Monday, November 18, 2013

Kayla's New 'Do

Fashion Fever Kayla's head on Alexis LIV's body wears Limbe Dolls lingerie.

In addition to needing new clothing after she allowed Prettie Girls Lena to wear the Stardolls for Barbie fashion that she had been wearing, Kayla needed her hair restyled.

Kayla illustrates her thick, unruly mane.


Kayla's hair has always been very unruly.  I have tried restyling it after giving her a boil perm, but it failed to hold the curls.  I decided to do another boil perm by first doing double-strand twists and rolling these onto end paper-wrapped pipe cleaners before dipping her head into a cup of boiled water followed by a dip into a cup of cold water.

Kayla's hair was saturated with water before double-strand twisting and rolling was done.  Wet hair is easier to grip and roll.
One of Kayla's double-strand twists before rolling onto an end paper-wrapped pipe cleaner is illustrated above.
I removed the head from the body prior to dipping it into a cup of boiled water.


Before dipping the head, I decided to remove it from the body after noticing there was too much side-to-side movement.  This was caused by the neck knob of her new LIV body not providing a perfect fit.  I closed in the gap between the neck and the knob by wrapping braided cord underneath the knob, similar to the fix used for the Janay head on the SIS Kara body (seen here.)

This out-of-focus picture illustrates my technique of wrapping braided cord underneath the neck knob to close in the gap between the knob and the neck.  The excess cord is trimmed with the end tucked into the neck.


Rollers out, finger combing next

With the rollers out, Kayla's hair was finger combed.  This achieved a huge curly 'fro, as illustrated below.



Kayla has been redressed in LIV Alexis' original fashion, which is very becoming on her.  I made the gold dangle earrings she wears after first piercing her ears.

Kayla is ready for prime time now... I love her new look!
Kayla is even more beautiful now and reminds me so much of a girl who attended my high school, Sabrina (whose last name escapes me).  Sabrina was a year my junior.  She wore her hair in a huge Afro and was voted most beautiful during her junior year by her predominantly white classmates.  I did not know her personally, but from what I saw of her, she possessed the ultimate beauty -- from the inside out.   Even though she's just a doll, Kayla has always had the same inner and outer beauty but even more so now.


***

Kayla's boil perm was inspired by the My Froggy Stuff video, "How to Curl a Doll's Hair."  As seen in the video below, I never dip a doll's head into a pan of boiling water.  I always boil water in a tea kettle and pour just enough of it into a coffee cup or mug before the head is submerged. Instead of single twisting, also seen in the video, I double-strand twisted Kayla's hair before rolling.


dbg

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11 comments:

  1. WOW! She looks great! I love the earrings too! She looks retro!

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  2. Hello from Spain: I like the new hairstyle. Great makeover. Nice outfit. Keep in touch

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  3. Is it just me or does Kayla's smile seem a little wider after her new hairdo? Great job, DBG!

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  4. What a difference! I agree with Dana. She seems to have a little more pep in her step.

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  5. Hello Ms. Leo, Marta, D7ana, GG, Muff, and Simsgrl. Thanks for commenting on Kayla's new 'do and 1970s retro look. I think her smile has gotten a little wider and she certainly has more sass than before.

    Her new look and what I did to achieve it is almost comparable to getting a new doll... almost.

    dbg

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  6. She is rockin' her new do. Great job. I also liked it with the twist curls, prior to the finger combing. On a new note, have you seen the Kayla doll that is coming out in 2014 from BC.com? She grabbed my attention immediately. Maybe she will be a cousin to Danielle.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Vanessa,

      I have seen and preordered the new Gold Gown Barbie from Barbie Collector.com. I needed to use my final Barbie Fan Club Reward. There are a couple of discounted fashions that I ordered as well.

      Is the Gold Gown doll the one you are referring to? Her face is similar to Kayla's. They could very well be related. The Gold Gown doll uses the Goddess head sculpt (according to BC). Kayla uses the Lea head sculpt.

      dbg

      Delete
    2. Yes, that's the one. She's a beauty. Yes I see that it's the Goddess mold now, but I guess maybe the color of her hair made her look similar to Danielle. I love the dress, too!

      Delete
  7. You did an excellent job with Kayla's boil perm, Debbie. Kayla looks gorgeous!

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