Advice for a first rehair? (Barnacle)

[Tulips]

I got a Barnacle recently and he is partially bald and thinning so I was thinking of attempting my first real rehair. I wanted to ask advice on where it's best to source hair from since I'm located in Australia and don't want to wait months to get started, not to mention I've heard quite some mixed reviews of Dolly Hair. And what is the best technique? I tried to make my own rehairing tools but I was doing perfume puffs so I kinda broke them quickly and have since been threading the hair with fishing line. I've never worked with nylon hair, I've only ever done Puffs with wool. 

Also, his tail is pretty much fine so I'd only be fixing his mane. It won't match but I'd rather keep his original tail since it's still so nice. Would it be best for me to ask around for someone selling partial hanks of hair since it's just a head and a single streak? Or would it be more worth the money if I just got full hanks from somewhere? Though I'm not likely to do much rehairing other than this so I'd have so much left over hair. 

And am I right that Firebird and Lemondrop are accurate matches for him?

Any advice is much appreciated and if you have some hair you could sell me that'd be great, thanks! 

[MnDancer]

Well, you're on the right track already! I, personally prefer the rehairing tool, which I'm using right at this very moment, for me it's quickest and easiest. Buying hair from Australia is something I've never done, but since you're not rehairing the tail, you might ask around to see if anyone might have some donor hair (hair from an actual MLP) such as a spare tail for Barnacle that you could use to redo his mane. That way you would have an exact match. just an idea, I've done this before for restores with nice results.

[Tulips]

Oh I hadn't thought of donor hair, thanks for the tip
In fact, if anyone who reads this has a donor tail that matches his red I'd love to have it, and a yellow tail as well for the streak lol

[MnDancer]

I was trying to think of one of the ponies I'd actually done it with, I replaced a Baby Quackers' bangs this way once and I made a custom Baby Starshine using donor hair from a Moonstone that was in sorry shape, now she looks just like her Mom!

[Xaniss]

Hey if you need any hair (or partial hair) in a pinch, I'm in Australia too (NSW - Mid North Coast) so I can send you some!    Unfortunately I can't help with donor hair, as I don't have any ponies with that hair colour ... or do I..? Will need to confirm that as off the top of my head, I'm not 100% sure 

Personally, I've purchased my nylon hair from Dollyhair.com (in the USA) and even more recently from mylittlecustoms.com (in the UK) and found that the UK has a faster shipping time - two weeks or less.

[Tulips]

@Xaniss
I've heard that sometimes getting donor hair can be a little tricky so I'd take new Nylon hair in those colours if you have any. I'd rather buy partial hanks because I don't see myself doing much more rehairing in the future and wouldn't know what to do with the spare hair.
Either way, as long as poor Barnacle has a full head of hair I'll be happy

[Xaniss]

So then do you want enough to do Barnacle with BOTH mane and tail? I haven't re-haired a boy before, so I'm not sure how much hair will be required - I have a new, untouched hank (38") of Firebird and can send some strands of Lemondrop too.

[Tulips]

So then do you want enough to do Barnacle with BOTH mane and tail? I haven't re-haired a boy before, so I'm not sure how much hair will be required - I have a new, untouched hank (38") of Firebird and can send some strands of Lemondrop too.

I dunno, I guess I could take the hair for mane and tail and decide whether or not to do the tail after the head. How much would you want for it all?

[Xaniss]

Well (and this is just a thought) but if you're not planning on doing any more re-hairing in the future would you be happy if I offer to re-hair Barnacle for you? I do have a re-hairing tool from Dollyhair and only use Fabri-Tac as the glue (so you can wash his hair in the future without the glue giving way) and I can even give him a curl. 

Up to you though (he is your pony) and I wouldn't charge any more than postage and the hair (the hank was only like $3) and I wouldn't charge anything for the Lemon drop, as it's only ... what? About 10 plugs or so..?

But if you still want the hank, that's perfectly fine too - thought I'd offer since it seems like a one-off thing for you and I'm not sure of many other Aussie customisers to pool our resources and talent!