American Girl Restoration - Hair (Part I)

Her hair (even with downy) looks like it needs more help!

I've always had a fascination with older dolls. Dolls that have been well-loved, well-played, well..everything. I have won a couple of dolls from eBay with terrible hair. Dolls that have been brush one too many and are needing a spa day to restore the shine and smoothness of new doll hair.





I won Samantha from an eBay auction. She was featured as the doll of a lot of clothes, her trunk, bed and accessories. I did not know she was so worn out, her hair all knotted up, the ends of her hair was as dry as the Sahara desert and it was frizzy as heck.

When I received Samantha while in my NYC hotel, I bought myself a wire brush from American Girl and a bottle of fabric softener. No, there is not a particular fabric softener I used. I don't even remember the brand name or color of the bottle!

If you are sensitive to scents, use fragrance free fabric softener.

I poured enough downy in an ice bucket in my hotel room, propped poor 'party girl' Samantha and dunked her hair in the container full of fabric softener and she stayed there the whole day with a pour of fabric softener around her hair every few hours.

Be careful of her eyes! You don't want it to rust with water! Make sure you lay her down so her eyes are closed, use a pair of cotton balls and tape it to her closed eyes!

Through the magic of internet, you didn't have to wait! She came out of the downy dunk, I washed her hair with cool water and I brushed the heck out of her hair.

Brush from bottom up!

I felt awful seeing so much hair come out of the brush. Even through careful brushing and deliberately trying not to lose any more of her hair, I still felt like I was brushing the head of a 50 year old man losing his hair in huge clunks. Not fun.

I dried her hair, put it up in a ribbon and she flew across the continent with me to Canada.

Poor Samantha stayed in my closet like that for a whole month before I got around to buying the supplies I needed to fully restore her hair. 

Before I end this post, let's recap what I bought and did!

You need:

a. fabric softener (any will do, I suggest fragrance free for those with sensitive noses!)

b. container deep enough to be able to fill with the fabric softener and your doll's hair

c. a ladle (to pour the fabric softener over hair her periodically)

d. wire wig brush or an AG doll brush

e. Cotton ball and tape

Before doing anything, close your dolls eyes, put cotton ball on it and tape it!

1. Wet her hair thoroughly with cool water

2. Pour fabric softener in the container

3. Dunk doll's hair into the container full of fabric softener, leave it there for a whole day

4. Pour the fabric softener in the container on her hair every couple of hours to soak it with the fabric softener

5. After 24 hours, take her out of the fabric softener and wash her hair in cool water

6. Be gentle and dry her hair with a towel.

7. Brush her hair while wet (it helps from keeping your doll's hair from drying and frizzing too much) - make sure you brush from the bottom up! You lose less hair that way.

Most of the time, those steps are enough to restore alot of dolls' hair however my Samantha's hair was just too far gone for a simple downy dunk. Stay tuned for Part II!