunscreen filter that, together with sunlight, can push blonde and gray hair toward unwanted warm tones. Keep it off the piece.

Brassy

The warm, yellow-orange tone blonde hair can drift into over time. Corrected with purple shampoo or a salon tone.

Cool-down

The step after curling a section, where the curl is dropped into your hand and left to cool fully before it’s touched. It’s what makes the curl last.

Cork head

A cork-cored mannequin head used to store a wig or topper between wears. Should sit slightly smaller than your cap size.

Cuticle

The microscopic outer layer of each hair strand. Aligned in Remy hair; stripped away in non-Remy.

Deep conditioning mask

A treatment worked through the lengths once a month or so, left in for 5 to 15 minutes, then rinsed thoroughly.

Heat protectant

A leave-in spray or cream applied before any heat styling. It forms a film between the iron and the hair.

Knot

The tiny knot at the lace or silk top where a hair strand is tied to the cap. Keep conditioner and heat away from the knots.

Lukewarm

The water temperature for washing: cooler than body temperature, warmer than tap-cold. Hot water shortens the life of the lace.

Octocrylene

A second chemical sunscreen filter that can shift blonde hair color. Common in drugstore sunscreens. Keep it off the piece.

Professional refresh

A once-a-year service in our atelier — deep wash, re-tone, and a re-cut where needed — that can add a year of life to a piece.

Purple shampoo

A toning shampoo with violet pigment that neutralizes yellow tones in blonde or gray hair.

Sulfate-free

Shampoo made without sodium lauryl sulfate or related agents. Gentler on the lace, the knots, and the cuticle.

Travel stand

A collapsible wig stand made to pack flat. It sets up at your destination so the piece keeps its shape overnight.

UV-protection mist

A leave-in spray that shields the hair from sun damage and color fade. Worth a spritz before a beach day or any long afternoon outside.

Wig stand

The fabric-covered, cork, or polystyrene head used to store a piece at home.

Need a hand

If you’re ever unsure about a step — how often to wash, which shampoo to use, whether a product is safe — send me a note or book a consultation. Care advice comes with every Goldylost piece, whether you bought it yesterday or three years ago.

Book your consultation