Rerooting with Human Hair

July 20th, 2010
by Sue

While for some human hair on a doll is a fast-track to the uncanny valley, I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of a Blythe with really realistic hair.

The closest I’ve come previously is a adult goat mohair weft which looks very much like human hair, but can’t really be styled. The waves are beautiful, but permanent, and a weft offers little in the way of style options without exposing the rows of hair.

Rerooted human hair, on the other hand, should give multiple styling options with regular hair products and heated appliances. I had to have a go. The only thing that has held me back for so long is the cost of good long hair. But then, we found something amazing in our spare room:

A ponytail grown by my husband, cut off, stored away and forgotten. The hair is 12-16 inches long, dark chestnut brown, strong and shiny. Result!

Next thing we needed was a dolly victim. Fortunately my Star Dancer, Michelle, was keen for a new look. I whipped off her scalp and pulled out her hair:

As human hair has a ‘right way’ and a ‘wrong way’ (i.e. it is smooth to the touch in only one direction – from root to tip) I couldn’t use the lock and loop method, at least, not if I wanted it to be smooth and shiny. So the knot method was called for. Bah. This is how it goes:

1. Take a very small section of hair. Knot it close to the end (the ‘root end’):

I found the knots stayed tighter if the sections of the hair were small. The larger the section of hair, the quicker the knot slipped out.

2. Turn your scalp inside-out. Push your crochet hook (I used a 0.75m hook) through the hole you want to fill:

3. Loop the hair around the hook, close to the knot, then use the hook to pull the hair through the hole:

4. You should now have the length of the hair on the outside of the scalp and the knot on the inside:

(Remember in our picture the scalp is turned inside out so we are looking at the outside here.)

5. Repeat until all holes are filled, or as many holes as you want to fill. Stock Blythes have varying hair thicknesses and therefore varying numbers of holes in their scalps. Leave holes out or add extra to get the thickness of hair you want for your reroot. I like to fill the parting holes first, then the field, starting at the crown:

6. After many many many hours you will have this:

A finished reroot! Check how it looks with your chosen Blythe’s head and feel pleased:

Your work is not finished yet though…

7. Next, wash and condition the hair. Dip the hair in the basin of water without submerging the scalp. It’s also a good idea to comb the conditioner through thoroughly – if any plugs of hair are loose it’s better they fall out now than after you’ve reattached the scalp to the doll. If some do fall out, wait until the hair is dry, then replace them (with stronger knots this time!).

8. Now comes thatching. This is always a painstaking and fiddly task. I do it by sweeping all the hair in the parting rows over to one side. Then I use a small crochet hook (0.6mm or 0.75mm) to pull alternate strands over. Ideally, the hair should criss-cross over evenly with a result like a zipper.

9. Once you’re happy with the result, you’ll want to put your doll back together. Trim any excess fluffy hair bits inside the scalp (careful not to cut off any knots). I gave the inside of the scalp a big squirt of strong-hold hairspray before putting it back in the dome. Cramming the flanges back into the gap in the dome sometimes seems about as easy as putting toothpaste back in the tube – you might need to trim the flanges a little bit to get them to fit comfortably. Then, put all the dolly pieces back together.

10. You may find the hair is standing up away from the scalp a little bit in all directions. If so, cut the foot off an old pair of tights (pantyhose, if you’re American) and pull it over your Blythe’s head (making sure her hair is neat underneath it). It should only take a day or two for the hair to learn to sit much more flat to the head. Also, it looks funny:

11. Whip off the tights and admire your handywork. You are finally done. Now you just need to play

Expect to see many more photos featuring many hairdos on this girl!