So thanks to my mutually favored father ...(I'm his only daughter who he held when I was first born while my mom was being a drama queen about paralysis all because I hit a nerve that made her legs numb...)

I have tons of dolls to restore. The dolls went into store with messy hair or no hair in some cases. I have A VERY BUSY September ahead of me.

I'M gonna need:
Baby Shampoo
Conditioner
A Pyrex Bowl
Nylon Doll Hair
A Rerooting Tool
Non Latex Elastics
Fabric Glue
Curlers
Professional Haircut Kit
Tweezers

I can recommend that you stand back as I have the training. The hair care supplies are for styling and washing the hair after it is rooted. The bowl is so I can perm the hair with hot water and so I don't need to stand over the sink. The hot water should be at the hottest setting for your faucet. The fabric glue anchors the hair, the tool is so I can force it in and the hair is the reason for my shenanigans.

I have to go through my supplies and see what I need for tools, how many dolls I need to fix and how much hair I need to buy. Granted, I have 8 hanks of doll hair for Barbie heads, but the majority of these dolls are Monster High and Bratz which have larger heads. Not only that, the Bratz' heads are harder than normal fashion dolls. I don't need to tell the agony of an irreversible decapitation when the decapitated is a rare doll that's been out of production for years.

Truth of the matter, most of my doll rooting projects as of late involved a sewing needle for darning yarn and worsted weight yarn. The last time I use nylon doll hair and a rerooting tool, I accidentally pricked my finger while high on diazepam (that's powerful and addictive, so don't get hooked)

I want to fix my dolls as much as possible. Cheer me on as I breathe life back into my old toys.

Can we get some pictures? :D

If I can find my old American Girl doll, I'll join you in your quest for dolly restoration. I was a demon child when It came to my dolls. Maybe I can find some old Barbies to practice on... hmm... Could you teach me how to re-root hair? Some mice stole my AG doll's hair for their nest a few years ago. She has a receding hairline now.

As soon as I figure out how to use my Flickr account to post here. Taking pictures is easy, but I'm all thumbs on posting.

Rerooting hair is actually not one-size-fits-all. If the head is too hard or thick, you'll need to soften the head with hot water or you'll need to glue it in place or make a wig.

Can't trust mice. They sound like little rat bastards.

Quit squeaking on about the evils of rodents! One post in and it's already so cheesy!

In all seriousness, the 90s kid in me is so excited to see what you can do with the dolls! Pictures please?

Can't you damage the head of some dolls if they get wet? I think AG dolls will get moldy if they get wet.

Actually, I like mice to a point. I had a couple pet rats when I was a teenager. I'm just not happy that the wild mice not only attacked my doll but also about 50% of the books I owned... -_-

*Enters thread with an ancient Action Man *figure* .. not a doll .. a *figure* OK? *
*Realizes Action Man doesn't have any hair, but he does having Gripping Hands and Moving Eyes*
*Action Man threatens to kill me if I give him a wig*
*Leaves thread in a sulk*

I am aware that most 18" dolls like American Girls have cloth bodies as a fellow crafter warned me when she made a small swimming pool where the water was a sheet of packaging plastic.

The only thing I worry about with mice is that our cats tend to bring dead ones.

*quickly crafts Action Man a long blond wig and puts it on him*
*runs away*



I don't think it's just the body. The head will get moldy inside as well.

Hey, dead mice are better than live one.

I am mostly an expert in dolls in the 1/6 scale, so I just found American Girls to creep me out to begin with. But in any case, I don't have experience in large dolls of such types.

On the contrary, live mice give me a chance to release them back to the wild. I used to have a barn cat in my circle of animal friends and I had to build a mouse and songbird graveyard in Grandma's backyard because he hunted regularly.

While I've owned a number of AG dolls in my childhood, I've only gotten into Barbie recently and started collecting used ones a couple of years ago. I love to wash them up and dress them in something less scroungy then what I bought them in.

I find them for really cheap at peddler's malls and antique junk shops in Kentucky- they're abundant here. (Both used barbies and junk stores )
Good luck to your endeavors!