Makeovers Using Felting Needles for Rerooting!

We absolutely LOVE the makeovers that have been done, using our gorgeous hair tails and felting needles!

ROOTING THE HAIR. We love Felting Needles for rooting dolls! You can learn how to do this if you click on this link and look at the Felting Needle instructions: Doll Restoration & Reborns Site

We used synthetic hair tails to re-root Baby Crissy. I mixed hair fibers from auburn and ginger tails in order to custom blend a color that matched her original hair color exactly. My doll's bangs had been cut, so I trimmed the hair plugs down to the scalp in that area and rerooted most of the front. The project took a couple of hours at the most, and she looks like new. Here is the doll I re-rooted:

The Crissy Doctors rerooted Baby Crissy as a blonde.
Look at this stunning makeover:

The Crissy Doctors used three packages of synthetic fiber on this doll: two packages for re-rooting, and one package to replace the tail. The tail shown is the short length.

DYE LOTS.When buying your hair tails, remember that hair color does vary with each lot (batch) of hair that is made. So be sure to buy all you need for your project because the next dye lot might not be exactly the same color. If any of you do knitting or crochet, then you know how important it is to match dye lots!

STYLING THE HAIR. Synthetic hair cannot be curled with a curling iron because it melts. But one lady who has been experimenting with our synthetic hair tails says they do curl very nicely using the hot water method. To do this, you roll the hair on straws (secure with a bobby pin) or use perm rollers or small rollers. Then pour very hot water over the hair. Or you can dip the hair:

Heat water to boiling and REMOVE IT FROM THE STOVE. Then dip the hair (in rollers) in the hot water. Don't leave it in the water, just dip it and pull it out again. Once might be enough. If you throw the doll or the wig or hair piece in the boiled water and walk away from it, the hair will fry and lose it's gloss.

You can also use boiled water to straighten synthetic hair that is curly. Just dip the hair piece a few times until you see that the curl is gone. The weight of the hot water dripping off the hair will help to straighten it.

Allow the hair to dry and you will have nice curls. (You should curl the hair AFTER it's been rooted into the doll of course.)

STYLING TIP: To tame the hair when you are finished doing re-rooting your doll, you can place a wet towel or washcloth over the doll's head and iron the wet towel with a steam iron. The steam will flatten the hair so it will lay flat on the doll's head. Style the hair as much as possible before steaming it, so the hair will end up laying flat where you want it to be.

This suggestion for steam ironing the hair has been going around the 'net, we're not sure who suggested it first. We thank our customers for passing the info on to us.