Restoring doll hair and Face paint

DOLL HAIR

Robert Tonner Hair Restoration

This is a link to an amazing video 

by Robert Tonner,

showing step by step how he styles

Miss Revlon Hair.

He is using these products from Dollspart Supply.

I have ordered these products and 

will try them on my Miss Revlon 

when they arrive!

 

This is my Miss Revlon, Marylou, 

 when I found her at a thrift store. 

she was VERY dirty and her hair

was a MESS!

You can see her restoration here:

Finding Marylou

These have been my "Go To" products

For a long time. Revlon Synthetic Hair

shampoo and Conditioner spray.

I get it at my local beauty supply.

I have also used this leave-in conditioner

by Paul Mitchell.

I actually only work it into very

dry frizzy ends.

I always try to use a metal tine brush for synthetic doll hair.

But, sometimes on smaller dolls or for

styling bangs and sides, a smaller 

brush or comb is helpful.

This morning I am using the 

conditioning spray alone.

I purposely left Marylou's hair in a more 

natural style. This is how it looked 

when I took her out today.

Using only the Revlon Conditioning Spray, 

you can see there is much more shine.

I warn you, this spray is STICKY!

But if you are patient working with it, 

it does add shine.

This is the ponytail on an Ideal Velvet doll,

from the 1970s.

I am going to work on her ponytail 

using a CERAMIC flat iron.

She has already been washed and 

her hair has air-dried, 

but still slightly damp.

I use a ceramic flat iron, set

on the LOWEST setting.

I take about a 1 inch section of hair.

I run the hair through the 

flat iron quickly 3 times. Then I

brush through the warm hair.

I repeat this several times until I 

feel the hair is straightened 

to my satisfaction.

FACE PAINT 

I am going back to Marylou for faces.

As you can see her lips and cheeks needed help.

I always choose a peachy skin tone and 

a watermelon red for dolls.

For lips I use the watermelon color alone.

For cheeks, mix the peachy tone paint and 

the melon tone paint together.

Dip a makeup sponge in the paint.

Pat off the paint from the sponge on a 

paper towel until nearly dry.

Pat paint onto cheeks with the make up sponge.

Keep a wet paper towel nearby to wipe off

first tries and mistakes!

The nearly dry paint on the sponge 

creates a soft matte finish.

I used the same technique to repaint

this Gerber baby's whole face! 

For the paint for skin I mixed

ivory and peach. Then I use the same

make-up sponge technique above.

Here is the Gerber baby all painted.

For the shine on this Gerber Baby's

lips I use this clear varnish.

A couple little makeovers

Acrylic Clear Varnish.

EYEBROWS

All I can say is practice before trying this 

on your doll! As you can see I have a VERY 

tiny brush. I picked out over 2/3 of the 

original hairs from this paint brush!

It literally only has a few strands left.

This is my eyebrow and lash brush.

This is a recent restoration I did.  This baby's lips, eyes,

cheeks, eyebrows and lashes were all repainted.

Another baby restoration

OK want to see the hair we 

started at the beginning?

And Here They Are!

Marylou's hair in back.

And in front.

Velvet's hair in back

And in front

Marylou Before and After

Velvet Before and After

Guess what these two girls have in common?

They are both Ideal Dolls!

Marylou from the 1950s. 

Velvet from the 1970s.