Disney Animator doll restoration & customisation part 1 - Hair restoration
I'm sure you guys also have seen all the beauftiful Disney Animator doll repaints out there - I have never thought I would be into toddler styled dolls, but I have to say, these dolls have so much character, I just couldn't resist! It's not your usual spaced out smily doll - these guys truly have some daring features.
Disney Animator Elsa repaint before and after by Rakeru Space
Amazing, isn't it?
So I've decided to give it a go and opened up the ever so loyal internet shopping device called eBae.
For £10 each, I found these two beauts (cough):
Cute faces, but no clothing or accessories, just a big mess of very loved hair...
And when I say a 'big mess' I mean HELL WHAT IS THAT.
But since they were a challenge and b/c they're just a 10 minute bus ride from where I live, I quickly grabbed them on a Friday so I can play around with them on the weekend.
(apologies for the weird colours, my old phone camera was really not the best and filtering the hell out of them was the best thing I could do...)
Straight out on the mighty working table... I decided to start with Rapunzel as I needed to figure out how will I get rid of this big mess, and since she has straight hair it seemes a easier task for a beginner in doll hair detangling (me. big time)
In order to find out how to even begin the process I turned to my fellow doll-lover internet friends - so many handy tutorials are out there, which I would like to thank again!
Here's what I've learned and managed to deliver the impossible:
Restoring Disney Animator dolls' hair
You will need:
The patient
A brush
A spray bottle
Fabric softener
Conditioner (any cheap kind will do)
Shampoo
First, wash the doll's hair with general shampoo, especially if it came from a household where it's had been loved a lot, it might not be the cleanest thing on the face of Earth.
Then, in the spray bottle, mix water and fabric softener. This will be your detangling dolly hair treatment.
Taking just a little section of hair, I started by applying a generous amount of the DIY detangling spray onto it and started to slowly brush it out - importand thing is that you start on the ends, working your way up to the roots.
If it is easier for you, lay an absorbent fabric on your legs and brush the hair laying on them. Worked easier for me!
Halfway there...
Be warned that this is going to take around an hour so you might want to listen to some music or watch Honey Boo Boo or whatever makes the struggle easier for you.
After a while, you should be rewarded though:
This is the amount of hair that has left the scalp of deh doll
DONE!
Your dolly hair is looking like actual doll hair! How cool is that?
Now it's time to wash again, and put some conditioner on the hair to soften it more, make it smell nice and give it a smooth finish.
As you can see, the hair is nice and straight now however if your ends still look a bit messy and just off, you can take care of that too.
Straightening synthetic doll hair
You will need
a hair straightener that can be set on low
a comb
water in a spray bottle
Method is, you will need to use the lowest setting on your straightener. Take a small section of hair again, and spray it generously with water - synthetic hair needs to be wet - not damp, wet - to avoid burning the plastic.
After you've wet the hair properly run the straightener through the hair section, don't worry if you can see any fume or hear a noise similar to what boiling water makes, as this is just the water evaporating.
Hope you'll find this tutorial useful :) Cheers
Monika
