A Day at the Spa

I'm sure many of you remember my American Girl find from April. Included in that purchase was a Kaya doll that I still have not listed. Her hair was a disaster!  So she has been sitting on my work table for a month and a half, mocking me. But I just didn't know where to start on her hair.

Someone on Proboards asked about fixing messy American Girl doll hair the other day, which inspired me to give it a shot. I grabbed my daughter's hair conditioner and my wide-tooth comb and we were off to the spa! First, I took all her clothes off (the doll, not my daughter!). I wrapped her in a dish towel and put her in a poly mailer, sealing it as tightly as I could around her neck. Then I taped cotton balls over her eyes. At this point, my 5 year old said, "Mama, are those cotton balls pretending to be pickles?"  lol

Then we headed to the bathroom. I laid her face down on the counter, hanging over the sink. I draped another towel over her, just to be on the safe side. I wish now that I had taken some pictures.  I peeled her hair into the smallest chunks I could manage. One at a time, I wet each chunk and smeared conditioner on it. Starting at the ends, I worked the tangles out and set that chunk aside. I worked through her hair, one chunk at a time. It took me almost 2 hours (split up into more than one session, because I could only take so much!) Finally, I finished the conditioning. I ran my comb through all of it again, just for good measure.

Then we headed to the kitchen, where I used the spray nozzle to rinse. That took a really long time, and I'm still not convinced I got it all out, but I did the best I could. I rinsed and I rinsed and I rinsed. Then I gently (gently!) towel-dried, but no matter how I tried to avoid it, I still made more tangled.

So off we went to the living room (more comfortable seating than leaning over a sink). I combed it again and set to styling it. It took me a couple tries to get the Native American-looking braids as opposed to the Pippi Longstocking-looking braids, but I finally got it.

I must confess (and I apologize in advance to anyone who is shocked by what I am about to say), I did trim her ends just a little. I know! I know! I'm sorry! It was just so frizzy! I only trimmed less than a centimeter, just enough to even up the scraggly pieces that I had pulled loose while combing it. But it is combed and neatly braided, and I'm pretty sure I've nearly doubled her resale value.

I got her listed today, so we shall see. Here she is, post-makeover:

Isn't she beautiful?