Playing with Dolls-The boring grown up way.

It is January, which in the Hemberger household means that we are tidying, cleaning and purging. Last week I tackled clothes and this week I am working on toys. My Mom sent me a video recently of a way to clean and repair American Girl doll hair. I knew I wanted to try it but put it off. Today, Emily asked for a tea party with her dolls and I noticed just how nasty the poor doll heads had gotten!

 I mean seriously, look at those poor things! So I got out the supplies and went to work.

 

 That is a shampoo/conditioner 2 in 1 that I banned my husband from using on our daughters heads ever again, a spray bottle with just water, a plain old straightener(like, seriously old. Pretty sure I have had it for 13 years) and a wig brush. You can get a wig brush at Sally Beauty for under $5 but you may also find one at Walmart.







I started by getting their hair soaking wet. On the Dollie and Me brand doll, this was a cinch but on the Target brand dolls, their hair did not absorb water at all. I would hazard a guess that they had some sort of water proof coating. It took quite a bit of warm water to actually saturate the hair. Next, I washed it with the shampoo and rinsed it well.






Next, I brushed the nasty mess. This is a Target brand doll and it wasn't too bad. The Dollie and Me brand was tough. She came with semi curly hair that tangled very badly. It was also not sewn in well so she lost some hair. You can't tell by looking at her though so I didn't care.

This is the Dollie and Me doll. Her hair straightened very well, much better than the others. She was tougher to do because her body was not stiff enough to stand or sit so I had to straighten her hair laying down. I straightened their hair with a standard iron. She said the key was to keep it very wet so that is what I did. Basically it steamed it straight. The hair was still quite wet when I was done.

If you are wondering what my kids were doing for the 1.5 hours that this project took, they were being angels. Emily was engrossed in her PBS cooking shows and Caleb dismantled the house.







I am very happy with the way they turned out. Both Target dolls were a little more work to straighten but the end result was nice. I did need to trim one dolls hair because some ends were just destroyed. This was quite a project but I am really happy. There is a tutorial on the video to curl their hair too but I think it will be easier for the girls to manage their hair if it straight. The girls don't own an AG doll but I have one from my childhood and after experimenting on their dolls, I look forward to rejuvenating her next.

Here is the video, the girl in it must be 12 but she has some great tips!
American Girl Doll Re-Hab