How To Give A Doll A Perm

Meet Chipper.  I've been in a different creative world lately-- it's the world of dolls!  I can't think of anything else and frankly all of my creative juices have been flowing around my little Blythe Dolls. Please check out our flicker page to see what I've been up to.  My goal is to design my own doll soon.

Today, I'm going to teach you how to give a Blythe doll perm. Please note- I am not an expert at this- and if you mess up your dolly, please don't say Crafty Girl told me to do it this way. Hehe-- These are just my experiences- they seem to have turned out great!

I decided my little orange girl needed some curl. So, I took some perm curlers and, after wetting her hair, I proceeded to roll her hair up into the curlers. Some instructional pieces I have seen show foam curlers and I was a little worried my perm would go awry.  In the end, I don't think the type of curler mattered much.

Next comes the scary part:  Boil a pot of hot water and let it sit for two minutes.  Put your doll's head over a metal pot and pour the hot water over her curls.  I proceeded to dunk her head into the hot water several times to make sure the hair absorbed the heat.  Things get a little steamy!!

Time to cool off.  Now, fill your pan up with very cold water and dunk your doll's head into the cold water a couple times to seal the curl. Make sure the hair doesn't fall out of the curlers or you'll get stuck with stray straight hairs.

Better to practice on a doll than your own head!!

Pat the doll dry and then it's time to be patient... really patient. You want your doll's hair to air dry. This will take at least 24 hours to ensure the tips deep inside the curler are dry.

 The end result for my girl was fabulous. I loved it.   She immediately became a more mature doll! One word of advice- keep your newly permed girl in a cool dry place. Sadly, we've had some very humid weather here and my air conditioner went out-- poor Chipper's hair is now a limp curl and I need to do it over to get her back to her glory. Do not use human hair products on your doll- especially hair spray because I understand it messes up the hair.  Have fun!!