I recently got my hands on this doll that i really wanted (she’s a giochi preziosi doll from 2006 of a side character from winx- kalia, one of the mermaids from andros). She came in really miserable condition and her hair was really disgusting so a restoration was in order. This is the state she came in (picture is from the seller’s listing because i forgot to take any before washing her because that’s how nasty she was; i know she’s missing a couple things such as her necklace and hair flowers but i genuinely don’t care)
I washed her really well and conditioned and boiled her hair (which was a tangled matted NIGHTMARE), but even though i painstakingly undid all the knots the hair is still extremely frizzy at the bottom and extremely prone to getting tangled again. This is how she’s faring rn:
I for the life of me cannot tell what hair fiber this is. I assumed it was polypropylene because i do own a giochi preziosi w.i.t.c.h. doll with nylon hair and this does NOT feel the same as that does, but i actually have no idea because i’m not that much of an expert at figuring out hair fibers, i’m still pretty new at this. She’s definitely doing better than when i got her, the bangs have become super soft after the wash while when i got her they still had crusty disgusting 18 year old factory gel in them that flaked off in shards (nasty), but the fact that i can’t even brush my fingers through the dark purple hair from crown to tip without it tangling still bothers be a bit. Idk what to do to fix it though like i’m scared of trying to straighten it because what if i just accidentally cook it even more -_-
Unfortunately I can’t help you much with identifying the hair type (hopefully someone else out there can!), but since it’s already pretty fried already I think what I would do in your situation is test how it responds to a straightener. You can use a very small strand from the back of the head where it won’t be visible in case it goes badly. Make sure the hair is damp and well-coated with conditioner or some other heat protectant. Worst case scenario is that there isn’t much to be done for her and you’ll have to either live with the frizz or give her a reroot. Good luck!
Thanks a lot for the advice!! I’m trying to work up the courage to straighten her hair as soon as i have the time to really sit down and do it, praying it goes ok
I wonder if maybe letting her hair sit overnight slathered in conditioner might help with the frizzy ends?
Some people have also had great luck with leaving hair in fabric softener, but I prefer to use conditioner myself, it being made for human hair and all.
It might be worth a try, and then you can always test one or two strands with a hair straightener on the lowest setting. Good luck, she’s very pretty! 🥰
Thank you so much for the suggestion! I’ll probably try this before going in with the hair straightener, hopefully her hair situation can improve a bit ^_^
Fingers are crossed for you! I’ve had great success with conditioner but every doll is different. Let us know how it went 😍
This type of damage unfortunately requires heat to fix… have you done anything with boiling water yet? I haven’t tried on my giochi dolls… yet…
I /think/ it’s acetate or early crappy nylon… Leaning towards nylon since poly wasn’t widely used at this point to my knowledge and nylon was pretty terrible originally
Yeah i tried boil washing her and it did improve her overall condition a little bit or at least it helped untangle the nasty massive hair mat that her hair used to be, I’ll probably boil her again soon though, if it doesn’t do anything i guess I will really have to go in with the straightener and just see how it goes. W.i.t.c.h. dolls by giochi preziosi seem to have a better quality hair overall, i boil washed a hay lin doll and she was good as new afterwards, i don’t get why they gave the crustiest hair type to the one doll with extremely long hair :’)