Recently, with some of her birthday and Christmas money, Rugrat gave Big Doll a sister (another knockoff American Girl doll) who came complete with a carrying trunk and several ballet outfits like leotards and tights, etc.
But playing with them resulted in some pretty tangled up hair for the new one. That was okay, I guess, since they definitely looked like they were in the same family then. But Rugrat made a comment the other day that suggested she wished they had braids.
Side note: she has decided that braids like Ana's from Frozen
is the perfect hairstyle. She thinks she is IT when I put her hair in two braids like that and wanted her dolls to have the same opportunity.
Well, I knew that wasn't happening with the tangled mess on their heads. So I asked good friend Google what to do. There is apparently a solution.
It is called the Downy Dunk by doll collectors. Most of the recipes I saw said to mix two tablespoons of fabric softener (it doesn't have to be Downy -- I don't use it so I bought a bottle of Dollar Tree's) with water in a small spray bottle. I did see a couple of recipes that said 50/50 of each.
I tried the two tablespoons first and figured I would up it if I needed to. You are supposed to soak the hair and use a wide toothed comb to gently work out all the tangles. Then you let it dry and should be good to go.
Well, guess what! It works!
I tackled her new doll first. It was the easiest and I barely pulled out any hair doing it. Like I almost couldn't see it to pick up where I laid it on the couch. And her hair was tangle free pretty quickly too.
Big Doll the first was a little tougher. I had brushed her out a couple of times without using anything and so, I think, she lost quite a bit more hair because I had already been pretty rough before plus she had gotten more tangled. But I soldiered on and she is still sporting her Ana braids in her shiny soft mane.
Did I mention it also makes the doll hair soft and shiny?
After they dried on the counter all night, their hair felt like it had been doing exactly that. I only had to give it a dry brush through and it was good to go and soft.
Apparently, the best thing to do is use this trick as soon as the hair gets tangled. There is less likelihood that the doll will lose a lot of hair that way and it gets a lot more play too.
Rugrat was rather tickled to have her dolls looking so chic and has been keeping them busy with all sorts of play since.
UPDATE: If you would like to see before and after pictures, you can check out this post on a later Downy Dunk.
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