1. CHOOSE HAIR TYPE CAREFULLY. Research the type of hair, make sure it's safe to style it the way you want to. Some hair takes a little heat okay, some doesn't.
2. CHOOSE HAIR COLOR CAREFULLY. Don't just eyeball it and go for the closest. Use reference pictures, compare to swatches, stuff like that! If you just take a guess and don't like it later, you oftentimes cannot return the hair because it's been cut or blended to your custom order. No takesies back!
If you like, you can do what I do! Get a reference pic of your character in a well-lit place, pull it into an image editor, and blow up blobs of the hair color so you can see it better. Then you can put photo swatches of the hair right next to the blobs and compare them. It looks kinda like this:
3. While removing the old hair, it really really helps to heat the head with hot water or a low-heat hair dryer. It really helps get the old hair glue to loosen up. Also, you can do it with tweezers, but I got a great pair of extra long needle-nose pliers at my local craft store and they were worth every penny in my opinion.
4. Before you start rerooting the new hair, get it a little bit damp. Spray it with water, or sprinkle a little water on it in the sink. This helps the hair clump together and stay neat. When I didn't do this step, I had stray hair flying everywhere in a big mess.
5. If you're using the rerooting tool method, put a little piece of scotch tape on your fingertip. This saves your finger from being gouged when you're trying to get the hair on the tiny hook to go in the head.
That's all I got so far. If I learn any more valuable tips, I'll add them. Also, other experienced rerooters, share your wisdom! Feel free to add to this list!
