If you’ve come this far to find information about styling a fashion doll’s hair, than chances are you are a doll lover or artist. Keeping a hair style to create One-of-A-Kind (OOAK) creations for Barbie and related 11 1/2 ” fashion dolls is easier than you might think. You will need a small amount of supplies, a practice doll, and an hour or so of free time on the weekend.
Materials needed
Depending on the hair style you want, you will need different types of ‘tools.’ Because styling a straight-haired doll usually means to put some kind of curl in it or decorative braids, etc, than you should keep a few things on hand. For varying sizes of curls you will need bobby pins, plastic straws, and/or plastic dowels cut to 1 or 2 inches in length with any type of thickness you would want for the size of a curl; the smaller the diameter of the straw, dowel or bobby pin, the smaller and tighter the curl, and the opposite is true for a larger diameter. You will also need some sewing straight pins for fastening these make-shift rollers or small (for babies) claw clasp hair holders.
You should also have on hand a few hair styling products. It isn’t necessary to try and find specially formulated ones for doll hair unless you are dealing with a vintage doll and want to protect it. I’ve found that Aussie Instant Freeze hair spray is ideal for holding curls together; it is fast drying and smells pleasant instead of some of the other chemical smelling hair sprays for a cheaper price. You can even use a hair spray or gel that you use on your own hair as long as you do a practice run to see how it will react after it has dried. Some hair gels or hair sprays will cake or flake on a doll’s hair and leave a very undesired product; so be warned.
Keep around some masking tape, a spray bottle, a comb or brush, some sharp scissors, and a sink or cup and basin.
Choosing a doll
These techniques will work on just about any 11 ½” fashion doll, but there are some dolls that are more ideal than others. If you are a doll connoisseur you will know that not all dolls have the same texture of hair to begin with. Some dolls have a coarser hair, wavy and hard to keep a style in, while others have silky, style worthy hair. Obviously, it is easier to start with a straight-haired doll that has a silky hair; what this means is that the hair is soft, fine, shiny, and is easily maintained with a comb.
As a beginner, you will want to find some dolls to practice on before using ones that you have in your collection for display of handmade dresses or decorations. You can find used dolls for a fair price on ebay, yard or garage sales in your area, thrift stores, or, if you are having a hard time finding any sturdy dolls try using an 11 ½” craft doll (they usually run for $2.00 in varying hair colors).
Setting up your work station
Bring all of the materials mentioned earlier to a flat table space. Place the doll to be use nude on the table. Because these dolls have fully rotational heads, you don’t have to worry which way she is facing and you can move the head to get the back or front. If the doll has bangs you can start in the back, but if the doll does not than it is best to start from the front so you can see how it will look. You can tape the doll to the surface of the table to stabilize it better or choose not to. I don’t recommend taping her to a table surface that has been stained, or varnished; remember to pay attention to keeping your usable table surfaces stick free.
Curly hair tutorial
There are many variations of this, but I will only elucidate on one specific hair style-large curls. Because it is difficult to get the technique correct on the first try, I recommend you separate the hair into two parts. The top part you can choose to put in a ponytail and braid or curl later. The doll’s hair is not as moldable as our hair and so getting the curl to look natural is difficult because you can’t curl all the way to the root. To compensate, the top portion that you are separating will act as a buffer to make the other curls look like they are all the way to the root.
Comb out the doll’s hair and divide it into small sections-6-8 for thinner hair doll’s, and 10-12 for really thick hair. Using a cut plastic straw, bobby pin, or dowel, you will wet one of the small hair sections just created with your spray bottle of water and roll it up in these make-shift rollers; secure the curl with a claw clip or straight pin. Repeat this with all of the sections until you have them all rolled up into the ‘curlers.’ Only snip the hair even if it is unusually uneven, otherwise it can all be fixed when you finish it.
To ‘set’ the curl, pour tepid water over top of it and make sure it is all soaked down; some people use boiling water, but I’ve found that it can be dangerous and isn’t necessary. Let the doll’s hair air dry and carefully remove the curls. You will want to remove the center piece downwards and out; if you remove it upwards, than the curls will be formed incorrectly and look silly. Once they are out, fix them a little and separate them into the style you want. Hair spray it all over and let set and dry. You can now go back and do the small section on the top if you just want to make it into a bun or braid, but if you want to make it into some more curls than it is easier to do that when you do the rest.
Tips
To keep your doll protected from the hairspray you can wrap her in plastic; if some gets on the dolls face or skin rinse it off immediately with warm soapy water and a cotton ball or swab. Some hair sprays can affect the facial paint and ruin the dolls features, so be careful.
If you want a crimped look in the dolls hair, just braid small sections from the root all the way to the bottom and fasten with a rubber band. Wet the hair as with the curls and let air dry. When you unwrap the braids it will be crimped, but will not stay that way unless you hair spray it a little.
Other ways of styling the dolls hair include small curls around the face made with small dowels or straws, ‘flip dos’ for short haired dolls (these can be made by just rolling up the ends, setting it with water, drying it and then hair spraying it into place), and elaborate buns. If you are a hair stylish by profession you will have no probably also cutting and shaping the hair as you would on a person. Be creative and have fun!
