Extremely Frizzy/Matted Hair Fix?

[tailrustedtealeaf]

I am armed with money to get yarn if I cannot fix this! I just want to try to make her presentable for photoshoots when I leave for the beach!
So in my desperation to get a Seaflower, I picked up a ratty one off eBay. I've been working at her hair for a little bit, but it seems the typical curling iron fix isn't doing her much good...
Here's pics from the ebay listing. Her hair has not improved much since then:

Spoiler

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Focusing on the tail, it's actually due to the horrible state of the blue hair on the tail I'm even considering rehairing. I do have some white-to-purple UV hair to replace the strip, but at that point...why not just do the whole pony if I can't get her tail back to normal/display quality?
I can't do the boil method because of the color changing hair, of course. I've been using the curler on low as mentioned and putting PLENTY of conditioner on it to re-hydrate the hair, but it's just not giving any results.
Any recommendations are welcome. As I said, i'm totally okay with a chance to rehair her with yarn! Gives me something to do on the long car ride, lol.

[kissthethunder]

Her hair is largely in tact so I wouldn't recommend a rehair, especially considering this is typical of the set she comes from. First, just clean her up. Work on the tail rust, replace the washer and clasp, shampoo and condition, and then after a thorough and gentle combing see what you're going to be struggling with.

Reread your post, you said you've already done work to her? Because she doesn't look it from the pictures. Are they from the listing? If so can we see pics of her as she is now?

[tailrustedtealeaf]

Reread your post, you said you've already done work to her? Because she doesn't look it from the pictures. Are they from the listing? If so can we see pics of her as she is now?

Sorry, those were the pictures from the listing!
I've got her tail out and I've been combating the rust slowly, but I wanted to see if I can fix her frizzy ends before bothering with the rest of it.
Poor pictures, late at night, I'll try to get better pics after my shift tomorrow.
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The tail in full above. Heat treated side on the bottom, and:
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Me holding the side that I used the iron on. Coated it in conditioner, ran it through slowly some times. The blue seems to have improved, but I can't get a comb through the white/purple without struggling. You can see how frizzled it is against my hand (my blanket is white, not the best backdrop).

[Pokeyonekenobie]

Have you tried liquid fabric softener?  I used a solution of 1:1 water/softener on a toddler Belle doll of my niece's and as far as I could tell it helped to get the comb through.

[mewthemew]

Hi, just had to work on a G3 PetalBlossom with the same problem (Her hair were set into dreadlocks and looked like 4 tentacles on both the head and tail).
It took a while, but what helped me was using baby shampoo and DEFINETELY start on the ends of the hair because if you start at the body, the tangles will start collecting at the ends and you'll pull your own hair out even more than you're doing to the pony trying to get the collective frizz you just made out.

[kissthethunder]

Okay, are you using the iron on a low manageable heat and working in very small segments? I'm talking only about 8 strands of hair per pass.

[tailrustedtealeaf]

Okay, are you using the iron on a low manageable heat and working in very small segments? I'm talking only about 8 strands of hair per pass.

Oh, jeez, I'll have to try even smaller segments. That was probably a big part of my problem. I'll give that a spin after work tomorrow.
(How dare the answer be patience!)

It took a while, but what helped me was using baby shampoo and DEFINETELY start on the ends of the hair because if you start at the body, the tangles will start collecting at the ends and you'll pull your own hair out even more than you're doing to the pony trying to get the collective frizz you just made out.

Yes, this is how I brush out the hair every time. The more I brushed it, the more tangle-balls seemed to collect.

Have you tried liquid fabric softener?  I used a solution of 1:1 water/softener on a toddler Belle doll of my niece's and as far as I could tell it helped to get the comb through.

I'll fall back on this if some hours with the curling iron don't give me any results. 
Thank you all for the advice! I work an early shift tomorrow, but I'll try to work on her before I get too settled at my desk.

[RoseNoire]

Ironing the white streak will break its color-changing effect. :/

[kissthethunder]

Ironing the white streak will break its color-changing effect. :/

I agree completely, I'd never use heat on my own, but others have said low heat is fine. I don't want to chance it personally.

[RoseNoire]

Neither do I. I'd rather leave my Waverunner frizzy as she is. It's not that bad on her, her mane is simply puffy.

[Noasar]

I second the fabric softener - it really helps.

I’ll be honest, I would just give it a go and iron the colour changing section on a low heat, but if you want to preserve the colour changing effect you can keep doing what you are doing and separate it out but plait it afterwards.

[tailrustedtealeaf]

Of course the answer would be patience! I just gave it a go on a small section, and it looks like it's working well! Isolating and doing it in small spouts is really helpful. I was doing too big of sections.
I'll keep working at it over the next day.

[WaterDraw]

I remember less than a month ago there was a post talking about the frizzy hair on someone's Beachball I believe it was. There are some good methods in there if you need more advice ^^
I would say always try to preserve the hair if it is mostly intact. It makes the pony worth more, plus its just better with rarer (?) ponies since there aren't as many of them around and a lot of people like their pony to be as original as possible. ^^

[SparkleSkye]

That would be my beachball with frizzy hair 
I've found generous conditioner and a straightner on low heat can work wonders, and I've yet to see any damage to the color changing.
The non color changing defrizzes much easier than the color changing, so I suggest separating out the white from the other and focusing on it if you can. I've yet to defrizz mine completely, the ends are still quite frizzy but the main body of the hair is much much improved.

[tulagirl]

Ironing the white streak will break its color-changing effect. :/

Not only is this true but even set on low I  had it burn the color changing hair.  So, I don't recommend heat treatment on the pony.  I ruined one of mine trying this even on low setting.  I have no idea if it was because someone may have tried it before me and my effort was the final straw that burned the pony hair or what.  My curling iron has heat settings between 1-10.  I had it on a 2 I think because, 1 has never worked well for my G1 pony frizz.  The color changing hair is not heat resistant like the colored hair.