“Look at this stuff—isn’t it neat?” We think so. The Doll Boy’s latest reroot channels all the wonder of a certain curious mermaid, with a dreamy spin inspired by the live-action Ariel. Let’s just say… he wants to be where the Doll Locs are.
All images in this blog post belong to their respective artists and are used with permission.
This reroot is such a beautiful homage to the new Little Mermaid—what inspired your vision for her look?
Thank you! Honestly, I have been inspired by Halle Bailey’s look in the live action version of the Little Mermaid ever since it was announced that she was going to play Ariel! Ariel has always been my favorite Disney Princess since I was a kid, so seeing a new take on her was really exciting for me. The different shades that were incorporated in her hair, and the way it looks so different in each lighting really got me wanting to recreate my own version of this hairstyle. So far, I hadn’t been able to find locs that worked well enough in the 12 inch doll scale, until I came across the Dollyhair Locs!
How did you land on that specific ombré palette for the locs? Can you walk us through your inspiration process?
I really tried to analyse Halle’s hair in the movie a lot, and then adjust it so it would work well on doll scale, mixing my own vision with it too. I really wanted the locs to be a bit more vibrant than they are in the movie, while keeping the dimensional look with the roots all being the same shade. After that, I honestly just kept playing with color combinations until I had the result that looked the best and most natural to me.
This was your first time using our Doll Locs — how did they feel to work with?
It was! The locs were so much softer and smoother than I expected! I had tried other types of locs before, mostly human size, but the way this hair flows and moves, is honestly unbelievable. I really enjoy flipping around my Ariel doll, just to see the beautiful movement of the locs. Another thing I really appreciate from the locs, is the way you can customize them. I am not super experienced in dying hair, so that was a little frightening to me at first, but the locs took the dye so well AND you can curl them, which honestly makes for endless styling options!!
Any tips or tricks you learned while rerooting with locs that you’d pass on to other artists? What would you say to someone who's intimidated by textured fibers like locs—how different is the process from working with smooth Nylon or Saran?
Be patient with yourself! When you’re so used to working with a specific hair texture or density, it can be challenging to change your ways, but it is also SUPER exciting to try out new looks!
What I found really finessed the end result though, was adding a bit of glue to the end of the locs. This perfectly made the ends look very sleek, sealed them, so make sure they never unravel.
What needle size or rerooting tool setup worked best for the texture?
To avoid too much bulk in the end product, I used a thick needle and fed each loc through a hole, instead of using a reroot tool in the process. This makes sure only 1 end of each loc is coming out of each hole, instead of having 2 locs in each hole. I found that this really helped create a neat and natural looking hairline. Oh, and with this texture, you can easily get away with skipping 1 or 2 holes in the hairline, without getting gaps!
For the partline, I actually did end up using my reroot tool, because that perfectly places the 2 ends of the locs to either side!
Were there any unexpected challenges (or happy accidents) during the project?
Figuring out the best dye ratio was a bit of a struggle at first, which created some funky looking colors!
What kind of styling or finishing touches did you use to shape the final look?
To make each loc even smoother and tighter, I used my hair straightener to heat them up and twist them. And then I even decorated the locs with some gems, to look like water drops!
Were there any moments during the reroot where the character really started to “click” for you? What detail brought her to life?
For me, after dying the locs in my ombre colors, I was starting to get super excited, but the moment that the reroot really clicked for me, is definitely when I finished rooting the hairline and partline! This always gives SUCH a great feel for what the doll will look like at the end!
If you could design a whole wave of dolls inspired by modern reimaginings like this Ariel, what other characters or styles would you love to explore?
I would love to see a full doll line of high quality mermaid dolls that explore different hair textures! Seeing mermaids with braids, curls, coils, waves, the options are endless!
Is there anything else you'd love to share—about yourself, your dollmaking process, this project, or your experience using Dollyhair products? We’d love to include anything that feels important or inspiring to you.
Dollyhair.com was actually my very first website I ordered hair from! I did my first ever reroot in the beginning of 2015, and I had NO IDEA what I was doing!! After this, I practiced a lot, and started using the Dollyhair Saran Hair, since that was such a close match to the hair texture of Ever After High dolls!
If you want to take a look, this was my first try at rerooting.
Watch the full video of The Doll Boy's Real Locs Rerooting of Ariel using Dollyhair Doll Locs!
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