00:00There's just so much potential in every single one of these wigs.
00:03For some reason, I've decided that it's up to me
00:06to really pull out the potential.
00:08This is the career path that I've chosen.
00:11Could have been a banker.
00:21Hello, my name is Ryan Carpenter.
00:23I'm also known as Fina Barbatal.
00:25And I am a wig stylist for Elite Drag Queens.
00:31So, styling hair has always been part of my drag journey
00:36since the beginning.
00:38Whatever wigs I would see,
00:40they just never really encapsulated what I wanted.
00:43So I would always have to do some sort of, like, finessing to them.
00:51I feel like I started styling wigs professionally
00:55when I moved to L.A.
00:56I was having a hard time finding work
00:59and Katya had a bunch of wigs lying around.
01:03She's like, well, why don't you style these
01:04so I can wear them on my web series?
01:07Trixie Mattel.
01:08Barbara Bonaduce, a.k.a. your mom's huge ass at large, Katya.
01:12And so she went away on tour.
01:14When she came back, I had, like, a countertop
01:16full of, like, big giant styled wigs.
01:19When she saw all that, she was like,
01:21okay, I'm going to invest in you.
01:23So as far as working with Trixie and Katya,
01:26I would consider myself their conservator
01:28in the sense that they come to work fully painted
01:31and hair and all that.
01:33I'm there just in case, you know,
01:35things start to, like, fall off or misplace,
01:38and I can kind of, you know, remold and reshape.
01:47Why don't I show you some of my latest pieces
01:50that I think are completely stage worthy.
01:54First, I have this sort of, like, pinstripe look.
01:58I use some glue and these, like, rhinestone strips
02:02to kind of give it this look.
02:03Because it's synthetic, you can really get a lot of good teasing
02:07in there and get it nice and airy and kind of soft.
02:10And that way, when it is so big, it doesn't feel heavy.
02:14This next wig is really interesting.
02:17The whole thing is made of this, like,
02:21super iridescent tinsel.
02:23And I love how the crystals kind of make it look like a crown.
02:27This is a helmet, which is good for drag,
02:31because you need something very sturdy.
02:33You could fall off, land on your head,
02:35and not have a concussion.
02:37You could ride a bike in this.
02:38You could ride a motorcycle.
02:40In this wig, I've double stacked it,
02:41which means there is the base wig,
02:43and then a few inches back, we place another wig
02:46and then stuffing to create more volume.
02:50The main product that I use for doing
02:52such a big, huge style like this
02:54would be Got To Be Glued and my trusty hairdryer.
02:57I would spray certain sections and use the hairdryer
03:01to kind of freeze that into submission.
03:04Let's start off with some basic stylings
03:07of a classic drag hair.
03:10In front of me, I have this great, wonderful wig
03:13from Wigs by Vanity.
03:15It is a premium lace front.
03:18And by premium, I mean that the hair fibers themselves
03:21are made very well.
03:22They're high quality.
03:23The actual lace is high quality.
03:25So I just go in and I do sort of a simple root tease.
03:31It's really good to use a nice, stiff, tight, bristled brush.
03:37And you're brushing down towards the root and out.
03:41It's kind of like drag makeup.
03:44Everything looks a mess until like the last two minutes.
03:47And before you know it, we have the beginnings of a style.
03:54So now that it's all pushed back and teased up,
03:56we're going to move on to our metal combed paddle brush.
03:59Metal combs are better for synthetic hair
04:01because the plastic combs heat up the hair
04:05and can kind of like fudge it up.
04:08So we take this and I use it to smooth out the ends.
04:15Now I'm going to use a smoothing brush
04:19to work the front of the wig.
04:22And we can use this to sort of brush the hair
04:27in the front up and back.
04:30Can you see how that's like smoothing it out?
04:32This isn't going to be like a perfect style.
04:35This is more like flirty bedroom hair.
04:39So now that I'm finished,
04:40I'll go in with a little bit of a finishing spray
04:43of this got to be glued freezing.
04:47I got a manicure yesterday just for this.
04:50Once I put it on my head,
04:51I'll zhuzh it some more
04:53and I'll spray it some more
04:54and get it to where I want it to be.
04:57So I started performing professionally
04:59in drag when I was 18.
05:02Once I stepped onto that stage
05:03and performed for the first time,
05:05there was no looking back.
05:07Today, this is going to be a classic Fina look.
05:13It was not cool to do drag where I was from.
05:16So I kind of grew up fearless.
05:19So after the eyes,
05:21I always start with contour cream,
05:24contour and cream blush,
05:27which to contrast now,
05:29I'll go in with Dermablend Cover Cream
05:31which is my tried and true foundation.
05:35It's hard to say like how Fina came about.
05:39I think the character for me
05:41has just been developed over such a long time.
05:49Okay.
05:49This part gets powdery and messy.
05:57Okay.
05:58Well, that's the final look
05:59and we're done.
06:03Thoughts?
06:09I always feel like when the lashes go on
06:11and I get the full look in the mirror,
06:14I'm like,
06:14okay, now I can start to feel it.
06:20All right.
06:21Now we are ready to get wigged.
06:25So,
06:26I've never worn this wig before.
06:28So first things first,
06:30I'm going to trim the lace.
06:32So I'm trimming right up to the hairs
06:34because
06:35it lays better
06:37that way.
06:38And then I take a little bit of
06:39got-to-be-glued freezing spray
06:41and I
06:42lightly spray the inside of the lace
06:45and then
06:47lightly spray my forehead.
06:51Flip the hair back.
06:53bring it forward.
06:59And lay it down.
07:08This wig is so superbly designed
07:12that it doesn't really require
07:15glue
07:15at the moment.
07:16If I was going to perform,
07:17I would put a little bit of glue
07:18on the sides.
07:22It's really crazy to me that drag
07:24has become
07:25such a political conversation.
07:29You see people talking about drag queens
07:30and it's like,
07:31you know, just leave us alone.
07:33We're not here to bother anybody.
07:35We will march
07:36when it's time
07:37and when,
07:38you know,
07:39our rights are being threatened
07:40and things like that.
07:41Drag has
07:42no guidelines,
07:44no rules.
07:45It's for everybody.
07:46People can say things
07:47and judge
07:48and do whatever they want
07:49but they have no power over it
07:51because you can still do it.
07:53Everybody's got their own
07:54definition of what their drag is.
08:00I think you can get out now.
08:04Get.
08:06Get.
08:07Get.
08:13I have to go
08:16to Starbucks.
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