Rerooting Adventures

For the past couple of week or so, I’ve been working on a saran reroot for Rory. There are quite a few tutorials and resources out there for doll reroots, but I figured one more Blythe-centric reroot post wouldn’t hurt! Also, as a complete noob on rerooting, I thought it might be helpful for me to share my experience, resources I have found helpful, and my own advice.

The Materials I used:

A blank scalp – I purchased mine in a set of 4 from Cool Cat. 4 blank PVC scalps came out to be $36 plus $4 shipping. I’ve read that you can buy scalps with holes prepunched into the scalp on Aliexpress, but also, I’ve read that the holes can be quite unevenly spaced. Cool Cat also sells rubber scalps, which I’ve read are easier to penetrate with a needle. I didn’t struggle too much with prepping my scalp, though I do wonder if a rubber scalp might be easier on the hands.

A carpet needle – I recommend a thick, sharp needle. I started off poking holes with a thinner needle, but I found it super challenging pushing a 0.9 mm crochet hook through the holes. I’ve also been advised that a tapestry needle would be good for punching holes too.

A 0.9mm crochet hook and a 1.0mm crochet hook – I used the smaller crochet hook for the thatch, since the holes are closer together, and the thicker crochet hook for the rest of the scalp. I don’t think you need more than one hook though.

Saran hair – I purchased my hair from Dollyhair.com, but there are several sellers online. I recommend doing research before purchasing. I purchased 5 hanks of 38” saran – 3 in Cupcake Pink, 1 in Lemon Blonde, and 1 in Mint Ice.

Water – This is very important. Working with the hair wet keeps the hair plugs together while you’re handling it, and it makes the whole process less hairy (XD).

Acrylic Paint – This is to paint the scalp the color of the hair you will be rooting, so any sparse areas are less noticeable.

The Method I used: Lock and Loop Method

I won’t be doing a tutorial, but I will link some excellent resources here:

Lovalizious Blythe Reroot Tutorial Part 1 and Part 2 – This is the tutorial I referred to most. The tutorial explains prepping the scalp and rerooting using the lock and loop method with alpaca fiber. There are a lot of pictures and detailed explanations, which I supplemented with youtube videos when necessary.

Shershe’s Saran Reroot Tutorial on Flicker – A lot of great photos and explanations geared toward saran reroots.

No Nap Time Doll Reroot and Resources – I used this blog post to better understand the types of hair material and rerooting methods. It also lists some reroot material sellers and the author’s experience with each of them, as well as other helpful links.

My Little Customs’s ‘How to Thatch a Part line’ youtube video – I got a little confused by how to thatch a 4 line part line XD .

Mademoiselle Blythe’s “The Beauty of Saran”– A lot of helpful tips on rerooting using saran.

My progress so far:

Prepping the scalp – It took me 2 days to finish poking all the little holes. I followed the instructions found on Lovalizious in terms of hole spacing and row spacing. If I could do it over again, I would have spaced the rows and the holes at the top of the head tighter together. I also would have extended the thatch line further back than indicated. I’m pretty sure I made a mistake not taking into consideration that saran behaves differently than alpaca fiber, which is what the tutorial uses. Right now, the scalp is looking pretty sparse, which worries me (it’s too late to turn back now).

Rooting the thatch line – This also took me two days to complete. Also, I’ve been told that it’s easiest to root the thatch first and then thatch the thatch line, before rooting the rest of the head.

Rooting the rest of the scalp – I am currently working on this, and I think I’m 1/3 the way done rooting the holes I have made so far. Looking at it now, I get the creeping suspicion that I’ll have to go back and create new holes and figure out a way to include some more plugs at the top of the head. I might go in with a smaller crochet hook, and create some new rows between the rows that are already rooted so that the gaps between the plugs are less noticeable. I really hope I won’t have to do this.

It’s so messy!

Some tips

• Keep in mind the material you are rooting with. Saran isn’t really fluffy, so I probably should have made the holes and rows a bit closer together at the top of the head.
• Mind the size of your plugs. I found that the rooting is considerably easier if the plugs are the right size for the crochet hook I am using. If the plugs are too thick, some of the hair would fall off of the hook while I pull the hair through the hole. The loop I would pull through would also be kind of messy, and some of the saran even snapped in half because of the force I would exert trying to pull the fat plug through. If you’re struggling to keep the hairs hooked under the crochet hook, then the plug is probably too big.
• Take breaks. What I’ve been doing is turning on some youtube playlist of doll vlogs, making 10 plugs, rooting them, and so on and so forth. I find that alternating between making plugs and rooting breaks up the monotony.
• Keep all the hair wet.
• Comb the saran often! I found that I lost quite a bit of hair (not the best at rerooting 😦 ). Also, combing helps confirm that all the plugs are secure.
• I used a bobby pin to keep the hairs together on the last loop when I decide to put the rerooting aside.

I’ll report back again once I’ve finished rooting all the holes!