I'm making those personalized Barbies for my friends for the holidays and it's working out *really* well. I'll post pictures when I'm done -- I'm very proud.

However, I've hit a roadblock. One of my friends has super curly hair, and I just can't find any barbies with curly hair except Nichelle (the black generation girl doll, and she costs $20, plus this friend is white). I tried wrapping the hair around toothpicks -- no luck. I tried twisting small sections so tightly that they curl up to the head and then spraying it with hairspray... I just took that out and she looks like Medusa.

Any ideas??

Love Rebecca

The way you do it is to stick the hair in boiling water, then roll it using cut up pieces of straws (you can use the narrower straws for tighter curls), using hair pins to hold it in place overnight, then taking it out.

You can find instructions on the web by looking for "barbie" "customize" "hair" "curling" ... here's one site with instructions (scroll down the page a little):
>http://dolldoctor.20m.com/Repair.html

Good luck!

Are there any dolls with red hair I could do this to? I think it would be fun to have one who - at least by her hair (def not her figure!) looked like me to prop near my sewing machine... :^ )

if you go to a thrift store, you may be able to find one of the midge dolls from the late 80's early 90's. so cute and freckled... also one of the members of barbies band that dressed in 50's pink ladies style jackets (not the Rockers)also had red hair, but no freckles... i can't remember her name though, i'm sorry. i kind of think the band was the boppers, the be boppers, something along those lines.

this personalized barbie thing is really starting to appeal to me.

x jessie x

she's "diva" from the rockers!

*edited to say her hair is semi-pink!*

Yes, there are redheaded Barbies! I just bought one for my redhead friend's daughter: it was a "Hip to be Square" Barbie (in this funky mod dress)... I also remember seeing a beach one with red hair (let's hope she's using a lot of sunscreen!). Both were way cheap: about $4 at Target.