Josefina's braid

[spiritik]

Well, I've done it! After telling myself I would never take out Josefina's braid, I took it out. Even though I just received her this past Christmas, lots of stray hairs had started coming out of her braid. I tried using a small crochet hook to put the loose pieces back in but it kept getting snagged in the braid and ended up pulling even more hair loose. I was afraid that I would damage her hair and end up pulling too much out.

My daughter and I have been very careful about putting plastic ziploc bags over the dolls heads when we changed them but still, the hair kept pulling out of Josie's braid. Also, she's had her sarape on several times this winter and I couldn't get that over her head with the ziploc bag on so had to put it on and off without the bag. I think that contributed to pulling hair out of the braid. Naturally, a big part of it is being "played with" by a 7 year old girl. [img]wink.gif[/img] Which is fine, since I'm glad that Josie is being loved. [img]graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

Now that I've taken the braid out, I see how beautiful Josefina's hair is. It is so smooth and shiny! Just tonight, my daughter and I "misted" our doll's hair (this was our first time) and my daughter commented how shiny Josie's hair is.

When I rebraided her hair, it looked fine, but of course the ends weren't even. From reading this board, I hadn't expected them to be since AG cuts the ends after braiding. Still, she looks fine even without the even ends. More like a "real girl" in a way since that's how little girls look when their hair is braided.

Though I had intended on keeping Josie's braid in, I am not upset that I took it out. After seeing her gorgeous hair, I think that I'm going to enjoy doing different things with it!

[Katie148]

I agree, Virginia - it's much more fun to be able to play with the dolls' hair and not be constantly worried about messing it up. I've never been one to keep my dolls' hair in the original styles; I tend to take it down the day after getting the doll. [img]redface.gif[/img] But half the fun of having dolls to me is trying out new hairstyles. Josefina looks gorgeous with the hairdo she wears in the catalog with her birthday outfit. It took awhile for me to figure out how to get it to look good, but now it's my favorite "look" for her! [img]graemlins/star.gif[/img]

[Jeanette M.]

Originally posted by Katie148:
Josefina looks gorgeous with the hairdo she wears in the catalog with her birthday outfit. It took awhile for me to figure out how to get it to look good, but now it's my favorite "look" for her! [img]graemlins/star.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">How do you do that style, Katie, and get it to look good? [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/wonder.gif[/img]

[Katie148]

LOL, Jeanette - it wasn't easy the first few times, I'll admit that! This is basically how I do it:

1. I put Josefina's hair in two braids.
2. I take the braids and sort of cross them down at the back of her neck, bringing the ends up and forming a circle on the back of her head so that the ends are together at the top of the circle (hope that makes sense - I think I need to draw a diagram! [img]tongue.gif[/img] )
3. I use black bobby pins to pin the ends of the braids flat to her head so they don't show from the front and make a complete circle with the braids in the back.
4. I take a ribbon/ribbons and tie one end to the end of a braid and just sort of lace it through the braids up to the end of the other braid (I've found that it doesn't work very well to try and braid the ribbon in with the hair at the beginning - the ribbon ends before the braid does and often doesn't show very well when the braids are pinned up). Or, sometimes I just tie two small ribbon bows around the ends of the braids above her ears, and this looks really cute, too!

And there you have it - those are my steps for creating Josie's birthday hairdo! [img]graemlins/cake.gif[/img]

[spiritik]

Originally posted by Katie148:
I agree, Virginia - it's much more fun to be able to play with the dolls' hair and not be constantly worried about messing it up.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I agree, Katie! When I first got Josefina, I was so concerned about mussing her hair that I was "too careful" with her. Once, I became less concerned I started "playing" with her more and taking her places with me. Though I think my 7 year old daughter and her relationship with Lissie have influenced me there too.


For Christmas one of the presents my daughter got was the AG doll hairstyling book and doll brush.

This morning I tried one of the styles on Josefina. I tried to do the ponytail veil, where you start out with 3 small ponytail strands on top then split the middle one and make 2 small ponytails and then end by combining those into 1 small ponytail. It looked pretty but not as pretty as the one in the book. I think that I just need a little more practice at it.

Also, I think I need some better hair bands. I got a package of clear "ouchless" bands, 3 different sizes. I used the smaller size but they were really too small and Josie's hair kept getting caught in them. The larger 2 sizes didn't seem to stretch as well though. The AG doll hair care book recommended bands that go on braces, so I'm going to try to find some of those.

I ended up taking the ponytail veil out and rebraiding Josie's hair, only taking more time and care than I did last night. To get it tight I put a clear band at the top and then braided it, fastened it at the end, and then carefully cut the clear band off (they were very cheap at Wal-Mart). I had also lightly misted her hair before I started. It looks really good, though not quite as tight as the original AG braid. The ends are just slightly uneven but not too noticeable. The only thing I couldn't do is get the band as close to the end as the original AG braid.

Katie, I printed out your instructions for Josie's birthday braid and am anxious to try that one on her.

<font color="#020176" size="1">[ February 01, 2004 05:27 PM: Message edited by: Virginia ]</font>

[ponydreamer]

I absolutely could not stand it if I couldn't do my doll's hair! It is so gratifying to change their clothes and do their hair. I love it...and Josie's hair is so nice. Our Josie is from the first batch, and her hair is still awesome. We most always keep it in a "do", but it has held up well.

I even play with my Addy's hair...in fact...I think I'm going to go do her hair right now! LOL

I had a rule when my daughter was little. No one was allowed to give her a doll as a gift, unless it was a play doll. I never believed in giving a child a doll that they had to put on a shelf and look at from afar. I won't do that to myself, either!

Besides...it's part of bonding with your doll! [img]graemlins/girl.gif[/img]

[spiritik]

Originally posted by luvmysam:

I had a rule when my daughter was little. No one was allowed to give her a doll as a gift, unless it was a play doll. I never believed in giving a child a doll that they had to put on a shelf and look at from afar. I won't do that to myself, either!

Besides...it's part of bonding with your doll! [img]graemlins/girl.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You are so right! Though my daughter has been "careful" with Bitty Baby it hasn't been to the extent that she couldn't play with her. "Careful" is more like we made sure to put the clothing and accessories in a special place so they wouldn't get lost, or removing Bitty's diaper so the tights wouldn't get snagged.

Bitty has been a "playable" doll though shown more "respect" than the endless Barbies, Polly's, and Kelly's she has received for birthdays, etc. I think with Bitty it is more of an attitude of a "cherished" or "treasured" doll yet still being able to play with her and love her. [img]graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

We are taking this same attitude with Josie and Lisse. [img]graemlins/rose.gif[/img]

[EmilyStrange]

I so agree with you guys. It's like, are you going to spend your entire life not playing with your doll's hair? Then she becomes more of a material ornament than a special girl!

[FanofFelicity]

if I don't do this right sorry! LOL I am gunna try this until I get it right LOL this is Prob one of my last posts here well i'll try lol

By Virginia
I tried to do the ponytail veil,

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That's funny out here we call that a hair net lol I used to do it on my hair almost every day! it's a lot of fun!

[ponydreamer]

The way you handle your dolls is exactly what we did with our daughter's AG's. She was so careful with her AG's...and yet she and lots of her friends played with them all of the time. I just taught her that they were special...and she seemed to understand. Her friends loved coming over here...there was no one else they knew of that had all of the American Girl dolls!

We just finished putting all of her AG's and clothing away....it was kind of sad...she is now saving them for her daughter! ( if she ever has one!)

Now...her mother...has AG's all over the place! LOL