practice head...to buy or not to buy??

Hey guys...I am thinking bout buying a practice head...I have only my son to practice on and he is getting quite fed up of me using him as a model!!

How have you found practice heads and are they worth spending the money to improve your technique??

They are a good investment in my opinion. I also purchased some 3 x 4 practice skins for line work . Type practice head in the search box and you' ll find a lot of info there.

Wimex has practice heads for about $16.
You might also find a local beauty/barber school who would be willing to donate their practice head after they have snipped the hair off.

I have replaced my whole family with one $16 Wimex practice head.
I think they have realized that I could replace the rest of them quit easily. Maybe now, they will clean up after themselves a little better.
xoxo

lol Fess maybe I need another one... all seriousness though. The practice heads dont give you the contours or wrinkles like real peeps and the paint does go on much better to real skin....

I bought a practice head and I rarely use it. The texture is so different that the paint never brushes on right and it never wants to come clean. Also, when I have it out my family says it creeps them out. I only paind $5.00 at a flea market for it, but in retrospect, I wouldn't buy another one.

I LOVE mine! No, it's not a good substitute forthe real thing, but I can practice over and over and it never complains! The secret is to spray on extra hold aerosol hairspray on it and allow it to dry. That seals the face so it washes clean. The guys and dolls here told me 100% acetone to remove stubborn stains. I got mine from the forum shop. After shipping it was less then what Wimex would cost for me. I got 2 so I can practice with a friend and named them Pat and Danny. ;-)

thanks guys...I think i may invest in one...I don't have enough children to be victims...muhahahahaha!

hahaha, I call the kids I practice on "victims" also

i got 3 from the local beauty school....and a few from my sister in law that is a beautician...I have never bought one...and the paint stains them..they are good for practice..if you get one..practice your line work in white...as the black and green and purple will stain it really bad...

I found a practice head on Amazon...it is plastic, but as I read, I can spray it with hairspray and that should make it easier to clean...it was 10 bucks...worth a try

Hairspray to protect when putting paint on, acetone to remove stains when taking paint off. Those are the 2 best practice head tips I got from this forum! Extra hold aerosol hairspray works best for me.

Training head bought my partner for us. I am disappointed that the colors can not be washed normally and the head is dirty and stained.
I contacted the seller and he apologized. charged no postage and recommended me to buy Clean Magic from the company Eulenspiegel.
I was pleasantly surprised! Indeed all the spots have disappeared from testing colors.
But it disappeared eyes and eyebrows too!
I think that it is not the head of the painting but for hairdressers.

Sorry, i'm afraid i just laughed out loud..
Well, it certainly gets it clean, but it makes me wonder what they put in that eulenspiegel product.....

Oh, and my practice head never had coloured eyes and brows, i always paint the eyes on, because i think it looks creepy with blank eyes :-)

I also laugh.
I'll find the content of the composition at home today.

Sorry it's off topic. I´m not satisfied with other products from Eulenspiegel.
These are the tattoo colors. The big difference compared to product photography or not? Another color, another quality.
And without brush. A very poorly applied nothing left on my skin to morning. (They promised 3-5 days)
55 USD (with activator liquid) I will return products to the supplier.

I tried my brush and did not wash anything. Neither alcohol, nail polish remover. Only with Magic Clean. And bristles change color.

I have the tattoo colors as well, and the only way to clean the brush seems to be with the tattoo liquid you use for activating the tattoos...
But my set looked the same as yours, I think that's normal...

some colours stay longer on the skin, like black and brown.
The other colours are gone very fast i find....

I am selling my practice head since I am selling my painting biz as well. I loved using her! I even like the flat area on the back that I could practice on. She wipes off easily with 100% acetone and cotton balls. I've tried to clean her up best I could. I will take $20 plus shipping if anyone is interested. She's a good one! Here are a couple pics:

http://db.tt/HTePkW2w
http://db.tt/4RA7ciLH
http://db.tt/uEiue4vG

fesspenter wrote:Wimex has practice heads for about $16.
You might also find a local beauty/barber school who would be willing to donate their practice head after they have snipped the hair off.

I have replaced my whole family with one $16 Wimex practice head.
I think they have realized that I could replace the rest of them quit easily. Maybe now, they will clean up after themselves a little better.
xoxo

Firstly, a question - would the barber school head work, skin-wise, for painting on? I thought they used plasticky ones where the paint would just run around, but then I've never been up close to one.

Secondly...when I read your second paragraph, I cackled so loudly I woke my cat. She's now giving me the evil eye. If nobody ever hears from me again, it's your fault, fesspenter!

A Possibly-About-To-Be-Dead Kammy x

I think I may have to pick up a practice head in the next few months, too. At the moment my little boy's still happy to be splodged on, but I'm sure he'll tire of it.

I do worry, though, that I'll get used to painting on an inanimate object, and not then be able to paint confidently on a moving target - since that's essentially what a child is! Bad as it might be at my brand-new stage, my linework's still a lot better when I do it on my own arm, rather that on a wrigglesome 4 year-old. Sigh.

I got a head from one of the local hairdressing schools. I LOVE it
I don't have kids so i had no readily available victims. I was getting tired of practicing on my legs. there was no way to do faces properly on a thigh

I am currently using snaz paints for practicing and i used those household cleaning wipes to clean her.. comes right off.
The purple and red tend to stain, but a little extra scrubbing and it comes off fine.

I have a family of practice heads, I just bought a man head, have the women with hair, and no hair and 2 little girls, use them a lot, I have to come with new designs all the time, I draw them in a paper, then paint on the practice head and then on my daughter, is better when you paint a new design in your practice head first, it is a better change when you finally get kid to paint on will be perfect.