Hot stuff: Boil perm

Here's how I boil permed Sammies bobbed hair, to preserve the slight inward curl at the chin line:

First I wrapped Sam in a towel and wet her hair.
(Caution: the stock eyelashes are held together with water-soluble glue. Don't get them wet if you don't want to lose them!)

Then I cut some strips of kitchen paper to use as end wraps.
I combed out Sams hair and devided it in 6 strands. I wrapped the end of the first strand in a paper wrap and rolled it onto a foam curler. I continued with the other strands until all her hair was rolled.

I boiled some water, poured it into a bowl and submerged the top of Sams head and the rollers for about 20 seconds. Then I gently absorbed most water from her hair with the towel.

Finally I put her in the freezer for a few minutes (don't let your doll touch the freezer walls! Put her on a piece of kitchen tinfoil or paper). When her hair was cold, I took her out and left her until her hair was completely dry.
Then I carefully took the rollers out, and Sams bob had a very well set, strong curl!

Ringlets

To set small curls or ringlets I used the so-called pipe cleaners. They're practical because of their flexibility, and will not melt in boiling water.

The pipe cleaners I found at the local craft store were 50 cm/20" long chenille stems, and I cut each one in four equal parts. I used all 40 parts for the job, so be sure you have enough of them!

First I wet my dolls hair, and divided it in small strands.
I rolled every strand like a spiral onto a piece of pipe cleaner, securing the end of the strand by twisting the stem around it.

Close to the scalp I bended the stem backwards, twisted it around the rolled strand again and secured it by folding it over the top. Then I rolled the whole bundle up towards the scalp as a ball.

I continued with the rest of the hair until it was all rolled into little balls.

I boiled some water, poured it into a bowl, and submerged the top of my dolls head for about 20 seconds. Then I gently absorbed most water from her hair with a towel.

Finally I put my doll in the freezer for a few minutes (don't let the doll touch the freezer walls! Put her on a piece of kitchen tinfoil or paper). When her hair was cold, I took her out and left her to dry up. That took quite some time (36 hours, just to be sure), as the hair was rolled pretty tight!

When the hair was completely dry I carefully unrolled every strand, without pulling the hair to much. You can see the (untamed) result in the picture :)

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