Tuesday, March 24, 2015

BFC Ink Dolls and the Story of Taming Wild Doll Hair! Two Methods!

Greetings and Salutations Doll Friends!!

I've been writing this blog again now, in earnest, for a few months now. I've taken scores of photos and written about all manner of doll related items. One sad omission in all my postings has been any photos or mentions of what I consider one of the prettiest 18" doll varieties there are. BFC Ink Dolls are no longer being produced which is a shame because their original price point was attainable by most girls. Not to mention, they were adorable with beautiful faces and mostly or fully (depending on which doll you got) articulating joints, they can be posed in literally hundreds of positions which makes them terrific for looking very lifelike in doll scenes. So... Why haven't I had them in the blog lately?

Well... Take a look at this:


Crazy hair! This hair is, from what I understand, the reason these dolls stopped being made. It's a real mess! It's not just my doll, which, as you may have guessed, was gleaned from a 2nd hand source. You can read all about her homecoming here. From what I understand, the dolls all had really bad hair from just about the moment they were taken out of the box. 


See what I mean? Just a nightmare! We've always just pulled their hair back into 'messy buns' and gone about playing with them and admiring their beautiful faces because doll hair restoration wasn't something I knew how to do. 


Until recently!! I've begun to learn a thing or two about fixing doll hair. Mind you, I am not any sort of expert, more of a novice dipping my toes into the pool of doll repair because there are some mind blowing doll restoration people out there! People take off doll heads, change eyes and bodies and all manner of things... However, I have learned about a method that is very useful and also have become more brave when thinking about doll hair because, worse comes to worse, there are always doll wigs! If I mess up the hair now, all is not lost! 


Doll wigs, I am finding, at least quality ones, don't come cheap. Learn that lesson from me!! Don't go 'cheap' and buy vintage or 'old stock' wigs for your projects. Just pay the few extra dollars and get a top-notch wig because, just like in dolls you buy with wigs on, good hair can make all the difference!! However, that being said, they aren't cheap and so I wanted to try and salvage the real hair on these dolls if I could. 


Look at that mess! What a fright!!


Method #1: Cut the hair. Now... If you are not a grown person who purchases their own dolls with their own money, please make sure and ask permission of a grown up, preferably the one who bought you the doll before you cut doll hair. Doll hair does not grow back!! That all being said, in my mind, with these dolls, I had nothing to lose because it couldn't possibly look any worse!

So my plan was to just cut off all her hair and re-wig her. Seriously, that was my plan for this blog, the two methods of hair salvage were going to be a re-wig and a hot-dip. Wanted to show the two options... So I sort of recklessly started cutting off the horribly damaged portions of her hair. I thought I'd go ahead and just cut off the really bad parts and see 'what was left'. I was so sure I was going to re-wig that I didn't even photo the cutting process at all. See all that hair in the bottom of the trash can? That is only photo I thought to take. Oops!

Because low and behold, when I stopped snipping, a kind of cute little bob had been cut into her hair? 



Hmm. Who'd have thought? So, I snipped a bit here and there to make it even and... Well, she might keep her hair! I am hoping that, given that the hair quality was the problem from the beginning, her shorter hair-do doesn't eventually end up a frazzled mess just like it was but I also figure if that happens I can always go with PlanA and just re-wig her as I'd planned to do. 


Which brings me to method number two: Hot Dipping. I didn't really do a play by play when photographing because I already wrote a blog about it when I tried this method with Belle. I just did the same procedure with this doll. Combed her out and hot dipped her and this is after that comb out. 


Still kind of a frizzy mess but much improved. I suspect a re-wig will be happening for this doll because I am itching to do a re-wig on this sort of doll because I think if they had amazing hair they would be one of my favorite dolls, ever!


As it was, I just braided her hair the best I could. She looks loads better anyway. 


All done, well, for now! Thanks for dropping by again Doll Friends!! See you soon with another story about BFC Ink Dolls because now that I have these two beauties cleaned up, you'll be seeing a lot more of them! 


See how they can be posed so neat!


With a Tolly Tot and an American Girl for comparison!


Happy with new cut!


See the back?


Side view.


Bye!





PS my daughter wanted me to try on the wig I have that I bought and didn't work for a different doll.


She looks kind of cute! Almost Hawaiian maybe?


What do you think?


It's a lot of hair! I think I will keep her short bob and just put this wig on when I want this style cos it fits over her regular hair. Kind of fun I can have her both ways!

TTFN!
























4 comments:

  1. I was so glad to find this post. I love my thrifted BfcInk doll but her hair is a matted mess. I think I will see if a dip helps at all.

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  2. Try fabric softener on the hair.

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  3. I just bought CJ. He might be the only boy doll from BFC Ink.

    He's new in the box - never played with - and his hair isn't good, but it isn't terrible. He won't be played with. But, he'll be used in photos for advertisement. I'm glad that I found your blog. Now I know to be extra careful with his hair. Seems if I try to fuss with his hair that there's a good chance I'll only make it worse.

    Too bad that they closed this division. There dolls are adorable.

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    1. What an exciting find! I'd love to see photos of him in the box if you thought to take them. :) Have a great weekend!

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