Frequently Asked Questions
On Fursuiting for those with Hearing Difficulties
=================================================
Version 1.0 - December 1998
Created/maintained by Robert Goodwin
aka boogi "signing hands" WereGoyle
=================================================
I. In the beginning, there was this FAQ...
A. Version history
II. Deafness and the fursuiter
A. Intro to the author
B. Intro to the deaf world
1. Types of hearing loss
a. Mild
b. Moderate
c. Severe
d. Profound
e. No hearing
2. Degrees/Types of hearing aids
a. Behind the ear
b. In the ear
c. Body aids
d. Eyeglass aids
e. Cochlear implants
f. No devices at all
3. Modes of communication
a. Lipreading
b. Sign language
(1). ASL
(2). Signed english
(3). Fingerspelling
(4). Cued speech
c. Total communication
C. How does a deaf person wear a fursuit?
1. Communication problems
2. Hearing problems
3. Visual problems
III. Construction of the fursuit
A. Head
1. Installation and use of personal/assistive listening devices
a. Loop system
b. FM system
c. Amplified system
d. IR systems
e. None
2. Outside vision
a. Placement of eyes
(1). Close to eyes - better vision
(2). Head in middle of mask - limited vision
b. Vision assistance
3. Communication
a. Free-form mouth
b. Removable snout
c. Articulated snout
4. Prosthetics, or no head at all
B. Body, feet and tail
C. Hands
1. Gloved hands
a. 3 fingers
b. 4 fingers
c. 5 fingers
2. Mittens
IV. Final thoughts
V. Credits
Seriously, I wrote this FAQ for various reasons, building on my own experiences in being in fursuits and relating to the problems of communication while in the suit.
This is a listing of plans that I have in mind, or I'm doing... Not everything will be in detail. Part of this file includes a post I made in alt.lifestyle.furry, under Deaf Furries?, if you wish to see DejaNews for a full copy of that thread. As time goes by, I'm adding to it. Below is an outline of questions about deafness and fursuiting. This may turn into a FAQ, but then again, it looks like it already is!
One must remember that this is not the stamped-in-stone standard. One person may have experiences that another may not have. So, I'd like to hear from all those with at least some sort of hearing problem who have worn a fursuit and what they did in theirs.
I also maintain the fursuit FAQ, found here;
II. Deafness and the fursuiter
=============================
Why this particular section? Well, I wanted to bring up the problems
faced by those with hearing problems/disabilities who wear these particular
suits, both made at home and commercially made. The majority of those
builders are hearing people.
A. Version history
==================
1.0 - The beginning of this FAQ.
A. Intro to the author
======================
Hello... I'm Robert Goodwin, born in 1964, with normal hearing. Then
around age 5, it started going down. However, before then, I learned to
talk. This has allowed me to bicultural in a way, being a part of the
hearing culture and the deaf culture. My preferences lie in the deaf world,
since I understand more, from the sign language used, though I do well in
the hearing world. Around the time I was losing my hearing, I was
developing some defense and coping mechanisms, as I was too young to
understand what was going on with me. I learned to lipread and look around
more.
Since then, my hearing loss has stabilized, but as I get older, it will become so severe that hearing aids will not help at all. What I have is a profound loss in hearing, of 90 decibels, both ears. An audiologist can explain more, though I will give a little quickie below.
B. Intro to the deaf world
==========================
Many hearing people have never considered the effects of their lives if
they lost their hearing. To some, it's quite devastating, since they use
their hearing for quite a few things. Hearing aids can help some, but they
only help to an extent. I've often explained to younger hearing children
about what it's like to have a loss like mine. I tell them it's like a TV
without the sound, or the sound turned up a little, so that only the louder
sounds get out. The hearing aids are the volume control.
When you lose your hearing, you rely more on your other senses. The deaf community is more visually-oriented as well as tactically oriented (sense of feel), than audio. Some people have thought we couldn't drive a car, which is never further from the truth. We CAN drive a car. The reason is that driving is a visual-oriented task. Ambulances, and other emergency vehicles have flashers on there, thus, making it a more visually-oriented task. While driving, you're feeling the way the car acts and drives. However, we still miss the little engine noises until a hearing person tells us about them.
You must remember one thing about much of the deaf world. Hearing and understanding are two different things. If we can hear something, we won't always know what it is, til we make the association with it, either tactically (by feel) or visually, but that does not always work. It does not matter how much hearing they have left, how well they can lipread, or if they have their hearing aids on or not. Signing is a visual language. Even the furs have to use their hands for something creative.
1. Types/degrees of hearing loss
=================================
If a person has a hearing loss, what kind of loss is it? How severe is
it? What causes it? In my case, it was the nerve leading to the brain, thus
known as sensori-neural, a fairly common cause. Remember the epidemic of
the early to mid-60s of rubella, german measles? Many were born without
hearing, or little hearing, if any.
The below definitions of hearing loss are from my experiences and also courtesy of the Hearing Basics site.
Normal hearing people can have up to a 25 dB (decibel) loss, and still be able to hear most of what's going on around them. The definitions below are with the unaided ear, without hearing assistive devices.
a. Mild
Those with a mild hearing loss (26-45 dB) may have difficulty hearing
and understanding someone who is speaking from a distance or who has a soft
voice. They will generally hear one-on-one conversations if they can see
the speaker's face and are close to the speaker. Understanding
conversations in noisy backgrounds may be difficult.
b. Moderate
Those with moderate hearing loss (46-65 dB) have difficulty
understanding conversational levels of speech, even in quiet backgrounds.
Trying to hear in noisy backgrounds is extremely difficult.
c. Severe
Those with severe hearing loss (66-85 dB) have difficulty hearing in
all situations. Speech may be heard only if the speaker is talking loudly
or at close range.
d. Profound
Those with profound hearing loss (greater than 85 dB) may not hear even
loud speech or environmental sounds. They may not use hearing as a primary
method of communicating.
e. No hearing
No hearing at all... How basic can you get? Some people just accept
this, and go from there. Hearing aids will not even begin to help. Neither
will screaming into their ear. It hurts you, and the person only feels the
vibrations in their ear, if not hear anything.
2. Types of hearing aids
=========================
One must remember that not all of those with a hearing problem can be
helped. It depends on the person, their ability to use the hearing
assistive device, and their hearing loss.
In every case, you have to worry about the hearing aid batteries going dead at the worst possible time... Murphy's Law lives! There is also the action of sweat, which can make the behind the ear and in the ear hearing aids either go a little weird or not work right. To keep that from happening, a fan or two would help, as well as something to soak up the sweat around the aids. Also, the hearing aid controls can be accessed, to some difficulty, depending on where you place it, and what your hands are in. If you have some sort of facial mask, you can easily hide the hearing aids with some makeup or hair, which is quite easily done by the long- haired. In the one from the Scream Team on my page, I hid them with a large pair of ears and crepe hair, and in another, a wig. It wasn't really necessary to do it, but I did it for the heck of it.
There are some products out on the market that use silicon to absorb the moisture out of the hearing aids, which are great life-extenders. I have also seen sleeves that go over the hearing aid to protect it from too much moisture, but even then, you still have to deal with the moisture coming in from the unprotected part, the microphone area. Other ways involve wrapping the aid in an absorbent paper or cloth while it's on. Sure, it looks a little strange, but it works.
a. Behind the ear
=================
This is the most common, sitting right behind the ear. This is also
what I have. My hearing aids are in both ears, which help out, though I
still miss things from time to time. The main unit sits behind the ear,
looking somewhat like a "C," with an earhook holding it in place, that
screws into the output on top. At the other end of this earhook, is a
plastic tube that goes into a custom-made earmold, into the wearer's ear.
There is a way to attach the unit to the costume, hiding it somehow. The
controls on these particular units are found on the outside of the "C"
part. There's a switch to turn it on, off, and the telephone (loop)
setting, which is explained below. There's also the volume controls, and
the little door somewhere for the battery, as well as the microphone, found
either at the top or bottom.
b. In the ear
=============
This is used about as much as the behind the ears, though this goes
right inside the ear.
c. Body aids
=============
Not common with adults, but a number of younger kids can use this, til
they get the behind the ears later in life. This looks like a transistor
radio with earmolds at the end, going into one or both ears. This is the
model that's far more showy and difficult to hide, what with the wires
leading to the ears. This one I'm all too familiar with, as I wore it while
I was growing up, that I really hated. This particular model isn't exactly
good for those with profound losses like mine. The controls are on top or
the sides, depending on the model, with the microphone being on top, from
what I've seen with various models. Since it's just below you somewhere,
you have to deal with moisture coming from somewhere, most likely from
drinks that decide to spew out of your mouth the wrong way.
I had plenty of times when having breakfast or some other meal and milk or some other liquid decided to go the wrong way...
d. Eyeglass aids
================
Personally, I've only seen this a few times, so I'm not sure if they
still exist or not. They're part of your glasses, in the part that go above
the ears. This means that the ear part has to be thick, and it limits the
styles that you wanted to wear.
e. Cochlear implants
====================
The most controversial, for various reasons, that I will not cover
here. You can easily find more information on this on the web. This
particular item is surgically implanted in the skull, behind the ear. If
it's undone, the person will lose all hearing they had left. In addition to
the implant, they wear a small device, which goes via wire to a magnetic
pickup coil seated behind the ear. In essence, this is the world's most
expensive hearing aid, around $30-40,000 for the procedure and equipment.
Some people think that it can restore their hearing to normal, which is never the case. You will get some hearing back, but not as much as you previously had. It's been done on younger kids, by parents who think this same thing. There was/is a case about one parent who wanted to force it on their child so that they could become like a hearing person, not being with the deaf, and play more with their hearing friends.
f. No devices at all
====================
Now this is a no-brainer... Like I said, not all people can be helped
with a hearing assistive device.
3. Modes of communication
=========================
How does a person with a hearing loss communicate? Lipreading and
sign language are the most common.
a. Lipreading
==============
This is the most common way to understand people. Heck, you could carry
on conversations in noisy rooms, through windows, etc. All you're doing is
watching the movement of the mouth and lips during speech.
b. Sign language
=================
This is a rather excellent way to communicate, no matter where you are,
what you're doing, unless something requires you to use both hands. It
isn't the "hand-flapping" method of communication. It's also known as
manual communication. Anyone can use it, anywhere, unless it's dark. How
often have we seen people carry on a full-blown conversation while driving?
It's not easy... I oughta know...
(1). ASL - American Sign Language
=================================
Similar to signed english, but uses its own syntax, and doesn't take as
long to say the things you want to say, plus it uses body and facial
movement to assist in communication. For example, if you're telling someone
you're going shopping, to the store, all you sign is "go store" and point
to somewhere, where the store is.
(2). SEE - Signed Exact English or Signed English
=================================================
This involves using fingerspelling, and you sign every word you say.
Kid you not. Every single word. This is fairly slow, but is understandable.
(3). Fingerspelling
===================
Signing the ABCs, in one hand, or two, depending on what country you're
in. Just be careful not to fingerspell certain handshapes, as some of those
shapes are insults in other countries. Our middle finger is the letter T in
the United Kingdom, and bouncing the other hand's index finger on it is the
sign for brother in Japan. Don't worry if you're doing it just here in the
States, as most of your signing will be done here.
This was also a mode of communication used long ago with some others, who just fingerspelled everything they said. It's not often seen today. Can you imagine how LONG a conversation took?
If you wanted to learn to sign, this is where you started, as it's something that you will use as you go.
(4). Cued speech
================
I've never used this, but it involves placing the fingertips in various
places along your face. I'm not familiar with it, so I can't say much about
this method of communication.
c. Total communication
======================
Finally, communication at its best. You sign and speak at the same
time. The most common form of communication, and is understood by most all
out there, since you're combining voice, lipreading, and signing, all at
the same time. This is what I do, with a mixture of ASL and signed english.
C. How does a deaf person wear a fursuit?
==========================================
Simple... They just put it on and walk out to amuse the crowd.
1. Communication problems
=========================
Most hearing people have no problem with communicating to others in a
fursuit. However, your two primary modes of communications are now hidden
to an extent, your mouth and hands. You could play that guessing game,
charades, but it would be quite difficult. In order for someone to talk
with that person in the suit, they would have to be directly in their line
of vision. However, since you're not going to talk while in the suit, which
is the norm with mascot and related suits, this is not much of a problem.
2. Hearing problems
===================
While most people can hear what's going on around them, having the head
on reduces the sound level coming in from around them, and makes them sound
muddy or echoey. For a person with a hearing loss, this can be good or bad,
depending on their point of view.
3. Visual problems
==================
Remember what I said about a person with a hearing loss now relying on
their vision? The head sharply reduces that field of vision, which is a
well-known fact among fursuiters. Sometimes you never know if you're gonna
be stepping in the wrong place, unless you have someone with you to assist.
III. Construction of the fursuit
================================
This section gives the technical specs on what to use for the person
with a hearing problem, while in a fursuit. It will not give explanations
on how to build the suit itself, though URLs will be posted on this, to
point you in that direction. The problem with some heads is that they could
be too close to the hearing aids, thus causing feedback, squealing sounds.
A. Head
=======
Building a head shouldn't be a problem for most people. Personally, I
needed to find a way to be able to hear what's going on outside the head
when I have it on. I either hear very muffled sounds, or nothing at all,
which is what most hearing people hear as well, but it's worse for me. I
also need to be able to see around me, which is one important thing in deaf
culture. Since your hearing is gone to an extent, you have to rely on your
other senses.
1. Installation and use of personal/assistive listening devices
================================================================
Personal listening devices are those that amplify the sound, or make it
usable to that person only, with their hearing aids, or via earphones.
Below are the various systems that assist in this.
a. Loop system
===============
In order to alleviate this sound problem, a loop system is suggested
which uses electromagnetic waves to pass the sound to the hearing aids,
which are on the T, telephone, setting. This has the effect of allowing the
user to hear only what's going through the loop itself. The side effect is
that any strong electronic devices, like TVs, will put out electromagnetic
waves, making a humming sound. Lightning also has this effect, making a
crackling sound. Take a personal amplifier of sorts, like a radio, and
disconnect the speakers. Connect both parts of the wires that went to the
speaker together, and put them or the device near the hearing aid. Whatever
the amplifier picks up, will pass on to the hearing aids via
electromagnetic waves. The positive part of this, is that there's little or
no feedback sounds, squealing sounds, from the hearing aids, from the
proximity of the side of the headpiece to the hearing aids. Some hearing
aids have a combination microphone and telephone setting, which allows you
to listen to everything, even things via the loop. Keeping it at T would
alleviate the feedback.
Case in point... I have an old stereo, that has a phonograph, or record player. I spliced into the pickup, and ran that to an output device, like a TV or sound card. The speakers were disconnected, and RCA plugs, the push- in kind, are put into where the speakers went. Only one wire is required, making a loop, both ends going to the speaker outputs. When I step within the loop, I hear what's on the TV. Anyone else who tries listening to sound will only hear nothing, til they disconnect the wire to the TV output or put their ear near my hearing aids. So, if I place the microphones in the snout, ears, and a couple places around the body, I would hear everything around me, without bothering people, solving the muffled sound problem to an extent. Another microphone can be used within the head, to pick up the wearer's voice, since at T setting, the voice won't be picked up.
Depending on how large the head will be inside, a few loops of wire passing around the head at various angles will do the job.
b. FM system
============
For FM, you're simply using radio waves. This isn't always good. It can
interfere with the public address system as well as nearby radios. You
could have the effect of someone listening on some radio setting what you
are hearing. Quite annoying.
These are also the devices used with younger kids, when they still have their body aids, in some deaf schools. I should know, as I was forced to wear these instead of my regular body aids. The teacher carries around a microphone around the neck, and the kids hear what she's saying. In essence, everything the microphone picks up, the kids will hear. Then there was the story of the teacher that went to the restroom, but he forgot to turn off the microphone. This effect is similar to the scene Leslie Nielsen did in the Police Squad movie, I believe.
c. Amplified system
====================
For the plainly amplified, how many of you want to be near a fursuiter
that sounds like he's amplifying everything he hears in the room, including
feedback from the hearing aids? This would be great, if it were a head that
were totally enclosed and soundproofed. Even then, you'd have to worry
about the person being able to breathe in there.
d. IR systems
=============
The final problem is IR, InfraRed, that is, remote control. This can
interfere with other remote-controlled devices. Not a pretty sight. There's
a possibility somewhat that it could interfere with medical devices.
e. None
========
Finally, not all of us want to use an assistive listening device for
reasons of vanity, cost, or whatever. Some will not even have a hearing
aid, or never needed one, for reasons listed above.
2. Outside vision
==================
Vision is one of the most important aspects of fursuiting, as well as
with the deaf culture, but with some people, they'll use various ways to
get more vision, like cameras, etc.
a. Placement of your eyes
==========================
How often have you debated about the way you're building your suit,
about how you want to be able to see out?
(1). Close to eyes - better vision
===================================
This is my personal preference. You also need to debate if you're going
to use eye-hiding items like sunglass lenses or dark makeup. There's
various costumes out there that have this, most notably WildWolf, Loopy, a
couple bear costumes, and others.
Personally, I like the Modular Lion design by Ron Orr.
(2). Head in middle of mask - limited vision
=============================================
A more common approach, with the toony-style costumes. I could use the
helmet and mesh method, and use some sort of cloth that allows me to see
out around my field of vision and others can't see in. One particular
costume I'd seen was a dragon costume, using spangles, that the guy could
see out of, somewhat. I believe that was Boojum Snark? Or, use a layer or
two of dark mesh with optional dark face makeup.
b. Vision assistance
=====================
Using a camera to see where you're going, if the eyes to the head are
way out of your visual field. This is a rather novel approach, as seen by
Sir Karl, a deer costume. You're dealing with 2D space, rather than 3D that
most of us are used to having. Sign language does best with 3D, though it's
readable with 2D.
3. Communication
=================
One of the most important things today, to get a point across from one
person to another, by way of the mouth, spoken language.
a. Free-form mouth
===================
To the deaf, this is the most important, as it allows you to lipread
the wearer, and is the easiest to do, merely requiring makeup.
b. Removable snout
===================
If you're going to be around situations where you don't wish to take
off the head, you could use this. This is a rather creative approach, to
being able to be understood by anyone out there, using lipreading.
c. Articulated snout
====================
Not everyone will like this, as it makes it harder for the person to
understand the person in costume. When the person in costume talks, both
mouths move. Not much of a chance for lipreading here.
Articulated snouts would be good, but is it possible to have a removable snout that can still move with even after you removed and reinstalled it? I suspect it's possible, using some chinstrap or something that goes under the chin. I'll have to see some designs.
4. Prosthetics, or no head at all
==================================
Many people will go for a full- or partial-head, thus making it easier
or harder for them to communicate in at least some way. Combinations of
facial prosthetics and makeup are one of the most effective.
You can use medical adhesive, prosthetic adhesive (pros-aide), or your choice to put the prosthetic on, but please, stay away from the superglue and cryanoacrylic glues... Use Bond-Off!, Detachol, or medical adhesive remover to help remove the medical adhesive or pros-aide, as they're damned STRONG stuff. It took me 30 minutes to remove my entire facial prosthetic. If you get Kryolan's medical adhesive, get their remover/thinner.
I believe GrowlTiger and a couple others could post a little on this sort of thing, using prosthetics and other everyday items to create your costume. His costume took very little time and money to make.
B. Body, feet and tail
=======================
Then there's body, tail, and feet designs. These have almost nothing to
do with how the head is to be made, except that it be easily used for
displaying emotion when the person is signing and that kind of thing. The
signer will often use their body to convey what they're saying.
With the tail, it's possible to use animatronics to also convey the emotions in signing. For now, a normal tail will do, though I don't want the kids to be able to pull it off.
The design I have in mind is an improvement on James Firmiss' AJ Skunk design. In his, a section of wire is brazed to a section of the metal belt, before it loops up. From there, you can make a loop of wire around the metal belt, before it finally loops up. Then sew some rope or nylon webbing to the inside tail, and make that also a part of the belt. Thus, this kid's not just grabbing the tail, he's playing tug-o-war with the wearer!
Then there was the story of someone in a Robin Hood costume, who had a particularly determined kid trying to pull off the tail...
C. Hands
=========
Why this part? Quite a few people have been known to neglect this
part of the costume, which can be the most important, since they're one
of the most expressive parts of the overall costume.
1. Gloved hands
================
Why wear these at all? A costume is just that, to get the total visual
effect from the viewer. Bare human hands on a werewolf or mouse costume
just don't do the job. These are the things you will want to use to
get your communication attempt across to the other person.
a. 3 fingers
=============
Why this particular setup? Triggur and V'ril use this, but it's quite
hard to sign in them, since most all fingers will need to be used. Are they
able to take them off to sign, if they know how? Continuously taking off
and putting back on the hands part spoils the effect of the costume.
b. 4 fingers
=============
This makes it easier to fingerspell, though some handshapes may not be
able to be done with this, depending on what two fingers are together. A
little munging can be done, though.
c. 5 fingers - also free-form hands
====================================
What can I say about this? It depends on what the person has around the
fingers, how thick they are, how well they can move them, as well as
grasping things. If they can do all this well, then they can sign, unless
these are rather thick hands. This keeps the magic of the costume.
Toony gloves will not even begin to bring out the signs clearly. That means that you would have to have something that would bring out the signs clearly, using 4 or 5 finger gloves, or just regular gloved hands. My furrygloves fit this requirement perfectly. In order to be understood signing, you need to have the hands be able to be seen easily. That usually means little or no hair/fur on the fingers, just on the palms, and something around the fingers to give that 3D look rather than a flat color. Claws can be used, as long as they're not too long.
I suspect Ysengrin (of Verdun Manor) and Wildwolf could easily do a little signing, since their own paws/hands seem to be free-form in a way, allowing them to pick up things easily. The paws I've seen in most costumes don't let you do much in the way of signing, forcing you to take them off if you need to sign. Then there will be those who can't take their headpieces off due to some reason or another, and have to write the message down. Kinda hard to lipread something that's behind a mask.
2. Mittens
==========
But of course, some costumes would look pretty bad if they had some
hands with a number of fingers. That's most understandable. If the costumer
wanted, they could easily make something that would allow their hands to go
through if they wanted to sign, while still wearing the mitten behind the
hand. This creates a shield of sorts that's a different color than the hand
of the wearer, while still keeping the suit's effect some.
C. Final thoughts and other stuff
=================================
There's also the use of liquid latex which is not for everyone. One
word of warning, folks, before you use the liquid latex. Make DOUBLE DAMN
SURE that you ARE NOT allergic to it. Anaphylactic shock which can lead to
death if not treated soon enough is the worst result. Test it out on a
small spot on you, like the back of your hand or elbow. If you feel a bit
of a sting, that's the ammonia in it. Let it dry, about 10 minutes, then
peel off and wait awhile, preferably a day, to see what happens with that
particular spot. If you get a rash, don't even use it again. Also make sure
you have some adequate ventilation, as the ammonia can build up in the room
and make you dizzy.
If you can't work with liquid latex, or anything containing latex, then fabric glues, or similar items can be used, if they allow the item that it's on to stretch some.
If you want to make a face prosthetic of your own face, that's fine, but just be careful around the eyes, due to the ammonia in the latex. If your eyes start stinging too much, abort what you've done so far, and peel it off. Powder will take away the tackiness after it's dried. Around 3-5 layers of the latex will do you fine. A rather interesting fact, from what I've heard, is that the latex shrinks 4% when it dries.
Liquid latex is quite an interesting substance to work with. It's what you make of it. In order to put the crepe hair on the furrygloves I did, I painted sections of the glove with the latex, til it was smooth, then let that dry. Then comes the fun part of putting on the crepe hair. I cut the hair to 1 1/2 to 2 inch lengths, and laid them out, so they don't get tangled up. Easier said than done if you've got a lot of blowing air, due to wind, ceiling fan, your own heavy breathing, whatever. Make sure you can hold the hair between two fingers like the barber does. Otherwise the hair isn't going to stick well. Then place another small layer where the hair will go, push the ends in, and spread it out a little to fluff it out. After you've done, set it aside for awhile to let the whole thing dry completely, like maybe a full day. The cured and dried latex is pretty much impervious to most liquids, except for some oils, like petroleum jelly in vaseline, mineral oil, and related oils, which break it down. I don't know if it's washable, since I've not done that yet.
From there, you can put the claws on them if you wish. I didn't, due to where I was going at the time. If you wanted, you could easily paint pawprints with a lighter color latex, like some shade of brown. Again, powder the finished pads, to keep them from sticking to each other. You can leave the fingers as they are, if you require finger sensitivity, or add a light single coat of liquid latex in the color of the glove.
You could even add on the same hair to hoods, and other parts of lycra items or whatever you're going to use. If you use the thin stuff, watch how you put it on, as you can put it on thick enough for it to run through the glove to whatever it's on, if you're putting it on with a small paintbrush or one of those big spongebrushes. It took me about 5 minutes to remove a glove when I did that. I'm checking on other kinds of hair, but so far, they're fairly expensive, unless I'm looking in the wrong place.
The liquid latex can be found in your local theatre/costume shops, for around $3 for a 1 ounce bottle. If you have some adult shops around you, they may have a 16 ounce container for about $12-16, which is far cheaper, and lasts you far longer. Makeup shops sell larger containers, around 12 ounces, though you can find up to a gallon or larger by mailorder. I've not even used all of mine yet. The nice thing about the little ounce bottles is that they're easily carried around.
V. Credits
===========
I gotta thank those whose webpages gave me some design ideas, and those
who answered some questions about costume cleaning, construction, and
related questions.
First - MoonShadow, for his critique and suggestions on getting this done. Without him, people probably would have been going to sleep in the middle of reading this.
More on the way as it comes up... If you have some plans to toss my way, suggestions, whatever, go ahead and email them to me, please! I'd love to hear from you!