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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

How much hair do I need for my doll?

As you probably already know, we offer pre-cut hanks for Barbie (and other dolls with a 4" circumference head), Gene (and dolls with a 5" circumference head), and My Little Ponies. Our hanks are extremely generous, and the vast majority of the time, unless the you're an extremely heavy-handed rerooter, you will have a lot of hair left over when you're rooting a Barbie or Gene doll. That's why our Barbie hanks are actually enough hair for a 5" circumference head, like Monster High, and our Gene hanks are enough for a 6" circumference head. If you need to give your doll longer hair than our pre-cut hanks, or if you have a doll with a particular head circumference and you're not sure how much hair you'll need, then please refer to our reroot tutorial, and also see the detailed information at the bottom of this page.

How do the different hair types compare, and what are the guidelines for heat-styling the various types of hair?

NYLON: It looks beautiful, it feels beautiful, and it's one of the the easiest to style types of hair. It is extremely strong, and it's less prone to breaking than the other kinds of hair. It takes a curl very easily, and can just as easily be straightened again, if need be. It can be boil permed, but it doesn't have to be! Wet it with room temperature water, set it in curlers, let it air dry, take the curlers out, and you've got beautiful curls or waves! If you want really tight curls, a boil perm will never hurt, as long as you don't boil youir water at too hot of a temperature. Nylon and polypropylene can only withstand mildly simmering water, so when you see the air bubbles just beginning to rise to the water's surface in your pot, that's the temperature at which you should perm nylon and polypropylene. Any hotter than that, and the hair could frizz. Nylon can also be baked without having its integrity affected!

SARAN: Saran™ hair is a long-time favorite of many people, and it's the type of hair that is most often used for Barbie dolls (but Mattel uses kanekalon on Barbies sometimes, too). It has a waxy feel, which helps keep flyaway hair strands at bay, and it's weighted more heavily than other types of hair. It's somewhat resistant to curling, so if you're going to curl it, we would suggest overcompensating by about 50% by using smaller curlers and smaller sections of hair than you want the final result to be. It can be boil permed with VERY hot water... the hotter, the better. Saran™ hair is used primarily by Mattel (Barbie) and Tonner (Tyler, Sydney, etc.)

ACETATE This synthetic more closely resembles human hair than the other synthetic hair types sold on this site. We don't know of any toys that were ever factory-rooted with it, but it's very pretty. It can be boil permed, if you wish, and it can withstand VERY hot water.

POLYPROPYLENE: Polypropylene looks and behaves somewhat similar to nylon hair. However, many customers have told us that polypropylene is more like a cross between saran and nylon. It feels like saran, but it has the easy styling properties of nylon. Regardless, everyone who tries polypropylene absolutely loves it! Since polypropylene is nonporous, which means that it can't be dyed with fabric dye, or scented with our doll hair fragrances. Polypropylene hair should only be boil permed with mildly simmering water.

KANEKALON: The kanekalon hair sold on Dollyhair is DOLL GRADE kanekalon, NOT the human-grade kanekalon that you can buy at your local beauty supply store, which is very different! Human-grade kanekalon is manufactured with the idea of mimicking human hair. However, you can probably imagine how such thick strands of human hair would NOT be to scale on a small doll, such as Barbie. Human-grade kanekalon ends up looking inappropriate on dolls, and it's very stiff and bristly. DOLL GRADE kanekalon, however, is comprised of VERY thin strands, and is used by doll manufacturers for extremely stick-straight hairstyles, as well as for curly hairstyles. This is because kanekalon hair is EXTREMELY responsive to heat styling and can take any style you'd like it to have. Kanekalon hair can withstand the hottest boiling water for boil perms, making it possibly the most user-friendly of all the synthetic hair types sold on Dollyhair because it's very easy to style, and very durable against heat.
You're already familiar with doll-grade kanekalon hair if you've inspected the hair of Barbie dolls. Mattel is one toy company who uses kanekalon hair on their dolls. Generally, Mattel will use kanekalon hair on their playline dolls, while they'll use saran hair on their collector dolls. However, this is, by no means, a hard and fast rule, and you'll find many collector Barbie dolls with kanekalon hair and many playline Barbie dolls with saran hair.
You'll be able to distinguish kanekalon hair from saran hair by seeing that kanekalon hair strands are thinner than saran hair strands. Furthermore, kanekalon hair is not quite as shiny as saran hair.

My reroot needle keeps slipping in the reroot tool! Help!

Sometimes this happens and it's easy to fix! First check that the reroot tool is able to close all the way. In order to check this, remove the needle and tighten the collet all the way. It should close tightly with no gaps. If there are any gaps, please take a photo and e-mail us so we can help you further.

If there are no gaps in the reroot tool collet, you can try the following to prevent the needle from slipping:

• tighten the tool with a wrench or pliers rather than just by hand to ensure it's extra tight!
• make sure the needle is in the center of the cross of the collet
• wipe the needle and collet with rubbing alcohol or acetone to remove any traces of residual grease or oil that may be causing the needle to slip
• use smaller plugs of hair while rerooting, (too much hair can also bend the needle)
• adjust the length of the needle, around 1/2 inch is a good length (but not too much longer)

Who is Gene?

Gene Marshall is a 15.5 inch collectible fashion doll inspired by Hollywood's Golden Age and created by Mel Odom in 1995. It was one of the first large fashion dolls mainly intended for adult collectors. Gene was an instant success, selling over half a million dolls within three years of its introduction and sparking the creation of similar dolls from other companies. Between 1995 and 2005, the dolls were produced by the Ashton-Drake Galleries, and from 2005 to 2010, they were made by Integrity Toys. In 2013, Gene was reborn into the 21st century as a resin ball jointed doll by JAMIEshow Dolls USA, and the line has expanded to include other characters.

Do you ship to my country? How much will shipping cost?

We ship to most countries around the world with the few exceptions depending on certain restrictions. Most international shipments outside of the USA will cost roughly USD$15 or more depending on the weight and destination. You can get a more accurate shipping estimate at checkout by simply entering your shipping details.

Can I return or exchange something?

We want you to be completely satisfied with your purchase from Dollyhair. If for any reason you are not happy with your order, we offer a hassle-free return policy to ensure that you have a positive shopping experience.

Our return policy is simple:

You can return any item within 30 days of the purchase date for a full refund or exchange. The item must be in new, unused, and resalable condition, with all original tags and packaging included. You are responsible for the cost of return shipping, unless the item is defective or we made a mistake with your order.

To initiate a return, please contact our customer service team via E-MAIL with your order number and a brief explanation of the reason for the return. We will provide you with instructions on how to return the item.

Once we receive the returned item and confirm that it is in new, unused, and resalable condition, we will issue your refund or exchange within 5 business days. Refunds will be issued in the same form of payment used for the original purchase. The original shipping fee is non-refundable.

Please note that personalized or custom-made items are not eligible for returns or exchanges unless they are defective or we made a mistake with your order.

Thank you for shopping with us, and please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns about our return policy.

 

 

DETAILED REROOT INFORMATION

If you're looking to reroot other dolls, here's the information you need in order to know how much hair to purchase!

All of the information below is also covered in a detailed, illustrated tutorial on THIS PAGE. If you read both the tutorial and the information below, you should be very well-versed on the subject of doll rerooting.

Blythe dolls have a head circumference of 8", but they have very high foreheads, so they generally need only as much hair as a doll with a 6" circumference head would usually need, UNLESS you're one of those people who likes to root their plugs really thickly. Therefore, a Blythe doll will need somewhere between-one-and-a-half to two Barbie-size hanks.

Patti Playpal dolls also have head circimferences of 8", but since Patti dolls are so tall, most people prefer to give them long hair, and most people like to use the 38" hanks, which result in Patti's hair being 19" long after she's been rooted. If you want Patti doll to have 19" long hair, you will need to buy eight 38" hanks to reroot her.

Here's how this information is calculated: you'll need to measure the circumference around the doll's head, in inches. If you measure right above the eyebrows and around the head with a measuring tape, horizontally, you'll get the circumference.

One Barbie hank is enough to root a doll with a 4 inch circumference head, which is what Barbie has, so if your doll had a head that's 12 inches in circumference, for instance, then you would need 3 Barbie hanks. (3 hanks x 4 inches per hank = 12 inches of doll head).

Similarly, Gene has a head that's 5 inches in circumference, so if you had a doll whose head was 10 inches in circumference, you would need two Gene hanks to root your doll. (2 hanks x 5 inches per hank = 10 inches of doll head).

The length of the hanks would still be the same, and remember that you will be folding these hanks in half when you root the doll, so the doll's hair will be half this length: short= 6.3 inches (so the doll's hair will be 3.15 inches long), medium= 9.5 inches (so the doll's hair will be 4.75 inches long), and long= 19 inches (so the doll's hair will be 9.5 inches long)

Here's a bit of information that you may need:

NOW... if you need your doll's hair to be LONGER than 9.5 inches, here's what you'd need to do: Let's say that your doll has a head that's 12 inches in circumference, but you want her to have very long hair. Order the full 38 inch hank and you don't have to cut the hank in half at all. Then, after rooting your doll, she will have hair that's 19 inches long! Of course, you would need twice the normal amount of hair, so instead of buying 3 Barbie long hanks, you would need to buy 6.

Now that you understand how this works, you understand that if you order a Barbie medium length hank from me but ask me to send it in its full, uncut 38 inch length, the 38 inch "medium" hank will be HALF as wide as the 38 inch "long" hank. Why? Because in order to have enough hair to root Barbie's head, the medium length hank is intended to be cut in half 2 times while the long hank is intended to be cut in half 1 time, and if you don't cut the hanks at all then the medium hank will not be as wide as the long hank.

Taking this information further, if you were to take the Barbie long length hank in its full 38 inches and not cut it at all, and if you were to root a Barbie doll with it, Barbie's hair would end up being very long (19 inches) but you would only have enough hair to root half her head, and half her head is 2 inches.

In conclusion, a BARBIE LONG HANK, in its full 38 inches, if you don't cut it at all, is enough hair for a doll whose head is 2 inches in circumference. A BARBIE MEDIUM HANK, in its full 38 inches, if you don't cut it at all, is enough hair for a doll whose head is 1 inch in circumference.

With this information, you can now figure out how many 38 inch hanks you'd need for your doll, if you want your doll to have hair that's 19 inches long. For instance, if your doll's head is 6 inches in circumference and you want her to have hair that's 19 inches long, you would need to buy either THREE Barbie long hanks (3 hanks x 2 inches per hank = 6 inches of doll head) or SIX Barbie medium hanks (6 hanks x 1 inch per hank = 6 inches of doll head). Obviously, the long hanks are a slightly better value for your money, so you would want to opt for the long hanks.

To save money, you can incorporate the knot method when you root your doll. The knot method is just as secure as the needle and thread method, but I don't like it because it takes a lot longer to do. In the interest of saving money, however, you can use it. Here's an example of how this method can help you:

Order a 38 inch hank from Dollyhair, and cut ONE THIRD off, which would be 12.6 inches. This leaves you with one length that is 12.6 inches long, and one length which is 25.3 inches long. You can take the 25.3 inch lengths and root them with the needle and thread method, which is the easiest method and goes very quickly, and then for the 12.6 inch hair you will have to root it with the knot method, where you don't fold it in half and you just knot the end of the hair that's inside the doll's head. This would give your doll hair that's 12.6 inches long, once she's rooted. Obviously, if you were to do it this way, you would need to buy slightly more hair, but the plus side of it would be that the doll's hair would end up being longer.

If you have any other questions or if this information is confusing to you in any way, all you need to do is E-MAIL US and the following information: 1) the circumference, in inches, around your doll's head. 2) The length, in inches, you want your doll's hair to be AFTER she's been rooted. With this information we can help you figure out how much you'll need to order.