Rehair or save the factory hair?

[Zapper]

I have come across this 'problem' with vintage ponies. I am often asking myself if I should just try and restore the hair (G1 and G2) as much as I can, or if it would be better to find hair matches and renew everything.

I am rather fond of finding new hair colors for G4s because eh... what else to do with all those Pinkie Pies

[RoseNoire]

Well, the choice is always yours, but since you are asking our opinion, here's mine :

I'm quite on the preservation side, so at first I'll try to save the original hair as much as I can. (Boiling, unfrizing,...) When the hair is really cut too short, where there's no hope, I'd go with a rehair with the closest match possible ever. And then keep the old hair in a baggie and tag it.  I'm sad I didn't keep Tex's original (but short. lol.) hair properly. My mother threw them away.  But it's all my fault. ^^'

Tex, with sad hair, I choose to rehair.

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Whizzer and Moonstone, hair cut, it makes me cringe but not enough to rehair them. They look okay that way

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Italian Moonstone, Europe is a Nirvana for Italian Nirvanas. lol.

And then, like I said, the choice is yours. Maybe your ponies are beyond restoration and you might prefer to custom them to give them a new life. It depends on how much you want to preserve your ponies.

Hope that helps.
Have a nice day. =)

[Safflower]

If it looks bad, like choppy, uneven, and completely gone, I would say they would look better with new hair. If the hair is cut evenly and isn't too short, I'm fine with it, so I would leave it. If there are plugs missing but the original hair is uncut, I'm fine with that too. Just depends on what you think looks good I guess

[MightyRose]

I always try to save the hair as much as I can, usually boiling water treatments will help. If the hair is cut but not badly then I will leave it as well. I think that there are only so many G1 ponies in the world at this point, so I like to keep them as original as possible. I often will not repaint their eyes or cutie marks for this reason (if the damage or wear is minimal). That being said, I also think that ponies deserve nice looking lives, so if a pony is missing hair I will rehair them.
I guess my outlook is that I try only to add to the original look, rather than replace or repaint.

[Artemesia's Garden]

I agree with Mighty Rose above. I have kept a few ponies with haircuts by styling with boiling water. My Sky Rocket has a G4 boy style mohawk, which suits her boyish pose. I did tidy it up slightly with scissors but only because I intend to keep her always and it looks so much better. Sometimes if the hair is frizzy I might plait it instead of re-hairing, like my Beachball. My Sugar apple had no tail and a buzz cut so I gave her a donor tail and a hat. I was not expecting it to look so sweet.  Everyone on here thought so too and said I should keep her like that so I did. Sometimes I do re-hair though, but I usually do yarn-puff re-hairs with no glue and don't even try to make it look original.  If someone wants to do an original looking re-hair int he future then they can.  For me, original is more interesting.

Here's a dilemma for you in return, I bought a Foto Finish on evilbay not realising that she was a factory second.  Her symbol has a ding and her hair hasn't been styled.  I was considering customising her but I don't have Foto Finish and she's starting to get more expensive.  What do you think I should do? Restore or customise?

[pinkkittywinks]

It depends on the pony I will always try and save the original hair first before rehairing.

Love pkw xxx

[tuneful87]

I prefer factory-looking hair, so if a pony has an awful haircut I'm OK having it rerooted in a matching color...but I like it professionally styled so it looks original. All ponies deserve to look their best!

[BlackCurtains]

All of the above! It depends on the pony. I have some with haircuts I kept as is, some I rehaired in original colors and some that have a whole new look.