Friday, December 30, 2011

Doll Hair Detangler - Updated with recipe!

Thank goodness for Pinterest. About a month ago I pinned a picture of a homemade doll hair detangler. I was hoping it worked, since my daughter's Target brand "American Girl" doll had some seriously tangled hair, and it was making her seriously sad! I am happy to announce that it worked! Because the blog where I originally pinned the recipe from is now removed, I will repost it here.

Basically you will need a spray bottle, liquid fabric softener, water, and a wire brush or wide tooth comb. Fill a spray bottle with 2 tablespoons liquid fabric softener, and then fill the rest with water. Shake to mix well. The first time I worked on the doll, I used a wire brush, but later for the Barbies I just used a wide-tooth comb and it was fine.

I wish I had taken "before" pics of my oldest daughter's doll. Let's just say it was an unmanageable ball of tangles, that could not be tamed into ANY style, not even a ponytail. My daughter got two new outfits for Christmas, and couldn't use the hair accessories for either of them because Sunny's hair was so mangy. Here is Sunny now. One thing I will say is that Sunny lost a LOT of hair in the process. Like, several handfuls. But I figured it was better to have less hair that my daughter could actually style than more hair in a big tangly ball. For my younger daughter's doll and the Barbies, they lost hardly any hair at all, so I think the key here is to detangle early and often!
 Here's my younger daughter's doll, Jenny. Her hair didn't start out nearly as bad, because it doesn't get played with nearly as much. Minor tangling problem.

Jenny Before:
 Jenny After:


I worked on some Barbies while I was at it. Here are their nice smooth manes.
 

I actually did this for my older daughter's doll on Christmas Day, and at the end of a full day being spoiled by presents, delicious food, and tons of family time, I asked her what her favorite part of the WHOLE day was. And guess what she said? "When you fixed Sunny's hair." Seriously. Could have saved myself some money on presents, I guess!

So try it out! Let me know if you have any other helpful tips!

Pin It!

31 comments:

Karen said...

This really works - I did it today with my niece's Madame Alexander 18" doll. Her wasn't tangled into knots yet, but my niece had trouble combing and fixing her hair because it was so straw like in texture. Usually she would give up on doing the dolls hair and bring it to me to fix it for her. So today we just mixed up 2 Tbsp fabric softener with water (I used a clean peanut butter jar to mix it up in). We poured it over the doll's hair after first wetting it. We let it set for a few minutes and then rinsed it. I sprayed some detangling spray on some troublesome spots when I combed it out. Already her hair looks better - my niece thinks it is much prettier now. I think she will be able to do her dolls hair herself now - which is what she wants (she is a super independent 5 year old that hates having people do things for her!!) So, thanks so much for posting this - my niece is really happy today because I found your post!!

Unknown said...

What size of spray bottle did you use? I have a 2 oz & an 8 oz also bigger?

Katie said...

The one we used was probably around 8 oz. You certainly don't need that much of the mixture, but that's the size bottle we had.

Diana said...

Thank you! I had pinned the recipe and was so disappointed to find the blog was gone! I'm so glad I was able to save my daughter's dolls! I saved her "Our Generation" doll and her Rapunzel Barbie type doll. Amazing!

Diana said...

Thank you! I had pinned the recipe and was so disappointed to find the blog was gone! I'm so glad I was able to save my daughter's dolls! I saved her "Our Generation" doll and her Rapunzel Barbie type doll. Amazing!

Katie said...

Great, Diana! Glad it worked out for you!

Unknown said...

Thanks for posting! it worked for us too. Question -- my daughter wants a doll like Jenny in the picture! Do you have any idea where you got it?

Katie@Simply Clean Living said...

Hi Selina,
Glad it worked for you! We got the Jenny doll at Target. For a full run-down of American Girl doll brand versus an off-brand like Our Generation from Target, see this post: http://simplycleanliving.blogspot.com/2013/02/american-girl-doll-versus-generic-is-it.html
Thanks for reading!

Unknown said...

How much water did you mix with the 2 Tbsp fabric softener ?

Katie@Simply Clean Living said...

Rebecca, we just used an 8 oz. water bottle and filled it with water. So, 1 cup of water for every 2 T. of the fabric softener.

Unknown said...

Which brand fabric softner

Katie@Simply Clean Living said...

Jaime, I don't think it matters what brand of fabric softener, as long as it's liquid.

P said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
P said...

I have a very old doll, "Little Miss No Name" circa 1965, and her hair is not just tangled, but dirty. Will this solution clean her hair as well?
Pamela~

Unknown said...

Since I was a little girl my dream is to have a doll. It is because we are only poor and we cannot buy one. And now I can buy my own doll.

Clark said...




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Kids Hair Detangler

Rose Maria said...

How to detangle matted hair?
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Unknown said...

This didn't work for me😵

Unknown said...

Does this work on "split ends" as well? My daughter has a rainbow dash headband that I got the knots out of, but it's all ratty at the bottom now ��

Unknown said...

Worked great! My daughter received the baby doll she has been forbidden to play with as a gift for her 4th birthday- it was her grandmother's doll when she was a child. It has no monetary value but is priceless to us. The hair was horribly matted and has clearly been cut at some point. I put 2 T fabric softener and a little over 1 C of water in a measuring cup and poured it on the dolls hair. I smooshed it around a bit, like you would do with shampoo, and then rinsed it. I carefully combed it with a wide-toothed comb. The hair looks SO much better now!

Unknown said...

PLEASE don't use this on a real American Girl doll! Their hair is a different fiber, the same as is used in higher quality wigs and synthetic hair for humans called kanekalon. Fabric softener will cause the texture to change for the worse and can cause mold to grow, plus attracts dust and dirt! I don't want to see another very expensive AG doll ruined with this!

Anonymous said...

this actually works !!! so cool ! thx !

Unknown said...

My fabric softener got all chunky and separated from the water. What brand do you use?

BLL said...

What if you rinse it afterwards? The other method I saw said to spray and comb then rinse and dry very well. We have an AG doll that got left on the floor and my cat was having some potty problems. I've tried to wash gently with baby shampoo but the smell will NOT go away. Was hoping the fabric softener option would work better since it's a stronger smell...

William said...

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Mom the Barbie Slave said...

So if you use spray bottle with the water and fabric softener do you have to rinse the barbies hair out or is it fine to leave in?

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Unknown said...

Omg..just tried this, worked like magic! I used about 2 cups of distilled water...thx much for sharing info. YOU SAVED THE DAY