Plastic Horses Sideblog

Wish me luck! She should be here sometime next week and she'll be my first restoration (does it even count as a restoration if all you fix is the hair?) and also possibly my first rehair and I'm very excited :))

Hi! G3 ponies are pretty easy to rehair. I use a reroot tool from Dollyhair, and I buy the doll hair from various places. It's been awhile since I've customized a pony, but Shimmerlocks was my go-to, along with some Etsy shops. You'll also need a zip-tie for the tail, an x-acto blade to help remove the head, some clear glue, and pliers.

Once you remove the head, clear out the mane and tail. Cut them as close as you can, then use pliers to clear out the rest from the inside.

For the tail, cut the hair so that it's about two-and-a-half times longer than your desired length. The bundle of hair will be folded in half, plus this leaves room for error that you can adjust at the end. Tie your zip-tie around the center of the hair and cut the ends of it (I've also seen others use string and elastic hair ties for this). Using string or jewelry wire to guide it through, push the middle of the tail through the hole from the outside-in. Remove the string/wire.

From my understanding, rerooting a pony's mane isn't all that different from rerooting a normal doll head. Cut the hair for the mane the same way you did for the tail. Separate some strands, and take your reroot tool to the center of them, making sure they go into the dip in the needle. Don't use too many strands of hair at a time, otherwise your needle may break, but don't use so few that they don't stay in either. You'll pick up on how much to use pretty quickly. Poke the needle through the holes of the pony's hairline, pull it out, then there! The hair should be in. Just do that a gazillion more times. Once all the hair is rooted, put some glue inside the pony's head to ensure that the hair is secured. For G3 ponies, you may need to glue the neck back onto the body.

As I said before, it's been awhile since I've customized a pony myself, so I'm going off memory from about... 2 or 3 years ago? I have been wanting to get back into it, so I can provide a more in-depth tutorial with photos when I do. There are plenty of resources out there for a beginner. I believe most tutorials focus on G1 and G4 toys, but the same techniques carry over to G3 as well. I recommend joining the MLP Arena and/or the MLP Trading Post. Both forums have plenty of friendly people with years of experience who will be more than happy to help someone dipping their toes into the craft. :)