Wigs 101: Every Wig Type, Explained

A lace front wig has a panel of sheer lace across the entire front hairline — 13 inches ear to ear, 4 inches deep. The hair is hand-tied into that lace so the hairline reads as if it grows from your scalp, and the rest of the cap is machine-sewn wefts. This is the construction most people mean when they say “wig.”

A 13x6 lace front wig is the same 13 inches of lace ear to ear, but six inches deep instead of four. Those two extra inches sit behind the hairline, and they are what let you part deeply off-center, wear a middle part that still reads as scalp several inches back, or push the whole front away from your face.

A closure wig has a square patch of lace at the top of the head instead of a strip across the front — 4x4, 5x5, 6x6 or 7x7 inches. Everything outside that square is machine-sewn wefts. You get a realistic part where the closure sits and a solid, opaque hairline everywhere else, which is far less lace to lay down.

HD lace is a material, not a cap construction — you can have an HD 13x4, an HD 5x5 closure or an HD full lace wig. It is a thinner, finer-knit lace than standard or transparent lace, so it sits closer to the skin and effectively disappears at conversational distance. Every other spec on this page is unchanged by it.

A full lace wig is hand-tied into lace across the entire cap, not just the front. Because there are no wefts anywhere, the hair can be parted, pulled up, braided or worn in a high ponytail from any direction. It is the only construction that lets you wear a true updo with no visible seam.

A 360 lace wig has lace running around the entire perimeter of the head — front hairline, both sides and the nape — with a wefted cap in the middle. It is the compromise between a frontal and a full lace: you can wear a high ponytail because the perimeter is all lace, but the crown stays machine-sewn, so the wig holds its density and costs less.

A glueless wig stays on with an adjustable elastic band, combs and sometimes an inner grip band — no adhesive, no gel, no lace to cut. Mayvenn’s are built on 5x5 HD lace with the hairline already plucked and the knots already bleached, so it goes on in under a minute and comes off the same way.

A headband wig has no lace anywhere. A fabric headband is sewn across the front and the wefted cap sits behind it, so the band itself covers the hairline. There is nothing to cut, tint, glue or lay — you pull it on like a hat. It is the fastest wig to put on that exists.

A U-part wig is a wefted cap with a U-shaped opening at the front. You pull your own hair through that opening to cover the front of the wig, so the part and the hairline are your real hair. There is no lace to match to your skin and nothing to glue — the realism comes from you, not from the unit.

A half wig covers only the back of your head and clips in behind your own hairline, leaving the entire front — your part, your edges, your face-framing hair — as your real hair. It adds length and thickness rather than replacing your hair, which is why it reads as natural with almost no technique.

A bob wig is defined by its length rather than its construction — anything from a chin-grazing cut to just past the shoulder, built on whichever cap the maker chose. Short hair means less weight pulling on the lace and far less hair to maintain, which makes bobs the most forgiving human hair wig to own.

Ready to wear means the work that normally happens before your first install is already done: the hairline is plucked, the knots are bleached, and the lace is pre-cut or there is no lace at all. It describes a level of finish rather than a cap shape, so headband, glueless closure and some U-part wigs all qualify.