When directing or producing television, films, or theatre, you need to be aware that costume wigs are something you’re going to need to be aware of. Sometimes the hair of the actor does not match what the character should look like, hence the need for costume wigs. The reason behind needing these costume wigs is immersion above all else, you need to draw the audience into the fiction to make them emotionally invested in what happens. Most of this is done through presentation rather than acting, and skimping out of things like costume wigs is an absolute death wish when it comes to drawing in the audience. Say for instance the character is meant to have a full head of hair that is mentioned in the script, but the actor is going prematurely bald and as a result does not have the long thick mane mentioned in the script. This inconsistency is going to just pull the audience out of the fiction, hence why costume wigs are more than just a visual element; they’re an essential tool for making sure that the illusion is not broken.
The quality of costume wigs can vary, you’re going to find cheaper quality costume wigs in theatre productions, whereas the best quality costume wigs are going to be found in major movie productions in order to absolutely maintain the illusion. The reason for this is distance, in theatre you are always a distance away from the actor and their costume wigs, so the cheaper costume wigs are passable because you can’t really tell that they’re wearing shoddy costume wigs. In films, the costume wigs have to hold up to scrutiny close up under high definition cameras, hence why the quality of the costume wigs are almost as close to realistic hair as you can possibly ever get. Buying costume wigs usually only gives you access to the lower and medium quality costume wigs as the best costume wigs are often created as a custom work for the specific project it is required for, so if you want to have the best possible costume wigs you can get you’re going to have to hire a professional to create them.