Braiding Advice

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March 21st, 2006, 05:16 AM
Bean Bunny

I have an OLD Kirsten (1995), and she doesn't have the best wig. That being said, she's my childhood doll, and my second favorite toy EVER, so I absolutley don't have the heart to trim her hair or rewig her. It's totally unreasonable, but I can't bring myself to do it.

That being said, I had her hair in nice braids, but they were getting a little ratty (she's got broken hairs that wiggle loose from time to time), so I rebraided it ... but I can't get the ends to be as short as they were before. I'm sure it's in my braiding technique somehow. Is it better to do them tight, loose, right over left, left over right, sideways, or what?
March 21st, 2006, 05:45 AM
cami713

I don't have Kirsten, so this is more or less guessing, but I hope it helps.

For getting the ends as low as possible, it might be helpful to try and divide the hair the way AG had it. That should be "slightly" easy to divide it up into the 3 sections where the tips of the hair are the same length. Since they chop it all off on the ends after the braids, the 3 sections should be (I'd guess) significantly different enough to part each side into three strands of equal end length. Did that make sense, lol?

I do have a PM mini Kirsten, and from that, it looks like the right side has the braid starting with the front strand, and the left side starting with the back strand, the braids should be pretty tight from how they look in pictures.

If multiple attempts prove hard, and you keep her as mostly a display doll now, you could always put the braids in and carefully trim off the ends so they look perfect, it would probably only be like a cm or 2 off the longer strands. I think everyone here understands being uncomfortable with that, though! Whatever you do, from your sig pic, your Kirsten's hair looks great for as old as she is.
March 21st, 2006, 05:48 AM
American_Mommy

Did you see this thread? Maybe it will help. http://www.hostboard.com/cgi-bin/ult...2155&t=26702#7

[ March 21, 2006 01:48 AM: Message edited by: American_Mommy ]
March 21st, 2006, 03:36 PM
supernonamegirl

I don't pull the "left over" hair at the end of her braids all the way through the rubberband on the last time I twist the band around, so that there's a little round stub. The left over hair then lines up with the braid and it's easier to hide on the inside of the loop in her original style.

...I'm not sure how much sense that makes. If it is too confusing I can borrow a camera from a roomate or something.
March 21st, 2006, 03:39 PM
Bean Bunny

Quote:

Originally posted by supernonamegirl:
I don't pull the "left over" hair at the end of her braids all the way through the rubberband on the last time I twist the band around, so that there's a little round stub. The left over hair then lines up with the braid and it's easier to hide on the inside of the loop in her original style.

...I'm not sure how much sense that makes. If it is too confusing I can borrow a camera from a roomate or something.

Actually, that does make a lot of sense. You mean like a messy pony, right?

I'm going to work on her hair again tonight, but keep the ideas coming!
March 21st, 2006, 05:28 PM
mayergirl

I also recommend brushing her hair slightly back. At that point her hair will get pretty close to three sections of different lengths (or at least mine does and she's ten years old). Each different length should end up being a section. Otherwise, if you give each part a little twist before you start, it should even out the ends. (My hair is to my waist, so I have lots of braiding experience.)
March 21st, 2006, 08:01 PM
I*love*dolls

My Kirsten had one section of hair longer than the rest and I trimmed that off. Maybe if you trimmed it it would be better. But since you said you were nervous about cutting hair I guess this doesn't really help. [img]frown.gif[/img]

Some braids are better than others. I sometimes can go down all the way but others I can only go so far. Maybe if you try braiding more than once you can get it perfectly on the second or third try.
March 21st, 2006, 11:27 PM
marilyn2222

What happened to the thread mentioned in this thread that had the pictures of how to do hair. I saw them earlier, but now I can't.
March 22nd, 2006, 02:13 AM
MissCurlyCat

I can't find it either.

Was it deleted???
March 22nd, 2006, 04:44 AM
supernonamegirl

Exactly! I was going to say that but worried it was too vague. Anyway, it works for me.
March 22nd, 2006, 09:19 PM
jenndon

Hairdo helps

Here's a direct link to the site.
March 22nd, 2006, 09:21 PM
cami713

Quote:

(My hair is to my waist, so I have lots of braiding experience.)

Mine is, too. Ahh, the wonders of long hair [img]wink.gif[/img] !
March 23rd, 2006, 01:01 AM
QNPoohBear

I do them tight and cross the right over the middle and make that the new middle and then start braiding from the left. You probably won't be able to get the ends of her braids perfect though. My precious childhood Kirsten's hair is very ratty and I have was never able to get it just right and now the ends are all balled and frizzy and I just do the best I can.

I also have lots of practice braiding my own long hair which is currently all the way down my back almost to my rear end.
March 24th, 2006, 05:09 PM
marilyn2222

The site posted doesn't have all of the hairstyles that the thread did. Who posted that information originally?
Thanks!
March 24th, 2006, 05:20 PM
heidiabigail

my Kirsten's hair is never going ot be the way it was. She is very old and has had many hairdos. I never cut her hair or mistrated it, but it is as if her hair is fuzzy right up near her scalp. This is hard to describe, but I can't change where i put her braids anymore, because that is the only place they'll go. I thought about buying a new Kirsten, because I have such a soft spot for Kirsten, but it somehow made me feel like a traitor to my first doll to even think about it.

OT: I had hair down pas my rear for most of my life, but I had chicken pox at age 16, and a ton of my hair fell out. I had to get a trim to even things up a bit, and now my hair is almost back to my waist, and I am 21. I think something happened to slow down the growth of my hair, because it is soooo slow. Anybody know how to get hair to grow faster?
March 24th, 2006, 06:46 PM
cami713

Quote:

OT: I had hair down pas my rear for most of my life, but I had chicken pox at age 16, and a ton of my hair fell out. I had to get a trim to even things up a bit, and now my hair is almost back to my waist, and I am 21. I think something happened to slow down the growth of my hair, because it is soooo slow. Anybody know how to get hair to grow faster?

Wow! I never even knew hair loss was a "side effect" of chicken pox!

Unfortunately, nothing will really help your hair grow much faster. They have supplements on the market that are supposed to, but, I wouldn't trust them in the least. Aside from a healthy diet, which will make your hair stronger and look better (resulting in less trims, so it seems to "grow" faster), there isn't much you can do to help it. I take a multivitamin (for other reasons, too), and that seems to help.

This link tells about what vitamins you should be getting to help your hair, and supplements, and other things about getting your hair to grow faster.

[img]biggrin.gif[/img]

[ March 24, 2006 02:59 PM: Message edited by: cami713 ]
March 24th, 2006, 09:04 PM
QNPoohBear

Another tip for braiding doll hair is to put your thumb over the section that you just briaded to keep it in place while you continue to braid. If you are braiding your own hair, keep your hand, fingers or fist over the section you just braided to keep it tight.