#doll spa

Then, in the 80s, Kenneth released something called "Shimmers" and they seemed to be the next generation of this kind of fantasy doll. As a kid I had these two: (not my photo)

There's a great archive with more info:

I loved those dolls. Is it any wonder that I'm completely obsessed with the Magic Mixling Pixies?

The above is not my photo, but I do have both styles of mermaids from this series.

Into the soup! I cleaned their faces with Cathie Lee Doll cleaner, then gave them a bath with baby shampoo. I also used the baby shampoo to clean their hair. It was... Fried. Coarse, frizzy, and a bit discolored from age.

Before combing conditioner through (left) and afterward. (Right)

Below, all combed through:

I gave them a conditioning treatment with a very high end salon conditioner that a hairdresser friend gifted to me. (It has a very intense "laundry detergent" kind of smell that I do not care for in my own hair.)

I combed it through, let it sit, then rinsed carefully. I also gave them all a second conditioning treatment with VO5 strawberry scented conditioner, though none of the fragrance lingered.

They're drying now, and I must say that their hair is significantly softer, possibly softer than when they were new!

Thursday after school my friend Anna came over to help me fix up the new girls! I didn't really take pictures because we were having so mych fun just working and chatting away. She now knows how to perform minor "surgeries" to the dolls and our results were pretty good!

Samantha's leg and arm no longer flop around and her split side seam was all stitched up. Her hair is nice and silky and she's ready to go to her new home with my niece in December.

Marisol was cleaned up and side seam also repaired. She now lives with Anna as a time traveler to the 40's. She loves her new family!

And then there's Nellie who went from a squished face

To a normal one! The photos don't do the change quite enough justice. To fix her we removed her head and put it upside down in a bowl to keep it steady. We then heated water in the microwave for two minutes until quite hot. The water was then poured into the inside of the head carefully. After a minute the water was dumped out and her face was back to normal! Her eyes never got wet or needed to be removed so I was really happy.

I haven’t managed to keep up with my Tumblr at all for a while, so I thought I’d finally do 1 catch-up post with 2 separate thrift hauls about a month apart, because I’m also behind on doll spa days and etc. too. 

Top row, L-R: The Supergirl figurine and the Equestria Girl are destined to be re-thrifted (unless anyone wants them, let me know!). 

The brunette Fashionista was in the bag with the jointed blonde doll next to her, who I got as a body donor, but then I decided that the brunette doll head wasn’t too bad so I swapped them. The blonde head on the 5-points-of-articulation Fashionista body is going back to the thrift. Next was a messed up Disney doll also grabbed for her more articulated body, even though the Disney dolls don’t sit as gracefully as I might like. 

Next is a vintage Allan - :-O ! He was in a bag all by himself and cost more ($3.99 vs $2.99 for a bag of 2 nude dolls) but no way was I leaving him behind. He’s in great shape. At first I thought he was wearing a Beast outfit but the shirt is tagged Ken Fashion Avenue. The pants are not tagged so I am not sure of their origin but they look good with the shirt so kudos to either the donor or the thrift shop employee that put this together. Allan will eventually get the recent Ken suit that has the blue plaid jacket and etc. but I have been too lazy to retrieve it from the doll room for him. If anyone wants the clothes I bet I can ship them fairly cheaply anywhere in an envelope, so let me know. The shirt is a little dirty on the sleeves but not bad. 

The last 2 were from my thrift expedition last weekend: A pretty Liv gotten for her body (although I seem to have several Liv dolls that I got to be body donors that didn’t match any of the heads I want to rebody, so they weaseled their way into outfits, so maybe I’ll never be able to behead them....) and an intact Operetta. Strangely, both of these dolls were separately packaged with a Merida doll. I finally wised up and channelled @oak23 and redonated the Meridas at the thrift rather than dragging them home so they can sit in the donation bag for months. I’ve resisted getting an Operetta all this time because I actually prefer the look of the animated character better than her dolls, but I couldn’t pass this one up.

Sea Wees! The one in the middle was one of my actual childhood toys and her hair is fried. The green one is a replacement for the first one that I ever got, (and promptly brushed her hair hard enough to break her head off.) this replacement wasn't in mint condition but it would be nice to get the hair a little softer. The pink one is a nicer version of one I already sent for spa time.

Mego Dorothy. Not sure if she can manage vintage Mego hair but this Dorothy is a spare at this point. She was a childhood toy, but I now have three of these, and naturally the hair is trashed.

Fashion Disasters. The Dorothy and Glenda are weird off brand dolls with terrible hair. The My Scene girl has fuzzed out dark hair and the Descendent on the end was in a thrift store bag of other things I wanted, but I like her very much. I hope her hair is fixable.

Maybe a repair? 80s Fashion Jeans Barbie, original. One of my childhood dolls, and I managed to reassemble all of her parts. Her hair is... Well it isn't nice.

Here's a picture of a MIB doll:

Caroline was much easier at 2 hours and now she has her lovely curls back:

Her Saige doll had a loose head so I showed them how to fix that.

Then two of her second hand truly me's, Kennedy and Maddie needed limb tightening, a good scrub, and hair brushed. They were soooooo dirty with marker, makeup, and sticker residue but most of it came off apart from the sharpie eyeliner. I mean look at the wash cloth which started off brand new and white!

Next up were Caroline and Kanani. Our brand new dolls!

They got scrubbed and then I went to bed leaving the challenge of their hair to Sunday.

As you can see it will be quite the challenge!

(ps- I love the dress Caroline came in! It's not AG but it sure is cute!)

(pps- Kanani came in Addy's beforever dress and some black tights)

I haven't had the energy to work on my dolls, which is why the Odyssey is taking so long to complete. (But at least that's on-brand. Lol.)

Here are some of the projects I'm considering:

1. Show off. Bring dolls to show my friend who is hosting. She used to collect BJDs and I kinda want to show off my more recent acquisitions. (I never outgrew the urge to show my dolls to my friends.)

2. The Teacup Dragon. I got a really cute blank dragon from the Mushroom Peddler, and I've finally decided to paint her to match a teacup. Downside: I haven't found the right teacup.

3. Who needs a spa day? Just go through and grab any dolls that could use some help. Downside: extra work triaging.

4. Monster High glue heads. I caught a Meowlody at a thrift store but ugh her head has seepage. I might like to dig through the rest of the MH girls and have a glue head party. I could start them tomorrow and let them soak til Sunday, maybe.

5. Halloween, Halloween! My intention for the Halloween display is to have it be all about the classic villains; Disney villains, of course, but also any others that catch my fancy. I may need to update some face ups on the dolls for this, and I need to make (or possibly find) a Cruella wig.

So here's a poll!