Fixing Grody Doll Hair a.k.a. Saving Cinderella

Have you ever had doll's that have been played with to the point

they aren't any more?

Who want's to play with a doll with Grody hair?

More often than not it's the 'Favorite doll' that has the most problems.

I have been noticing this happening in the toy box...

they are pulled out and looked at with an "Oh no!!"

and tossed unceremoniously back in and end up at the bottom of the box getting even grody-er!

(Happens to Barbie dolls a lot!)

It was 20-some odd years ago I learned to "fix grody doll hair" in the hopes that Busy Mommy would stop cutting all her doll's hair off at the roots! Or taking the heads off  and tossing them under the lawn mower...

It did help some.

It takes a fair amount of time

(this one was around 6-7 hours because it was a big-bad mess!)

and elbow grease.

So, here are the things you will need:

Real Windex. Baby shampoo, Liquid fabric softener. A wire pet brush works best (but this is what I had). An apron for when things start to flip, fling and fly...and something to wipe up with.

First take off any doll clothes that may get ruined.

Be sure to keep as much of the Windex, shampoo and softener

off the doll as possible.

Next, take out any elastic's and things...

If your doll has a lot of hair you may want to braid it to keep it out of the way

while you attack the rest of it...

I started this project Thrusday night and this is where we picked it up Friday morning...

(That's why she's braided-

if you need to break up your hair restoration times

it may help to keep what you have like this...)

Working on a hard flat surface seperate off a little hair at a time

(if you can)...

Spray the hair (knots & tangles) with Windex (it usually takes a lot)

Start combing at the bottom, then the next stroke go a little higher up

et patati et patata.

(the French word-a-day for today...means: and so on and so forth)

you may find it easier to work with small sections of a larger section...

After you have detangled the hair using the Windex- carefully rinse the hair under tap water.

Return the doll to the work surface and use the baby shampoo in the same way.

Just squeeze it on there and comb it through the hair...

Again rinse the hair under warm tap water.

Repeat the process using liquid fabric softener...

Next you will want to style the hair...

I did this one into a pony tail with many smaller braids...

As you can see the ends of her hair are pretty fried...I will be trimming them even...(when Tiny Dancer isn't here...because she is pretty sure 'Babee' hates her hair done as much as she does...)

And once she was able to pry the doll away from me  hold the doll and give her oddles of loves and snuggles...both were happy once again!

I just wanted you to know that only this much hair was lost during the whole process...

it was about the size of a walnut. And about 1 to 2 inches of length will be trimmed.

Good luck and happy doll restoration's to you!!
(Not for doll's with human hair!)

http://french-word-a-day.com/

Smile and remember;

We're fool's whether we dance or not. So we might as well dance.