Halloween is creeping up on us real quick this year, so it’s time to start thinking about the most important part of the Holiday…The Costume! IT is a classic scary movie known for it’s creepy killing clown, and the one thing Pennywise is known for is that flaming red hair. I’ll show you how we made our own DIY Pennywise wig from an “Old Man” wig that cost only a fraction of the price.
If you’ve ever seen a Pennywise costume in the stores than you know they can run upwards of $100 and up to $200 for a handmade adult one on Etsy. Just the famous red wig alone will cost you at least $40 for a decent one. Being the frugal gal that I am, when my Twins asked to be Pennywise (one the original 1990 and one the new 2017 version), I set out on a mission to DIY the best Pennywise costumes in all the land!
The one thing I had to get right is that famous flaming red hair. This DIY Pennywise wig was surprisingly easy to make, so if it looks intimidating to you I’m here to tell you “you can do it”! Honestly, for the price a store bought wig cost, they don’t even look half as good as this DIY one.
This was by far the most extravagent Halloween we’ve had as far as costumes go. Both boys were DIY’d from Salvation Army finds from head to toe. Justice was the O.G Pennywise from 1990, and Maddox was the new creepy clown. We had SO much fun making these, and we were the talk of the neighborhood while trick or treating! I of course was Georgie, complete with a yellow rain coat and a red balloon.
I hope this inspires you to DIY this or another costume this year!
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Supplies Needed to DIY a Pennywise Wig
- “Bald Old man” wig– We got ours from Spirit, but you can also get a similar one on Amazon.
- Temporary red spray on hair color– The one and only thing I would have changed, is adding some orange to the red, but the red did the trick
- Spray Adhesive
- Spray gel
- Hairspray
- Liquid latex – Flesh colored
- Applicator Sponges
- Scissors
If you aren’t up for DIYing your own Pennywise wig, don’t worry, you can always buy one too! Just beware, it won’t look as good as this!
Here is the “Bald Old Man” wig that we used as the base of the wig. Making a wig totally from scratch is out of even my wheelhouse.
How to make a Pennywise wig from an Bald Old Man wig
Cut and prepare the Bald Old Man wig
First I had him try it on to see what I was working with. Ironically, this is not even the Twin that got to where it (he was the Original IT), but he was much more compliant to being my manikin than Maddox was.
This wig has ALOT of hair, see how much is in the back? We don’t need all that so I just snipped off a good size chunk from the underside to use has the strip that Pennywise has right in the middle/front. You have to be careful to hold it all together because this is some ultra synthetic hair and flies all over if you set it down. Even after I cut the chunk from the back, you could hardly tell!
So now you’ll want to apply a decent layer of liquid latex to the bald cap of the wig where the chunk of hair will go, and then attach the chunk you just cut off to the top. Go around the edge where the hair meets the bald cap with more liquid latex to secure it in place. Don’t be shy with the latex, it dries clear, and the last thing you want is some synthetic hair flying around your Halloween Party!
Time to style and color. First use your hands to shape the hair into place like the above pic. I wouldn’t recommend using a brush, this is some nappy hair and the brush will pull it right out of its seams. Use a small amount of hair gel in your hands and mold and slick the hair in place. This will help it to hold it’s shape while we color it red. I also sprayed the middle piece that I constructed with spray adhesive to keep all the strands together and in one place.
Transform the wig from grey to red
Spray the entire wig, from roots to ends, with short strokes of red spray color. The application is similar to the way you would spray paint something, in short quick bursts. You don’t want to just go crazy spraying red or else you’ll have a huge mess. I got as close to the “scalp” as I could, but didn’t worry about it being perfect or if I got a little bit of red on the forehead. If you get some red on there, just go over it with some liquid latex and it will cover it right up. Plus, if you are going full force DIY Pennywise, you are going to want to use face paint to make the forehead white to match the rest of IT’s face.
Once you are satisfied with the color, allow it to fully dry before adding the hairspray and spray adhesive. You are going to want to shape it a bit more and perfect it, so if it’s still wet you’re gonna have some red hands. Now, once it’s dry, spray spray spray the heck out of it with hairspray and mold it exactly like the real thing. Once it is as good as it’s gonna get, go ahead and spray all over with spray adhesive. Let’s just say this wig made it through 2 Halloween events for my 9 year olds, plus trick or treating, and there wasn’t a hair out of place (HA no pun intended)!
Not bad huh? Like I said, the colored hair spray could have been a bit more on the orangy side, but hey I’ll take it.
See those bumps and veins on Pennywises forehead? I did my best to recreate the look with crumpled up little pieces of toilet paper stuck onto the forehead with lots of liquid latex. It was really easy and I had no method to it. I was kind of just sticking them on there haphazardly but I think it turned out pretty good. Then I just covered the forehead with white face paint when I did my sons makeup for the night. What do you think!?
There ya go folks, DIY Pennywise wig made from a Bald Old Man wig! Looks better than the store bought Pennywise wigs and cost a fraction of the price. Here is a side by side of the entire DIY Pennywise Costume. Stay tuned for how I made the costume itself…
I did not DIY the O.G pennywise wig, although in retrospect I probably could have done better then this. It was HUGE on him and he ended up taking it off 5 minutes in anyway. Here are my 2 little Pennywise The Dancing Clowns….1990 and 2017 IT.
Happy Halloween!
What are you dressing up as this Halloween? Are you gonna try out this DIY Pennywise Wig (Full DIY costume post coming soon!) Make sure to post the final result in my Craftastic Facebook group and tag me @mandapandaprojects so I can see how it turned out!
Until Next Time…
Stay Crafty San Diego!
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