American Girl Addy's First Annual Hair Show

My second Addy is shown in the eBay seller's photo as she was when she arrived several years ago, very well loved with hair that was quite tangled and in need of conditioning and restyling.  I gave her the necessary hair treatment and styled her hair in four squared off sections, twisted the loose ends, added barrettes to the ends, and gave her bang extensions using clipped hair from a ponytail that my daughter had worn previously.  The original upon-arrival hairstyle is illustrated next:

Addy's hair remained in this style until this past weekend when I participated in Addy's First Annual Hair Show.

This past Saturday, the Facebook group, American Girl Addy Collectors, held Addy's First Annual Hair Show. Group members were asked to style their dolls' hair in creative and fun styles to illustrate the many ways Addy's hair can be styled. The hair show was a result of the administrator's discovery that some American Girl collectors are "intimidated" by Addy's natural hair texture.  Wanting to put to rest the myth that texturized hair is difficult to manage, we were asked to restyle our dolls' hair and post photos to the group.

I wanted to participate in this event because the administrator, Cathy Runnels, is very supportive of my projects, but because I was not sure time would permit me to do so, I left my invite status as "maybe."  Things were working against my participation (my mother spent last Thursday evening through Friday afternoon in the ER and was admitted to the hospital for observation until Saturday afternoon).  I thought my last-minute plan to participate had been foiled, but I woke up early Saturday morning and began redressing and restyling Addy's hair in traditional "little girl styles" (nothing at all very creative, however).

What I Used
After taking Addy's hair down from the original hairstyle, I moisturized it with Smooth 'N Shine Polishing Mousse.  A wide-tooth comb, plastic bristle brush, ribbons, barrettes, ponytail holders, and rubber bands were the only other items used to create the various hairstyles described and illustrated below.


Hairstyle #1
Addy removed her Christmas dress and was eager to try on an 18-inch doll dress by Blueberi Boulevard, a gift from several years back.  After redressing, she was given side twists that meet in back to create one ponytail.  The ponytail is accented with multiple white barrettes.  One barrette is also on top of each side twist:

Hairstyle #2

Two twisted side ponytails with ribbons on top and barrettes on the ends, worn loose in back (rolled under with my fingers -- no time to set it) completed hairstyle #2.

Hairstyle #3  
After changing into an 18-inch My Twinn "Blooming Hearts" dress, Addy was given four twisted ponytails, similar to her upon-arrival hairstyle, adorned with knocker ball ponytail holders and pink elastic ponytail holders on the ends.

Hairstyle #4
With her hair in three sections, the top two side ponytails remained in two-strand twists.  Each ponytail was carried over to the opposite side on top of her head.  The ends were wrapped around the rubber band that held the opposite ponytail to create a top twist.  A Nubian knot was created in back by wrapping the two-strand twisted ponytail around itself and tucking the end underneath the rubber band that held the ponytail in place.  (For this style, Addy is dressed in another 18-inch My Twinn fashion.)

Hairstyle #5
Addy's final hairstyle, three braids with ribbons and barrettes, is the style she chose to continue wearing because she has never worn braids before.  She decided she would continue wearing the 18-inch My Twinn "Pinstripe Denim" dress.  Her constant companion, Ida Bean poses with her.

Side Note
My poor Addy suffers from the American Girl doll silver eye disease in her left eye.  Several days after the hair show, as a temporary (or permanent) remedy, I used a brown Sharpie to darken the discolored area.  Even though the right eye is unaffected, I darkened the same area (the irises only being careful not to color over the pupil area) with the Sharpie to give both eyes the same color.  Before and after photos follow:

Not shown in any of the above photos, Addy's eyebrows had turned an odd dark green color.  I used a dark brown eyebrow pencil to naturalize the color.

With her new clothes, new hairstyle, corrected eyes and eyebrows, Addy is happy she was able to participate in the American Girl Addy Collectors First Annual Hair Show.

After gaining permission from all participants, the Cathy (the group's administrator) plans to create a video of all submitted hairstyle photos.  I will post an update here or create a new post after the video is online.  There were some phenomenal hairstyles that you will enjoy seeing.

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