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Tuesday, January 03, 2017

Hot Water Dunk for Kirsten.

I have been hearing a lot about hot water dunks to restore damaged doll hair.  I have done a boil perm (Vintage doll boil perm) on a vintage doll, but never considered that the same treatment could restore damaged doll hair.  So, I decided that my recently acquired Kirsten was a great candidate. She is a Pleasant Company doll most likely from the late 80s or mid 90s.

 Even after my usual hair treatments, Kirsten's hair is dry and frizzy.
When I got Kirsten it looked like her hair had been in braids for years.

I washed her hair just to make sure it was clean.

 Then poured boiling water from my kettle in a bowl.

Set my timer for 5 minutes and let the water cool!
This is very important - don't skip this step!

 I dunked her hair in the slightly cooled water, but not her wig,
 for a few seconds. I dunked a second time for another few seconds.

 I let her hair drip into the sink and sprayed it with the wig conditioner.

In the first brushing I could see her hair was slicker and shinier.

After her hair was dry, it was much silkier.
You can tell this is hair on an older doll, but still MUCH better!

Before for comparison.


Kirsten is very happy with her hair.

8 comments:

Flo said...

I was amazed at how well this worked on Marie-Grace. Kirsten looks terrific!

Brenda and Sophie said...

Why am I just now hearing about this?! It is really amazing what a difference it made to her hair.

Julie Ann Newman said...

Beautiful! I wanted to do this on my doll Melody, (AGOT #20 retired), but her former doll mom hacked up her hair so badly I had to cut it, and I'm afraid the hot water would get on the wig cap.

Brenda and Sophie said...

That is the only problem with this dunk. Having to avoid the wig cap makes it hard to restore shorter haired dolls. I hate to see a doll with their hair hacked up, but I know sometimes it is irresistible to little girls to see how their doll would look with a different hairstyle. :)

I have had good results using a ceramic flat iron too. I did that with a couple different dolls I was restoring and it was just as good, especially when I lef their hair slightly damp.

Linda Reynolds said...

I have heard of this before, but haven't tried it yet. I love my Kirsten(really my daughter's, but I have custody until her baby is old enough for her)😊?. Our Kirsten's hair is so very dry. She really needs help! A brush will not comb through her hair. What is the name of the wig conditioner that you used?

Brenda and Sophie said...

It is called express locs. I got it at Sally beauty supply. I would wash her hair and using the spray leave-in conditioner start from the bottom of her hair and slowly detangle a bit at a time. Keep spraying as you go if needed. I have detangled some pretty bad (matted) doll hair messes and it can be done. Be sure to use a wire bristle brush.

Linda Reynolds said...

What shampoo did you use?

Brenda and Sophie said...

Express Locs Wig Shampoo, but any wig shampoo would work. I went to my local beauty supply shop.