00:00And look at this! This is a big... Can I say f***ing? I can't say f***ing. I can't say f***ing.
00:04I already know. Got it.
00:06Hi, my name is Monet X Change from RuPaul's Drag Race, and we're here in my wig closet!
00:11Now listen, before I show you my wigs and you get all up in my gig, don't forget to subscribe
00:14below. It's important.
00:21Wigs are very important to any drag persona because a wig has a lot of character.
00:26A wig is what type of diva that you're going to be that day.
00:29I normally start with the hair, and then I figure out what the rest of the outfit is going to
00:32be because a wig can make or break a look.
00:38Now look at this good time girl. I like to call her Shaterika.
00:42She was your RA freshman and sophomore year in college, but she would not write you up if she caught
00:47you.
00:47You know what I mean? She was a cool down chick.
00:50Lots of girls don't wear natural hair in drag, and I'm like, I love it. I think natural hair is
00:53beautiful.
00:54So I have lots of natural variations. Look at this top mount. Isn't it ridiculous?
01:02It's bad tonight, girl. When I have this on my head, you cannot tell me it is not sprouting from
01:06my scalp.
01:07Okay? This is giving you Jada Pinkett in the Matrix Niobe Realness.
01:13This is Courtney, or Ashley, or Kelsey, or Mary-Kate. See this like messy little top knot bun mom.
01:22I put this on when she wants to feel fun and frilly. I'm gonna have cocktails with the girls.
01:30If you watch RuPaul's Drag Race, you know what this wig is.
01:33This is my promo here for All-Stars 4.
01:36I wanted to do something fun, something that I thought that no one else would do.
01:39And I'm very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very inspired by Grace Jones.
01:44I think that Grace Jones is a style icon in every sense of the word.
01:50My wig guy, Domino Couture, can literally create any hair.
01:54And we got this icy pompadour fantasy. Like, I'm obsessed.
02:02If I had to look at this wall of wigs, you can send a couple of your kids to college
02:07with all this hair up in hair. Hair up in hair.
02:11Oh my god, I'm gonna start a series. Hair up in hair. Thank you, Refinery.
02:16Again, if you're looking at this wall, you're looking at someone's tuition.
02:20I would guesstimate $50,000. My most expensive wig to date is $1,500.
02:24It is a full lace human hair moment, and it's about 60 inches long.
02:30Let's just give you a little sheer. Let's give you a little scissor.
02:33Let's give you a little scissor.
02:39RuPaul Andre Charles on Season 10 came at me for wearing pussycat wigs.
02:45And pussycat wigs, or as some people call it, a bus driver wigs,
02:49are typically very short wigs. You can just pull it off your purse,
02:52and it looks the same, and it's fine every time.
02:54I have a slew of bus driver wigs, and I love them.
02:57Giving you the NeNe Leakes fantasy. Look at this, girl.
03:00This is glam, honey. I don't know how to look, but I know how to look this.
03:09So this is the wig I'm gonna be putting on today.
03:11I'm gonna have my final beauty glam look for you.
03:25So I went to this drag competition called Cattle Call in New York City,
03:28a therapy bar hosted by Peppermint, and you had to be in drag for this thing.
03:33So I went down to MAC, got me a cold liner and a Ruby Woo lipstick, girl.
03:37And you could not tell me I was not the prettiest.
03:40I was like, oh, this was actually really fun.
03:42And the one thing led to another. I started going out more.
03:45I started doing more competitions, and I started working a lot in New York City.
03:49You know what? Surprisingly, my first wig ever in drag was actually a pretty good one.
03:53And I had no idea what I was doing, but it was this, like, nice lace front.
03:57Now, I looked a mess, but the wig was fierce.
04:00And after I, like, learned more about drag, I, like, added some tracks in,
04:04because, I mean, it was pretty bald-headed.
04:05Now, for the children at home, before you, uh, want to start investing in wigs,
04:10know this. They are expensive, okay?
04:13Especially for drag queens. Lots of drag hair is custom.
04:29I've had lots of strong, powerful women in my life, so that's what my drag is very inspired by.
04:34I perform pieces that speak to women's empowerment often.
04:38I feel the need to, again, to not just wear long, silky straight hair.
04:42That's so boring. It's so vanilla. I like to do natural hair.
04:46I like to do things to show the beautiful kaleidoscope that all different women have.
04:50Some women have kinky hair. Some women have curly hair, straight hair.
04:53I like to do every single type of hair and make it look pretty.
04:55That is what my drag is really inspired by, because that's what I saw growing up.
04:59To me, that's what makes my drag, I think, special.
05:23So, RuPaul's Drag Race has become this very amazing and beautiful show, and it's becoming
05:28very prominent in pop culture. There are so many people of color, queer people of color,
05:33getting their stories told through RuPaul's Drag Race. Being a drag queen of color has definitely
05:37presented its challenges to me. I've been called everything in the book for no good reason.
05:41People shaming me for wearing afro, shaming me for wearing braids and box braids.
05:46I'm like, again, those are beautiful hairstyles.
06:08Black women have definitely been instrumental in injecting wiggity into pop culture.
06:14I remember growing up in America, I was not proud to be black, because I was taught through
06:18TV and through magazines and through all that stuff that being black was not something that
06:22was fierce. Not until my early 20s when I left college. It was weird. I woke up one day,
06:26I was like, being black is f***ing everything. I love to get up, look in the mirror, see my skin.
06:32It was just an epiphany I had one day, so that's why in my drag I tried to do that
06:35so much.
06:36By wearing lots of African prints and wearing natural hair and just doing things to accentuate
06:44the black experience and how that has changed my life and how it has made me a much more informed
06:48adult and a human being.
07:19What I want people to take away from the women exchange experience is how proud and how unapologetically
07:26myself and black that I am.
07:32Hey, Refinery29 peoples, comment below and let us know what you want to see next. If you want some
07:38more Refinery29 content, subscribe up here. If you want to see the next video, click down here.
