i don’t know about you, but i grew up seeing mostly white dolls that looked nothing like me. in fact, even the few black dolls i saw looked nothing like me. they had super straight hair, and sometimes blue or green eyes. where was the barbie doll with brown eyes and beautiful curly, kinky hair?

well now, i found a DIY tutorial that allows you to make even the doll with the finest hair, look a little more like you.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

A doll

End papers (sold at beauty supply shops)

Pipe cleaners

Scissors

Boiling water



Note about end papers: If you start with a doll that has long hair and you plan to make a style similar to the style shown in my picture, you won’t need end papers, they’re optional. But if you start with a doll that has shorter hair and don’t plan to cut it any further, end papers will be essential.

1. Cut pipe cleaners into two-inch pieces and bend each one in half. They will look like little “V” shapes.

2. Section off a piece of hair and twist it into a tight spiral. The smaller the sections, the tighter the curls will be.

3. Wrap the spiral in an end paper (optional)

4. Place a pipe cleaner onto the scalp and pull the twisted section into the crook of the pipe cleaner. Be sure to keep the hair spiraled tightly as you zig-zag it.





5. When you finish zig-zagging each section, twist the pipe cleaner ends around each other to lock everything into place.

fully wrapped head

6. Once you have all the sections in pipe cleaners, dip the head in boiling water for the count of ten.

7. Wait for the head to cool – usually a few hours, but overnight is best. Rinse in cold water and place doll in freezer if you want to speed things up.

8. Take the pipe cleaners out.

9. If you have length to spare, trim each section to get rid of straight ends or strays.

feel free to leave it like this, or pick it out and make your doll’s fro as big as you desire. i don’t know about you, but i’m definitely going to be doing a few of these for my little cousin, who is currently very insecure about her own beautiful curly hair.