Custom/rehairing questions.

[Squirrelypaws]

I'm planning my first reroot attempt on a doll, and I was hoping to get some advice on a few things.

I just dehaired a bait doll as a trial run, and she had TONS of glue in her head. Should I do anything to clean leftover glue residue out of the head before rehairing?

My trial run doll ended up losing some paint on her eyebrows and eyeshadow; is that a common occurance? If it is, is there anything I can do to prevent it from happening? I don't mind on my trial doll, as I eventually want to try painting anyway and I can just use her for that, but I really don't want to lose any paint on the one I'm rerooting for my collection.

What kind of glue should I look for to hold the hair in when I'm done rooting?

I think that's everything... Any advice from more experienced customizers would be awesome. ^_^

[Rainsong]

I'm planning my first reroot attempt on a doll, and I was hoping to get some advice on a few things.

I just dehaired a bait doll as a trial run, and she had TONS of glue in her head. Should I do anything to clean leftover glue residue out of the head before rehairing?

My trial run doll ended up losing some paint on her eyebrows and eyeshadow; is that a common occurance? If it is, is there anything I can do to prevent it from happening? I don't mind on my trial doll, as I eventually want to try painting anyway and I can just use her for that, but I really don't want to lose any paint on the one I'm rerooting for my collection.

What kind of glue should I look for to hold the hair in when I'm done rooting?

I think that's everything... Any advice from more experienced customizers would be awesome. ^_^

We've only had two dolls loose paint - a DT Cleo and Catrine. All 5 B&W Frankies and Howleen were fine. We used the boiling water method though, and that's when they had paint loss - is after being in the super hot water.

[Squirrelypaws]

We've only had two dolls loose paint - a DT Cleo and Catrine. All 5 B&W Frankies and Howleen were fine. We used the boiling water method though, and that's when they had paint loss - is after being in the super hot water.

I'm guessing it's the heat that causes the paint loss, then? I didn't use hot water on my trial doll, but I did use a hairdryer to heat up her head so I didn't break the neck stalk thing and her head was still pretty hot while I was pulling the hair out.

So you think I should be okay with the paint if I let the head cool completely before attempting to do anything else?

[Wrenn_Rosencrantz]

We've only had two dolls loose paint - a DT Cleo and Catrine.

*DotD Cleo

[Maniah]

I had issues with the neck stalk thing.. I didn't want to break the litle spikes on it.. Turns out the spikes arent really needed if the doll wont be played with by kids. I clipped the spikes on the side off, and left the stalk, and now it functions just like a CAM neck. The head pops onto the little nub and is secure. So I will not worry about the spikes in the future It makes getting the head back on easy.

The only two dolls who I have dehaired were a B&W frankie, and a GR Draculaura. Frankie's head went into a cup of Acetone, Draculauras head had no heat or chemicals.

Frankie's hair seemed to come out only slightly easier than Draculauras with the use of the acetone. But it did make the rubber of her head extremely soft. It seemed like it made it tear easier, and my hemostat pliers dented the vinyl, so it looks like she has a scar on her face Now that she has been sitting out, the plastic has firmed up, but it fees harder than it did at first.

Draculauras head I took off with elbow grease. The glue was really tough in places. She had a lot. Her scalp ripped at the part where he hair is supposed to part. But it ripped less than Frankies did. I think I just need to pull gentler next time. If I were to use hot water, I would only use it when I got to a part where the hair was just refusing to come out and it seemed like it would rip.

I havent completely rehaired them either. I started on Frankie, but with my Carpal Tunnel.. Well.. I've been working on her off and on for like 2 weeks now in my free time. It's pathetic how slow it is. I started just using the reroot tool. I tried a needle and thread, but I couldnt manage to get anything lined up right and it hurt my hand. So I started just knotting my hair on my reroot tool, and putting it in that way. The hair has a knot and if treated gently, it should stay. But some of the hair does not have knots, so I will need to glue inside anyway.

I hope someone else can provide info about glue, because I have no idea what I will use. Fabritac has always been good, but it is super thick and dries pretty fast. It's always hard for me to make sure it gets all over. When I used it on ponies, I would have bits that didnt get coated with the stuff, and the hair would come out and I would have to start again. Mod Podge always worked well for me, but I would hate to use it on the dolls because they will get their hair done more than a pony would. Boil perms, shampoos... None of that is good for mod podge.

I'll have to remember to keep checking back here. I know I have no real experience with the doll side of things, but hopefully sharing my meager knowledge will have been useful to some small degree

[Bergamot]

I found that Goo Gone really helped to break up all that nasty glue. It's worth a try, but I don't know if it will remove paint or not.

[justkitter]

I am not a customizer, so please don't think I'm an expert.  I do have a little experience though.  I've de-haired a handful of dolls now.  I've also experienced paint loss on a doll's face, but I never heated the doll in question or used water or anything like that.  What I think happened in my case was, I handled the dolls face way too much when pulling the hair out, and my hands were covered in the waxy glue that Mattel uses to keep the hair in place.  I think the glue softened the paint and all my touching wiped it away.

Since then, I don't touch the painted parts of the face when de-hairing, and I try to clean my tweezers often so my hands stay clean.  I haven't had any paint loss since.

If I ever get around to re-hairing, I'll be using Fabri-tac glue.  That's all I've ever heard people recommend.  It is hard to use, as Maniah said, but I read if you use a cotton swab to move the glue around in the head, it should cover everything.

Once again, I am not a customizer and I have little to no experience, but I read alot

[Maniah]

Have a bump for your glue question

[Colorscapesart]

I try to hold the doll's head in a tissue as I work (same for white FBR ponies!) to keep anything that's on my hands off the doll/pony.  The only residue in the head that could cause a problem are very large chunks.  Once those are gone, game on  

I LOVE Fabritac!  I wait until allll of the new hair is in.  After that, I pour in the fabritac in the neck hole and gently smoosh and squish the head around a good bit to help with coverage.   The main hard to tackle areas are ripped plug hole gaps.  Those seem to require a little more precision. 

Can't wait to see you freshly haired dolls!

[Squirrelypaws]

Thanks for all the great advice, guys. ^_^

Now to convince myself to shave poor Howleen's head for a reroot...