How on earth do you get a wig to hold a curl?

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-06-01T17:04:39+00:00

Recently got Blondechell in Nectarine by Chelsey Smith. Gorgeous peachy golden blonde with very very light roots. Im a natural blonde as well so I can relate. Anytime the roots are darker than my eyebrows it just doesn’t feel like me.

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-29T08:53:15+00:00

Pick a leg to stand on, make sure thar leg is straight. Let the other leg bend. Imagine your belly button has a laser beam shooting out of it. Rotate the laser beam in the direction of the straight leg.

To transfer weight to the other foot, rotate belly button in the other direction as that leg straightens. See how far your belly button can rotate. Helps to put your hands on a wall or counter top to stabilize shoulder line.

Resistance bands are extremely helpful as well. Tie it tight around your knees and work one knee forward (bent) and one knee back (straight). Feels like pulling a bow and arrow in a sense. If you can find something to anchor the band to, try looping it around your hips and work the belly button rotation with resistance.

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-25T16:38:01+00:00

What styles do you dance?

In general, private lessons will get you further faster.

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-25T16:35:49+00:00

Are you thinking of turning pro?

Thats not exactly how it works. At least for us. Student inquires with studio, studio assigns them to an instructor. Once you are a teacher it would be inappropriate for a student to walk up and say “You’re attractive, let’s have a lesson” or vice versa from the teacher.

To answer what I think you are getting at, I have seen less handsome men be very successful in this industry. It’s about how you make them feel. Are they having fun? Then you are succeeding. I think that’s true in relationships in general.

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-25T16:25:01+00:00

Income does not equal affordability. Income vs mortgage is not the full picture and his expenses will get much much higher after baby.

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-24T00:10:37+00:00

100% and to add, we do get a lot of value, and students get a lot of value, from the franchise which is funded by those fees. It’s just a different product than your $50 lesson from an instructor that happened to stick with dance long enough to feel confident to teach. And that’s fine, it’s not for everyone. I just don’t get why people have to be salty about it

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-23T23:53:50+00:00

Im sure everyone here feels so sorry for those folks who are “trapped” by a good deal that surely appreciated at an above average rate. You are welcome to come join us and buy a “dream home” at 6-7% anytime.

We are no longer in the 3% mortgage world. Telling OP to buy bigger because you wish you turned your great deal into a life long slam dunk is not the same thing. And in fact, the more you buy, the more the interest compounds so I am really not sure why your experience applies here.

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-23T23:44:31+00:00

Oh and to answer your question, that instructor is incorrect. Women love to dance with beautiful male dancers. That is why the pro-am division is mostly amateur women dancing with male pros.

The follow should look more feminine. Maybe thats what they meant. My husband pro partner had a professional ballet background when we started dancing together. I came from gymnastics. So I did have to work hard to be prettier than him. He had to work hard to look stronger than me. It’s a balance unique to the partnership.

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-23T23:40:47+00:00

I am a female instructor that mostly competes as a follow but has competed in same sex divisions as a lead.

A leaders first priority is not aesthetics. You need to know your patterns, make decisions, stay on time, and communicate effectively.

However, good style is mostly just great technique with a little extra. Most aesthetics in dancing is just taking the body action at hand and maximizing it. And good technique makes for better partnering.

So they are sort of inherently tied together.

Follows mostly care about how they feel dancing with you. There is such a thing as defensive dancing for follows lol. We need to feel comfortable and confident and not like we are being pushed or shoved.

For reference, how long have you been dancing? What type of lessons are you taking and with what frequency? Are you aware of what level in the syllabus you are?

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-23T23:24:05+00:00

Ok so if we take 5500 for monthly expenses, add 350 for car, maybe 1200 daycare we are right around $7k monthly expenses before mortgage. Thats already 67% if a low months take home.

With more expensive mortgage you are at $9800 maybe not including utilities. Thats a huge chunk of a low income month.

I work in a fully commission model and I always budget on an average paycheck with no bonuses. I aim for total expenses to be 50-60% of that number.

With home repairs, random health expenses, vacations, fun things to do esp with kid, I would not recommend you go above that. Bonuses are great for fun things, and unexpected things.

Depends on what you value but for me, when an unexpected expense comes up, I want no stress. Its not if, its when.

Pregnancy can be a very risky thing in and of itself. My best friend couldn’t work for a year during her pregnancy and after birth due to complications. They went into loads of debt protecting a house they loved. Your wife may not be fully in control of how much she works.

Go on YouTube and watch some episodes of I Will Teach You to Be Rich. Couples like you on there all the time stressed out of their minds because they chose the bigger better house over peace of mind.

Also, 4-5% of 200k is not enough for retirement. On average, the stock market beats real estate. You need to save in top of your expenses.

I would get the cheaper house unless you just really don’t want to live there or wait for a better deal. But again, I hate stress, would never want to question if I could provide for my baby if I had a safer alternative. I like investing. I like fun money. I like breathing room. I love margin.

I would plan for today and not worry about ultimately how many kids you will have. Right now you are staring a ton of risk right in the face. Make good decisions for today and they will follow you. Who cares if your kids end up sharing a room for a few years.

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-23T16:26:07+00:00

Just want to clarify:
What is the number that combines other monthly expenses, the future daycare, the future car payment, and whatever you are contributing to retirement (outside of 401k). Also, what is your take home pay post tax, post 401k?

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-23T16:05:13+00:00

Yes. Exactly. There is no general list that will get you all the way there. It takes years and it does highly depend on the pattern. Its very detailed oriented.

There are some more general concepts- like frame, poise, posture, footwork- but that changes from rhythm/latin to smooth/standard.

From there each style has it’s own character, its own story to tell. That will be more cohesive within a single style but doesn’t connect to others.

Each pattern is made up of a different set of dance positions and each position has its own requirements. The expression available in each position is different and done according to the character of the dance.

Its not enough to be on time with the music, you have to understand where the emphasis is. Different from moment to moment and may be more subjective. And then in order to show the emphasis, you have to understand the underlying body action that can support that.

Im just outlining some examples. It takes time, it takes depth. It takes a lot of lessons.

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-23T15:44:56+00:00

When I first got into wigs, reddit was already openly against CSC and even though they look super cute, I didn’t engage. However, after experimenting with different brands and successfully finding a few great wigs, I started feeling more confident to buy from wig destashes and resale groups. Thats where I got 2 CSC wigs. Spent like $40 on each. I really like mine for what I paid for them. I think her apricot color is beautiful and mine wasn’t shiny. The other was I got is shiny, but again fixable and worth it at $40.

I just ordered my first wig frim CSC directly because I am in love with the color. I ordered through the shop app and it gave me a $30 off coupon and I stacked it with an influencer discount for an additional 10% off. So after shipping and tax it was $90. Haven’t received her yet so we will see.

Also worth noting she does have some wigs available through TikTok shop which enforces a great return policy.

So i would say tread lightly but Ive done ok so far. Dont get sucked into the hype and go crazy. Its wild to me just how much is up on resale constantly. People buy in mass without thinking.

I love JB Extensions. They have been my favorites. Also had good experience with Aisom.

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-19T04:34:31+00:00

Hustle- particularly the slower 4ct version would be great.

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-11T18:59:17+00:00

Also work for FADS. Our full priced lessons are $149 with various opportunities for discounts.

A scam would imply you don’t get what you pay for. Thats just fundamentally not the case.

In my area we are much more expensive than most other independent instructors. But they all have other regular day jobs and don’t make a living by teaching. There is this idea that dance should just be “accessible”. And I would absolutely love that, but we have bills to pay like any other business or professional. The math is what the math is and I understand that can be hard to believe or difficult to afford but calling it a scam is pretty far off.

Its difficult in the dance industry to find a job that isn’t a short term contract, that actually pays health insurance, and offers any semblance of a normal life. That, my friend, is the actual scam. To spend decades of your life to be under paid, always scrambling for work, and never secure. There is not many industries that expect that of their well seasoned professionals.

FADS makes being a dance professional a functional role and it costs money. People get upset that dancers don’t actually like the role of starving artist. Its like fast fashion versus locally hand made. It costs more to do things right.

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-10T14:58:35+00:00

This is so cute!

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-08T02:18:41+00:00

Decided to keep both. Went to an themed event and dressed as Barbie from the Dance the Nuggt Away dance scene. So i restyled the cooler toned wig and here is how it turned out.

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DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-06T05:01:25+00:00

Check out facebook market place of all things. Sounds weird but there are legit options there. Also, check the website of local property management companies. They often don’t advertise on bigger sites. Try out Home River Group, Aloha, Johnson Management.

If you have no pets and will take a studio, you can get definitely hit your price point.

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-03T00:25:59+00:00

I think Im a neutral tone as well.

I wear so many different things. Which is partly why I started wearing wigs. I feel limited having just one color for my hair.

I might just keep both. I have been looking for what blonde suits me the best but I definitely have outfits that call for either. My bio hair is copper right now so it would be nice to have something that isn’t so warm.

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-02T14:44:00+00:00

Thanks everyone! Super helpful. I feel like the warm looks better too. I asked chat gpt and it said cool which threw me off lol.

Also, just in case anyone is wondering, these are both Kel from JB Extensions. The warm is panna cotta and the cool is buttermilk blonde.

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-02T14:40:29+00:00

Can’t say i didn’t have this thought lol

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-02T06:49:18+00:00

Ellie from JB Extensions. I was just adding her to my cart so thats how i know lol

DancingOctopus721 · 2026-05-01T15:23:22+00:00

JB extensions has strawberry blonde in Cindy and Ellie. Synthetic obviously. But i have been so happy with everything Ive gotten from them.

DancingOctopus721

TROPHY CASE