Re-rooting tips for the absolute beginner?

[Minty_Magic]

Hey everyone,
I decided to take the plunge and try my hand at customizing! I ordered some hair and was really excited to get started, but I'm honestly really struggling. I'm using the tool method, and even though I've watched a few tutorials on Youtube and read some picture guides, I can't seem to figure it out. It looks easy enough, I'm separating my plug, wrapping it over my finger, and picking up with the tool just fine, but when I go to stick the needle in the hole, the hair isn't actually going in. I am making sure to stick the tool all the way in to where it's touching the pony's head. I have noticed on my tool the needle keeps kind of retracting back into the part where it's secured in. I feel like I'm twisting the little claw part as tight as it will go, and the needle feels secure when I play with it, but maybe it can go tighter and I'm missing something? I have a feeling this is a big part of my struggle.

I'm also getting discouraged because I did a full body repaint and when I go to try and get a plug in the paint is chipping. I think I saw in one of the tutorials that you should seal the paint first, so I'll try that and hope it helps. Seeing the paint chips is making me afraid to really play around with the hair though, and further frustrating me.

At this point I'm half thinking of giving up on the tool and trying another method, but I feel like if I can't figure out the easiest method, I'm really going to be in for a bad time if I try one of the more complex method. I feel like the tool looks so easy in every tutorial I've seen, so I'm just looking to see if there was a trick that helped you at first? Did you struggle bad with your first rehair? Would it be easier if I started out on a bait that isn't a full body repaint?

Also, sorry for rambling a little, I wanted to try and be clear with what my issue was. Thank you for any helps or tips you can provide!

[Griffin]

It definitely sounds like it's a problem caused by the needle being not secured tightly enough so it keeps retracting. Is the needle long enough? Thick enough? I'm not sure what type of a handle you have, when I have to use the tool method I use one that's actually a small hand drill and there's a natural "stop" so the needle can't go all the way in. I believe the problem you have used to be common in rehair tools with wooden handles, but I'm not sure if anyone even sells those anymore. 

Other things that might help is to use less hair per plug and to widen the plug holes with a push pin or thick needle before inserting the hair. You should do this one by one, immediately insert the plug when you take the pin out.

I wouldn't say the tool is necessarily the easiest method but it's definitely the fastest. I personally prefer the needle & thread method. It may look complex but in practice it's really simple, and I find it quite meditative. I've come to notice it's pretty much impossible to do with G4s though, so I have to resort to the tool method with those.

I've had the paint chipping issue every now and then and it's pretty unpredictable - all my customs are sealed before rehairing too. I've noticed it's more common with lighter colours and if I've done many coats, but I don't have this issue every time so it must be some sort of combination of paint consistency and the bait I'm using.  The only way I could fix it was to apply some more paint after rehairing with a small brush. Priming before painting helps some, but it has not completely prevented the problem. It's been some time since I last had to deal with that, luckily. I hope you can find a way to rehair your pony without too much damage! Good luck!

[Minty_Magic]

Thank you so much for your help! I’ve managed to root about 3 plugs, but I really think my tool is iffy. Widening the holes with thumbtacks has definitely helped, and I tried to make my dad tighten to tools grabber thing more in case I was being weak after those 3 plugs though the needle started going back in the tool again.

I bought my tool off retro dolls not too long ago, so it’s a nice metal material and not wood. I’m using the needles that came with it so I feel like they should be the right length and thickness and all that? I might honestly try sticking the needle in one of my wooden ceramic tool bases, I think it might be more secure that way. Those things can take a decent beating.

[NightGliderSA]

As Griffin already mentioned, I noticed that my needle retracts into the tool when I either have too much hair in the tool for the size of the hole or the needle is too big for the hole. I feel that this is actually a good thing as it can probably help to prevent splitting the pony.

And, again, as Griffin advised you can reduce the amount of hair you are trying to put into the hole - remember you can always put more hair into that same hole again if you feel there isn't enough. Or reduce the needle size; this will automatically reduce the amount of hair you can put into that hole as the needle will not be able to hold as much.

I personally always widen the hole with a larger needle before hand. This I do by gently sticking the larger needle in to the hole while I am sorting out the hair into the tool. Once this is ready to go I take out the larger needle and immediately root the new plug of hair. This is most certainly not the only way of doing things, but it is what works for me.

Good luck, and please let us know how you get on!

[Galactica]

Definitely make that needle REALLY TIGHT- use a tool if you need to, it is hard with just finger tightening.

Try warming up the pony in a heat pad (this is actually essential for harder plastic like doll heads).  It makes the needle go in way easier.

Try going through each hole before-hand with a push pin or tack.

Don't use too much hair- you should be using a VERY small amount in each application - like 6 hairs or something-

Try re-rooting with Seran if you are still having trouble- it is much easier to work with than Nylon.

[Minty_Magic]

Ahh thank you all so much! I think I had a combo problem of using too much hair and not having the tool tight enough. I didn’t think my plugs were that big, but the 6 hairs Galactica mentioned helped me size down considerably. I also didn’t know too much hair could cause the retraction, that’s good to know! I also went ahead and tightened my tool with some pliers and now i’ve got half a pony head done! It’s actually kinda therapeutic once you get a rhythm going.
Thank you all again!

[Griffin]

Awesome! Show us some pics when you're done!