General Baby Face Hairdressing Tips & Tools

Sherri shows off some of my Hairdressing Tools:

bag of clips and hair bands, wig brush, curling iron, knitting needle.

Sherri’s hairdo is in progress.

Only the top few rows have been sorted out.

Tools

Shampoo: I use plain Johnson’s Baby Shampoo but any should work. The less color or fragrance the better, stick with plain stuff, or even plain mild detergent. Added colors or fragrances may have unknown long term effects on the vinyl.

Conditioner: I use Suave Balsam & Protein because it is cheap and works well. I have heard that spray on detanglers (IE No More Tangles) and fabric softeners, like Downy, also work well. I don’t always use conditioner. It is useful if the hair seems damaged or frizzy.

A wig brush and/or wig comb. A wig brush is the exact same as the little wire-bristle brush that is sold for brushing dogs’ and cats’ hair. This is the one with the straight wire bristles coming out of a rubber pad, no knobs or plastic tips. A wire-tooth pet comb is about the same as a wig comb too.

A pointed object, not too sharp, for separating little plugs of hair. I use a size 0 knitting needle, but anything that will help you pick apart small sections of hair will work.

Water in a spritzer bottle.

Hairdressing tape, to hold hair that wants to go in all directions.

Small hair clips, to hold sections that you are working on so you don’t drop them and lose your work.

Small hair bands or rubber bands. The kind of teeny rubber bands that dentists use on braces are very good for holding Baby Face’s smaller ponytails.

Curling irons (optional). You may want a small one1/4 to 3/8, if making curls, or a larger one ¾ to 1 inch, if shaping the hair.

Blow dryer (optional).

Tips

Starting out:

First, shampoo the hair, and condition it if it seems damaged.

Put all your supplies within reach and spread a towel to catch the drips.

Work with the hair damp. If it dries out, spritz some more water on. This will help keep it in place while you work. It does not need to be soaking wet, just damp.

Comb the hair out carefully with a wire wig brush or a pet comb. Coax the snarls out, working from the ends inward. WARNING: Do not yank or pull super hard, you may pull the hair plugs right out, or frizz them and cause split ends. Treat your Baby Face’s hair gently.

Keep ‘em separated:

When starting out to restore the hairstyle, separate out all the hair into sections that you can see belong together. If you can’t figure out which ones go together, do not worry. This step is just for convenience.

Wherever you find a row or pair of rows that is probably a part, keep those rows clipped together so you can turn them loose one bunch at a time to work on.

Ponytail sections: Put a clip on them to keep them together.

1. Long sections belonging to the crimped ponytails.

2. Circles of hair that seem to make a group. Probably ponytails.

Straight sections: Wet them and comb them into place and tape them down out of your way with hairdresser’s tape.

1. Bangs

2. Straight sections of back hair, or side hair.

Then you can work on figuring out whatever’s left.

Hair clips and hairdresser’s tape!

Susie seems a bit worried about all of this…

Frizzies

If there are frizzies in the crimped ponytails, dunking them in very hot water will tame them a bit. The water can be next best thing to boiling.

Don’t dunk the doll’s head or the straight hairs, just the ponytail. Swish the ponytail around gently, and pull up out of the water letting the water drain down vertically.

Do not shake the ponytail or brush it, just let it dry.

If it still needs help, try dunking in conditioner or fabric softener. Leave it on for a little while but not long enough to dry, then rinse gently with hot water.

Parts:

In general, when two rows of hair plugs are placed very close together, that is a clue that there probably should be a part there. The two close-set rows are meant to be interwoven to hide the scalp.

The other sign of a part is a single row of hair plugs where the plugs themselves are set close together without spaces between. When you find one of these, generally about half the hairs go one direction and half go another.

If the hairs in the close-set rows are different lengths this will give a hint as to which ones go where. If they are the same lengths, just alternate them one plug up and one plug down.

Susie’s horizontal part in progress –

The two finished bits are clipped with red butterflies,

the next bit to be sorted is clipped into the white barrette.

Hairdresser’s Tape

If the hair does not want to lie down, especially around the bangs, dampen the hairs (again). Use some hairdresser’s tape and tape them all down into place carefully. Leave them to dry.

You can repeat this treatment over again if it doesn’t completely tame the hair the first time. If after a couple of tries, taping and drying alone don’t work, you can help this along with a blow dryer. It will encourage the hair to stay where you have put it.

Taming the hair with a Blow Dryer:

A bit of hot blow dryer air will restore some shine and reduce frizzies, as long as you blow in the direction the hair is supposed to lie.

WARNING: Too much heat from a blow dryer on dry hair may damage it, though this is not all that likely. Be cautious though at first. Different blow dryers may have different temperatures. Use them on the lowest setting that works, start low and work up if you don’t see any effect. Make sure the hair is DAMP, and do not dry it out completely with the heat. Wet it again if you need to blow it some more.

Eyelashes are especially prone to heat damage. Whatever they are made of, it is not as tough as the hair. Try not to get the hot air on the eyelashes. Tape a piece of cardboard or plastic around the eye area to protect the eyelashes if you are going to blowdry the front of the hair.

Curling the Hair:

It can help the final appearance to curl the bottom ends of the hair slightly around her head with a small curling iron, 3/8 inch or even 1/4 inch if you can find one. This is especially good if her hair is frizzy on the ends.

The same WARNING goes for curling irons as for blow dryers, but more so: Too much heat from hot curling irons on dry hair may damage it – and this is more likely with a curling iron than with a blow dryer. Try not to touch the curling iron to the doll’s head vinyl. Make sure the hair is DAMP, and do not dry it out completely. If the curling iron is heated up, then when the hair stops steaming or making sizzle noises, the water is drying out and you should stop. Spritz some more water on it if you need more curl. You can repeat as many times as you want, as long as you don’t let it dry out and fry! After curling the hair, allow the hair to cool completely (let the curls harden) before combing them.

You can't use a curling iron on most kinds of dolls, because the hair melts. Baby Face dolls can be curled this way but just be careful. Also, don't let the hot barrel touch the doll's face or it can leave melt marks.

Edited 8/10/2019