Perfume Puff hair question

[NovelNerd]

Hey there,

I remember the craze years ago to turn everything into a perfume puff where people had yarn and made so many. I made several but I always had trouble with the hair being long enough. I use the (forgot the name) paddle brush with the curves teeth to brush it out, and I do rehairing with needle and thread not a rehair tool and glue etc.

I was never sure if because if my method I’d it caused the hair to break, but I could never get the lovely long fibers of hair everyone did, and I was always lucky to just get a few inches on my perfume puffs.

I recently bought a puff that needs hair since hers was cut. If anyone could
Be of help I was appreciate it. Do you know of any specific brands and types that would work well for my project? Pictures help if anyone has a picture of their yarn or at least can tell me the label info. I would really like one that could hold up to the way I rehair and give me long pretty, fluffy hair.

Thanks!

[BlackCurtains]

I've never made one but I know you have to use 100% acrylic yarn and I remember someone saying that cheap yarn works the best. The slicker brush with the curved teeth is used to get mats out of fur, so I would think that's not the best choice since it tends to pull them out rather than brush them out. That said, I don't know what kind of brush should be used. Maybe a different kind of pet brush without curved teeth?

Hopefully, someone else will come along with more advice and experience.

[bright rabbit 1]

Use merion wool it’s perfect for perfume puff ponies

[Griffin]

I've only ever used Merino wool myself, not acrylic yarn, but maybe some doll rehair tutorials would be helpful? I was trying to get into doll repainting and noticed they use yarn a lot, watched so many videos, lol!

Try this one? https://youtu.be/Q74jg6hn_OI
Instead of mesh I've seen others use wooden skewers.

[Artemesia's Garden]

I remember buying Lion Brand Super Bulky. I think I pulled out lengths of fibre from the yarn before I put them in the pony, rather than comb them out afterwards. It was a bit random how long the bits were so I graded them by length before I started re-hairing. Mine are not so much perfume puff as perfume locks though, you can see some here: https://florencemeade.com/2018/05/11/i-also-restore-1980s-toys/

Heart's Desire was made with two different brands so you can see how brands might vary:
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[Snapdragon]

Oh boy, a fab question! I've also had my fair share of issues with yarn hair - I love it, but sometimes it's just dumb luck as to whether your whole plug will shred into pieces once you start brushing or not.

I did find it helped me a lot to 'cheat' to buy extra-oversized yarn that is, essentially, already just acrylic roving, loosely formed into a yarn shape. I use this brand I found at Michael's, it's called "Chunky Luxe Big! Yarn by Loops & Threads", see: https://www.michaels.com/chunky-luxe-big-yarn-by-loops-and-threads/M10519317.html

And I used it on this lovely fellow, Phosphene:
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As well as this fellow, Tyto:
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This was my very first custom with yarn hair (Peppermint Pirate), and I made the mistake of thinking 'a soft yarn will produce a better poof'. Not so! A soft-feeling yarn means many tiny fibers, which fall apart and shred when they are unraveled and brushed!

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This Trixie Mattel-themed gal was made with raw (washed but not carded/brushed) alpaca fiber glued to wefts, and while it turned out well, it's not particularly poofy; I just thought you might enjoy a contrast.

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I've also made several other customs with 100% acrylic yarn, and they've all turned out well! The brand I used was something like 'super chunky' by the Royal Lion brand, as I've heard good things about them. Basically, I bought the thickest 100% acrylic yarn I could find, but I was always afraid to brush too much to get rid of the wavy texture, lest they lose all their fluff like Peppermint Pirate. Here we have:

Galaxy
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Bouncy Bones
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And finally, there's a new type of hair on the market, it's from TheDollPlanet, and it's called "NP Fluffy"; right now it only comes in white, pink, and purple, but it's quite lovely! It's not as dense as when I root with yarn, but they are calling it a good replacement for Perfume Puff ponies. IDK if I'd say that, but that's because I really liked the dense feeling that I got with the hair I used on Tyto. But for comparison, here is my Marie Antoineigh:

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I hope that helps! Best of luck to you!

OH and I forgot to mention - I have heard that it's best to use a metal slicker brush on the hair, it helps to smooth it down without pulling out a lot of hair! But I haven't had a chance to try this myself, I bought a plastic one and it just isn't the same!

[BlackCurtains]

Well, I've been schooled Thanks Snap, that's a good post

[NovelNerd]

Thank you everyone for the advice. Thank you Snap for such a detailed explanation and the links. I’m going to Micheal’s to check out their selection. Also, those ponies are breathtaking, and I love the Marie hairdo.

[Snapdragon]

LOL BlackCurtains you're very kind, thank you! I didn't even realize how many poofy rehairs I made, because I never really 'got in' on the perfume puff rush that happened a few years ago, I felt like I was very behind everyone else! I have seen people get some incredible results with yarn, I just couldn't personally make it work for myself the same way!

And thank you for the kind words Maddie, and you're welcome! Best of luck to you! Yarn rehairing is a lot of fun, I find in some ways it's easier than rehairing with regular hair! It's easy to knot (no little strands to lose a grip on), and for many yarns (not the super mega luxe chunk whatever ) it's just one strand of yarn per plug! I'm working with the needle/wire method though, so with the tool it might be a little trickier. Be aware that I did break several holes on each pony I rehaired, simply because yarn can be too thick by its nature, but it's easy to stuff a couple more yarn plugs in there and keep it from slipping out.

I did forget one example, one of my earliest group of ponies used mohair! It was from a site which no longer supplies mohair, so I can't really give you a recommendation there! BUT it did work out fabulously, and it was very nice to work with!

Here's mama Ixion:
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And the babies!
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You can see the babies have more of a curl to them, I think it's because I tried to brush out mama's hair more than theirs, and I let the little ones be a little more unruly. Mohair has a beautiful natural curl to it, you can see lots of gorgeous doll wigs made with mohair!

[NovelNerd]

No problem, I’ve actually seen your rehairs on FB, but I didn’t know it was you because you know real names and all. 

Those are really pretty! I actually only use the needle and thread method instead of the tool. The mohair ones are cool, and I’ve done a few in mohair. I actually years ago bought mohair from Etsy and cleaned, dyed, and set it myself. I used it for few rehairs and MH dolls and realized I was allergic. 

[Snapdragon]

Oh gosh, LOL! Well, hi again! Thank you for your kind words, and I'm sorry you're allergic to mohair! T_T I hope you're able to find a nice alternative! I haven't experimented with adding curls to acrylic; I'm sure you could! I just haven't tried it yet!

[bright rabbit 1]

Snapdragon are you into Final Fantasey? Seeing as you’ve done the unicorn from FFX

[Griffin]

Snapdragon are you into Final Fantasey? Seeing as you’ve done the unicorn from FFX

OT but I always wanted to make an Ixion custom, or one of those blade-horned monsters from FFVIII (Mesmerize)... Just never got round to it, there's never enough time for all the ideas!

[Snapdragon]

Snapdragon are you into Final Fantasey? Seeing as you’ve done the unicorn from FFX

I am, I enjoy Final Fantasy a lot! This one is actually the Ixion from the XI franchise! (She doesn't have babies in the game, however! )

[bright rabbit 1]

Snapdragon are you into Final Fantasey? Seeing as you’ve done the unicorn from FFX

I am, I enjoy Final Fantasy a lot! This one is actually the Ixion from the XI franchise! (She doesn't have babies in the game, however! )

Talking about Ixion I always hum the my little pony theme song anytime I summon it.