Playing Dolly Doctor: Dulcie's Downy dunk

Meet Dulcie-chan, more commonly known as Sweets-chan, another of Licca's many friends.

Now meet Dulcie's hair...every kink and knot of it.

Dulcie was an Etsy rescue, a doll that I doubt anyone wanted because of that hair.  I have to admit it'll be Darlington Raceway-level tough to tame, but I have a secret weapon, one that's not-so-secret if you're an American Girl fan.

A bottle of Downy!  I knew already that Downy is a great friend of American Girl dolls and the people who love them, but apparently it can also be a friend of Takara dolls as well.  Kudos to Kitties 'n' Dollcrafts for that tidbit of info; her post can be found here.  Unfortunately I grabbed this without thinking of the dye; some fabric softener has blue or green dye in it.  But...too late to go back now!  I don't care if I dye Dulcie's hair a little or a lot, but I'll have to take pains to keep the Downy off her vinyl.

Alrighty, let's begin.  Fetch a cup, pour in the Downy, and leave Dulcie's hair to soak...oh, twenty-four hours is recommended for American Girls.  Given the mess that Dulcie's hair is in, it'll probably take at least that long.  And here is where I run into some problems.  Kitties 'n' Dollcrafts put some fabric softener into a bowl of hot water and dunked her dolls' hair in, while Beanbunny used straight Downy.  Since Dulcie's hair is so matted I think I'll go for straight Downy...after I've washed her hair, of course!  Make sure your doll's hair is clean!

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I can't say that Dulcie's hair feels any different now than it did, but after twenty-six hours in the Downy and two and a half hours with my trusty dog brush her hair looks a lot better.  It smells pretty darn nice too.

It's not perfect, oh no.  No, in order to get Dulcie's perfect curls back I'll have to do a boil wash with drinking straw curlers.  But this is way better than it was.  See?

I may try this on my Jenny dolls and on Licca, since Licca's hair is so gummy to the touch.  Hey, what have I got to lose?

Cheers,
RagingMoon1987