Re-Root: Giggles by Ideal

Recently, I set out to start re-rooting larger dolls.  You’ve seen my work on Chatty Cathy already and now I’m ready to unveil my newest re-root (finished yesterday) done on the adorable Giggles doll by Ideal.

Giggles is a pain in the neck to take apart.  Anyone who is thinking of re-rooting a Giggles, be warned that it takes a bit of work to unscrew the body and ‘un-cork’ the head.  For Giggles eyes to move, her head is on a track of sorts (referred to in this post as a joint) that goes up and down.  To re-root Giggles, you have to pry the joint off her head very carefully and then pray that you’ll be able to get it back on when the time comes.

Here’s a shot of the body.  They definitely don’t make dolls like this now a days!

See that black circle connected to the off white border around her neck opening?  That is what you have to pry off.  My mom used a cake icer to get this done.

After getting all her hair off of her head, I went to work.  I re-root with a re-rooting tool purchased via Dollyhair.  It cuts down on time and is easier on the fingers. It only took four days start to finish on this re-root. I’m sure it would have taken much longer with the needle method.  Remember, you’ll need to get crafting glue to secure the hair after you’re all done re-rooting with the tool.  Otherwise, you won’t be able to style it well.

Ta-da!  Here’s the finished product.  This Giggles now has a head of ‘Chocolate Pudding’ nylon hair.  It took a total of four large hanks.  To get it to crimp a bit, we braided the hair and then hot boiled it down.  Getting her back together was a pain in the neck, but I love the end result of this re-root!