I was really unhappy with the hair on my Monster High Rochelle Goyle. First off, the length of her hair covered up her fantastic wings! How did that get by the designers???
Secondly, my doll had funky hair. Now, from my previous work experience at American Girl, I know that sometimes a doll wig or rooted hair can be "off". It' s a fluke but it happens. My Rochelle had beautiful, wavy hair on one side and a frizzy mess on the other. It was very unbalanced. I had heard of "boiling water treatments". This terrified me but I had heard that they take out the frizz and can really do good things for these saran plugs that are rooted in these dolls' heads!
I was nervous but I took the plunge, so to speak! I boiled some water on my stove and poured it into a bowl in the sink. I waited about 2 minutes so I wouldn't melt her! I made sure that I only did her main hair. Even though her big, rolled curl bangs are crunchy with product, I still really like them and want to keep them, at least for now! I swished her hair around in the water, praying that I was doing the right thing! The bowl was big enough to give all the hair enough room to spread out during the "swishing" part, which only lasted a minute or so! I pressed her hair flat in a dish towel and squeezed out the excess water. Then I brushed her hair out. I was pleased. (I apologize for the tea box! I don't have any good chairs or furniture in scale for these dolls yet so I grabbed what was handy! Besides, boiling water isn't just for doll's hair after all!)
I felt I wanted some length but I wanted it short enough in the back to show off those cute wings! I thought an angled cut would do this nicely. I separated the hair on the sides, using her ears as a guide, and clipped that hair off with some tiny hair clips from the Dollar Tree.
Her hair is amazingly thick! I thought it was best to do the actual cutting in layers so it wouldn't end up slipping and sliding around and ending up all different lengths! Did you ever cut a Barbie's hair when you were a kid? Didn't you think the best way was just to grab it into a ponytail and have at it? Weren't you always shocked it didn't come out as you envisioned it? Yeah. That happened to me. It wasn't going to happen here, if I could help it! I decided to start with the underside and go a little longer than I actually wanted it. (You can always cut more but you can't put it back on!) I knew there would be extra trimming involved! I am really nit-picky and I tend to "fix" a lot! I measured with my finger to try and get a straight line. But I cut from the right side to the middle and then from the left to the middle. Sometimes if you cut straight across a doll's hair, the scissors actually push the hairs to one side and it can get uneven pretty quickly!
Just a note: I used super sharp little sewing scissors! The sharper the better and smaller is easier to maneuver. If you have giant scissors on a little head, you might cut more than you bargained for in a snip! Sharp little tips also come in mighty handy for the "fixing"!
I was pretty pleased with the result, it was longer than I really wanted so I could trim and "fix" to my heart's content! (See, no matter how careful I was, I knew I would still get that jagged part!)
The hair was still a little too long, I really wanted it to fall just above the wing holes in Rochelle's back but I thought it was best to get the next layer of hair even with this before I went shorter. Again, God forbid I made a drastic mistake! I know I didn't want her to have a super short bob! It could have ended up that way quickly if I didn't take the extra steps!
After getting it all even and then trimming it upwards, slowly and carefully, I let the front shanks down. After I did this, I spritzed them with water and brushed them smooth.
The brushed out shanks were much thinner that the back, just because of the quantity, so it was easy to get a relatively thin, flat layer to cut. I knew I wanted an upward cut and I wanted it to be even on both sides, so I used her elbow as my starting point, making sure her head wasn't tipped upward.
I definitely like the angle! The long looks nice over her shoulders!
But she can still clip it back off her face.
The best part is, you can see those cute little wings much better! (this picture was taken right before i cut the sides at an angle. See how nicely the hair tucks right in at the wings?!)
Rochelle was a little horrified at first! Her hair was very thick and a LOT came off! You know that initial reaction to a drastic cut can be very shocking!
But once she collected herself, she was very happy with the style and cut!
It was very relaxing to be free of those tangly locks!
And I was right! The shorter length does make her hat look more jaunty!
Look out, Scaris! There's a new statuesque Monster in town!
So, as her hair dried, I snipped a little more here and there, making it look a little more even. (Hair always looks a little different once it is dried!) But I have to be very careful, I tend to go too far! So, at one point, after I had evened things up and cut the thick back part a little thinner (I did this by making the underside of the back part a little shorter, basically cutting at an angle towards her back. It was ever so slight just so it would lie nicely on her back, rather than be a big clump of freshly cut hair!), I put the scissors away and said enough! I was very happy with Rochelle's new do! I really think this doll should have had a shorter cut anyway! Maybe it was because I got Lagoona and Rochelle together and their hair was very similar? I don't know but I am very happy about it! I was terrified to do it, convinced I would ruin the doll, but I am glad I was brave! And slow, and very, very, VERY careful! But it honestly was easier than I thought it would be!
Hope this helps some of you out there who want to make over a favourite doll, just out of the box, like I did, or because she has been "well-loved"!
'Til next time...........
No comments:
Post a Comment