Friday, October 17, 2014

Trying to Remove Tinsel Hair





Dialog directly from video:

"I found a couple of Cleos at the thrift store and they both had tinsel strands that I wanted to get rid of. This one though had really greasy hair and it was hard to pull the strands out.

Regular needle nose tweezers didn't work well on this hair but they worked fine on the other doll. Even when I could get a grip on the hair, it would split the strand and then be even harder to yank out. So frustrating!


I gave up on the needle nosed and tried these angled tweezers to see if they would work any better. Cool! They have a tight grip and pull the hair out easily and fully. I also tried pulling out the hair with just my fingers to see if that would be quicker. It didn't really work and left fuzz right at the root of the scalp. Oh, well, back to the tweezers.


It was very slow going, but it did get the job done thoroughly. Glitter free after 20 minutes. Time to condition! [Using Pantene Co-Wash] I probably should have done this before I started and maybe her hair wouldn't have been quite so greasy. Too late now, but I'll know for next time. I let the conditioner stay in for at least 15 minutes, but more if the hair is particularly jankie.


All done and they look FABULOUS!


And on an unrelated topic, look how different their hands are. I'm guessing the more closed one is a first line release. Sweet."

31 comments:

  1. Nice work!

    I confess, before you mentioned it taking 20 minutes I was afraid the glitter-pulling was going to turn out to be a multi-hour project. I'm glad to hear it wasn't quite that involved!

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    1. jSarie, once I had the right tool and got a good grip, it was fast going... well, if you consider 20 minutes fast, lol.

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  2. Hi Muff, great video, that was a lot of tinsel hair coming out of the head! I usually use shampoo and then conditioner, but I see the conditioner alone is enough to make the hair look new again?

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    1. Night Owl, it really depends on the doll, but I rarely "shampoo" AND condition.

      If the hair is super matted and tangled I don't shampoo at all, but moisten it and leave conditioner in it for at least an hour before I even try to detangle it. Rinsing it out and removing the tangles can take me a good 10 minutes, by which time, it really doesn't need shampoo. I actually let the dolls hair float in a basin while I do this because it makes it much easier... but still time consuming.

      If the doll itself is dirty I wash the body and hair with dish detergent, not with actual shampoo. No particular reason, I'm just cheap. Sometimes I wait and see how the hair dries before I decide if I need to follow up with conditioner or if a light amount of Curel skin lotion to the hair will do the trick. (I usually use lotion to control flyaway hair in doll pics - it weighs the hair down without having to apply a residual product or using water that will just evaporate.)

      If I've handled a doll too much (store bought or thrift) and the hair gets frizzy or snaggy then I condition it but I wont apply any shampoo.

      Shampoo and detergents strip essential oils from hair that can dull the shine and lead to frizz. Conditioner will cleanse and provide manageability without stripping the hair. That's why my conditioner is called "Co-wash." I use it in place of shampoo.

      With conditioner though, you have to be careful not to get it on the face paint as it can eat or deteriorate older screenings.

      LOL, what a long reply. I get so wordy sometimes! ^_^

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    2. Thanks for your reply Muff! I'm going to look for Co-Wash, we have Pantene products here in the stores, but I've never payed attention to this product, I hope our stores have it! A doll is on her way with terrible dry and frizzy hair (I bought the doll for the outfit only), so she'll be perfect to use your method on :-).

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    3. Night Owl, if you cant find it, then any conditioner will do, even if it doesn't have a "Oil-Enriched Formula." One with that would be better and works really nicely on synthetic hair, but it's not absolutely necessary.

      Also, "Co-Wash" is actually a term coined by people with Black (Afrocentric) hair so it might not be readily available in your country. Our hair needs oil and moisture to stay healthy whereas Anglo/European hair becomes weighed down by oil buildup. A conditioner that says it's for dry hair might be easier to find.

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  3. I have pulled the tinsel out of some of the Barbie Fashionistas that had tinsel hair. I also used my hand first and then tweezers. I don't think the Barbies had quite as much tinsel as these MH dolls though! I also usually shampoo and then condition like Night Owl. May have to try just conditioner to save a step! As always, great video.

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    1. Phyllis, I have some Fashionistas in boxes that have glitter hair so I'm glad I found these thrift store ladies to practice on. Now I'll know what I'm doing if I get around to them. I'll also know how to remove some of those hideous colored highlights I don't want.

      Only if the doll's hair is dirty do you really need to shampoo it. Even if you take your dolls outside a lot for photo shoots, you don't need it. Well, if you take your dolls to the beach and sand is getting in every crevice, then yes, I would shampoo.

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  4. Wow. Very nice!

    I've been eyeing the glitter hair of my two Cleos balefully for a while now but had hesitated to mess with it because there's so much of it. I may try this on the thrift-store Cleo now.

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    1. Smaller, it's worth the trouble to take those strands out - well, to me at least, but I know that some people probably like them. I can definitely do without them though.

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  5. The smaller hand Cleo is Gloom Beach Cleo. It was the first Cleo to have that hand sculpt, and it's occasionally used on several other Cleos as well but yeah.
    I loathe tinsel too, so seeing it gone on these gals makes a marked improvement on them to me lol.

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    1. Cool beans, Jawn! Thanks so much for that info. I'm going to keep an eye out for any other MH dolls that might have those hands.

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  6. Hello from Spain: great job. I did the same with the pink hair of Raquelle. I prefer the all black hair color. More natural. Keep in touch

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    1. Hi, Marta! Yes, I have a few dolls with colored highlights. I know now that I have to be careful where I pull out the strands unless I end up with a bald spot. I should learn to reroot one day, but it's never been a priority.

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  7. It never dawned on me that silver part was actually a different kind of material. You really make me think of things I had not before. If I see them in the thrift shop I usually just pass them by. Now, maybe a few might get a chance.

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    1. Yeah, Grandmommy, it seems to be just a plastic filament which is why it stretches and breaks so easily. It's not even as thick as the hair tinsel humans use, it's more like Christmas Tree tinsel but narrower.

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  8. I hate the tinsel hair. Why would you use a material that even light brushing is going to ruin? Yuck. I admit, I'd have been too afraid of pulling out the entire hair plug to try and just pull it out!

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    1. Presto, I did notice when I was removing the tinsel it was always in its own root hole. It was never mixed in the same hole with the synthetic hair. I wonder if that's just a Monster High thing or if all dolls with tinsel have it rooted separately.

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    2. Oh neat! I didn't know that. The only dolls I have with tinsel are a couple of MH Abbeys, and her white hair is entirely tinsel (non-metallic) on her older dolls.

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  9. I have a Nicki whose hair is in a really bad condition,it feels super sticky,I tried to remove the stickiness with shampoo but it didn't help at all.I guess her hair was sprayed with some kind of hair styling products by Mattel,she is a store bought doll.Any idea Muff how to remove the stickiness?
    Now that you have become an expert I am sure you will be bombarded with serious doll hair problems from all of us every now and then!! :)

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    1. Pam, I have only had one doll that had sticky hair and that was the first Monster High Cleo I bought. Her hair style was glued or hair sprayed into place. I gave it a good rinse in warm water and that did nothing so I tried dish detergent and it helped a little bit and then I left conditioner in it for over 2 hours. After that, it was okay but still had a slight product-y feel to it.

      I don't recall which blog I read it on, but I'm positive someone talked about using baking soda and vinegar to remove doll hair residue. I gave it a try after reading your comment, but on a doll that had an oily product in their hair, because I don't have another one with sticky hair. However, it was pretty much a failure. I'll post up the video this week so you can at least see how to do it if you want to try it on your sticky doll.

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    2. Thank you so much,Muff :) I never really thought about using dish detergent,but now I am going to give it a try along with your second step of conditioning the hair for two hours :)
      I already look forward to your next video !!

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  10. Your ladies do look fabulous now! Your wordy reply to NightOwl was very helpful. I wish my one and only Cleo had the closed hands. I have very first Cleo that was produced. The closed hands make it easier to use these bodies for swap, which is what I do.

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    1. Vanessa, I knew that some of the Monster High girls had different hands, like Clawdeen's are claws and Abbey's are thick like paws, but so far they had all been splayed. This was my first time knowing that some came closed. My Cleo's and Clawdeen's are similar skin tones, so they will definitely be sharing those hands.

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  11. I enjoyed your video! I do not have any tinsel haired dolls, but if I ever get one I now know what to do,

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  12. Thanks for this helpful video. The Cleos look relieved to have that glitter removed.

    The splayed hands remind me of the Kellys with the "starfish hands." Only what is a little cute on a toddler is not so cute on a teen or adult body.

    OT: thanks for the shampoo tip ;-)

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    1. D7ana, I know that Mattel insists on it, but I have never seen Cleo as the tinsel type. Maybe diamond or pure gold strands, yes. But cheap tinsel? Nevah.

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    2. LOL - yeah, tinsel = cheap. Cleo = classy.

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  13. I pluck out the tinsel as soon as the offending head gets in my hand. I never stopped to wonder if I'm ruining the doll - my strong conviction is that nothing I could do can ever match the horror that is tinsel hair. MH Abby's tinsel is the only one that works for me because is doesn't have a textile core. I use regular eyebrow tweezers to pull each hair one by one, sometimes if I'm lucky the entire doubled strand comes out. If it's glued, it breaks and I cut it close to the scalp.

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    1. "... the horror that is tinsel hair." LOL, truer words were never spoken, BlackKitty!

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