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How do you revive a Barbie doll’s hair?

That’s a very good question but it’s easy to answer when you know what hair fibre your doll has. In general there are only three hair fibres that were ever used by Mattel. You have Saran hair ( early dolls have until mid 1980s used widely), Nylon hair ( some 80s dolls have Nylon hair, very shiny, you find it mainly on MLP My little Pony) and Kanekalon hair ( mainly used in the 90s for Barbie dolls with giant amount of hair).

What you can do with every doll head is wash the hair to revive it. It’s artificial hair so nothing can really happen except that Barbie dolls produced in the last 15 years could loose their hair because they are glued in with resin or a glue, anyway something very gluey and stick but not resistant to heat. It seems that Mattel glued the hair in the head after they bought new machine which work automatically. It seems that the new machines don’t need a worker anymore. This a way of cost saving but what about the quality? Do you know that the glue comes out of the head after you debox the doll and comb it? Some modern collectors say the hair has a feeling like wax, not very pleasant. The original way how dolls got their hair is this one…

Here you have a worker but no glue. You can imagine it like a sewing machine for doll hair. Your thread is the hair. By the way these machine are expensive up to 3000 € and more in used condition.

But back to the topic now

The easiest way to revive the hair is by washing it. Treat it with conditioner instead of soap. I show you in one of my videos how I do this. The procedure is a little labor intense but it’s worth the procedure because the hair is always looking much better than before. What these sewing machines for doll hair do is this here

So basically due to the pattern inside the head that the machine made nothing will happen when you treat the doll with the conditioner. The hair pattern done by the machine is secured inside the head. You must proverbial cut the hair very short to be able to destroy the pattern. This here is my way to revive the hair …

This method also works for shorter hair and is a very good method to save hair so that your doll doesn’t loose so much hair. This method also works for Saran and Nylon hair but these fibres don’t tend so much to tangles. By the way the doll in my video has Kanekalon hair and I think this fiber was used mainly in the 1990s because it was cheap.

So I hope I’m able to give you a good idea how you can treat the hair of your doll to revive it.

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Can’t upload docuemtens on Facebook directly, so find it here

In the last days I had the idea to share with you some documents about Barbie hair and I wanted to upload the document on Facebook but it seems impossible since Facebook pages don’t support documents, only pics. What a bullshit… So let’s avoid the problem. I post it here and then you can get it from here. No problem.

I want to test the whole thing and see if you like my idea. For the start I’ve only done one doc. Let me know if you like the idea. I could also do it for other hair fibres than Kanekalon hair.


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Barbie doll wiki: the crimp waves in her hair

Good day my dear fellow collectors. The crazy Barbie collector is back with another crazy story to tell. In 2018 I bought several Barbie dolls. Among them is a Ultra Hair Whitney. She’s in good condition, has uncut hair but the crimp waves from her hair is almost gone.

Time for experiments

You know me. I love to do experiments to get good results. At first I thought I could restore the waves with hot water. This idea did not work out like I wanted it to. For a very long time I didn’t care about the waves but by the end of last year this project came into my mind again. Is it really a bad idea to try it again?

Before my vacation I started to check out places where you can buy used hair crimpers. In the beginning I was not very successful because I found only one hair crimper and it was sold during my vacation. Not good…

When I came back home another hair crimper was offered. I bought it for a reasonable price and had the chance to test it in the meantime. The good thing is that you can control the heat. The crimper is not immediately very hot. You have at least five minutes to prepare the hair. That’s very good in my opinion. In this way you can’t burn the hair of your doll.

I can definitively recommed you hair crimpers with temperature control for your experiments. I did several tests before I want to work on my Ultra Hair Whitney. The result is quite good for the first time. I’m currently testing the crimpers.

Yes, I have bought more than one. The technology has become better and I saw that they have often interchangeable plates concerning the size of the waves. This was impossible 30 years ago but now we have the chance to test which one works best. So why not try it?

Next steps

I’m a fan of testing things before doing videos but it’s not always possible. For me is the next step to get my second hair crimper. It was already delivered by a postal service. Unfortunately the company wasn’t able to tell me where to pick it up. Two days later the crimper was on its way back to the seller. I can tell you this was definitively not what I wanted. Obviously it’s not easy to get your parcels when you’re working full time. I called the company who delivered the parcel to my door step. Nobody felt responsible in any way. I also a e-Mail but nobody cared about my inquiry. For me the next logical step was to contact the seller and tell him the problem. He promised me to send me the parcel again. I hope that I have it by next weekend and can start my tests with the second crimper.

Important things to consider

What I’ve already learned is that you should work with wet Kanekalon hair. The moisture keeps the hairs out of the situation of ruining the hair. Don’t let them too long in there. Don’t use too much hair. I recommend rather to do little streaks. It’s easier for you and you get better results. Have patience and get a feeling for the iron. I know that I’m going to need some practise before I do my next video but nevertheless I can have lots of fun while practising.

Sieh dir diesen Beitrag auf Instagram an

???????,?????????? ??? ? ?????? ???? ????????? ??????. ??? ??????? locket surprise Barbie. ??? ??? ??????,????? ?? ?? ?????? ???????,??? ?? ???? ???????? ?????? ? ?????????? ?????? ??????????,? ????????? ???? ????????????? ?????? (??,??????? ? ???????) ?? ?????,?? ??? ???????? ??????? ?????????? ???????????? ? ? ??????,??? ?? ???? ??????? ????? ??????? ??? ??? ??????,? ????? ??????. ??????? ???? ??????,???????? ???? ?????,?? ????? ???? ???????? ?? ??????????? ?????????? ???????? ? ?????????. ? ??? ????? ???????,??? ???? ???? ?? ???????,?? ???? ?????? ?? ? ????,?????????? ??????????? ???? ?????. ??? ????????? ????????? ???? @vanilladaisy_dolls , ??? ??????? ???, ?????? ? ???? ???????? ???? ?? ???.? ? ????? ??????? ?????????,? ??? ????,????? ?? ???????????? ????,??? ??? ??? ? ????? ?????,???? ??????,? ?????? ??????? ????? ???????? ????? ??????????,?????? ?????? ? ????? ????? ? ????? ???????? ??????? ????? ?????? ??????????? ??? ?,????????????? ?? ?????,?????? ?????????? ?????????? ??????????????? ? ???? ???? ?????-?? ???????,?????? ????? ??????,?? ??? ?? ??????????

Ein Beitrag geteilt von ????? 90 ??? ??????… (@barbiecollector90s) am

Here you can see what I’m talking about. The Locket Surprise Barbie has for example crimp waves ( like many Barbie dolls from the 1990s). My second crimper is going to have temperature control but it is not here right now but it’s on its way to me. I got a short notice today. Let’s cross our fingers that I may have it here by tomorrow evening. So curious to test how it works …