Your child probably has many toys in their room, and most of them have very long and thick hair that can worry you. Since children spend most of the day playing with their dolls, clothes can get ripped easily, and hair can get all tangled up.
Children can be very upset over this, and it is up to you to fix it, so it would be really helpful if you knew how to untangle doll hair properly. It would also be dangerous to let a child deal with this, so a helping hand from a parent is very much needed.
If you have a child at home and a lot of dolls, keep reading this article, and we will provide you with the three most common ways to deal with doll hair problems and some other facts which could come in handy.
Choose Between These 3
Surely there comes a time when your children show up with a doll in their hands and ask you to fix its clothes or hair. Playing dress up and hairdresser is fun until something gets tangled up.
If it’s doll hair, we have three possible solutions for you – fabric softener, baby shampoo, and avoiding pitfalls.
Now, let us walk you through these three solutions, step by step.
The first one would be using a fabric softener.
- Take a regular bowl and fill it with a little water. Then, take your fabric softener and add it to the water. Stir it for a bit to get the mixture ready. Be sure that you have enough water and fabric softener for the entire doll’s hair.
- Put the doll’s hair into the bowl and let it soak in for some time.
- After you pull the doll out of the water, take a comb and go through the doll’s hair with the fabric softener still in it. It would be best for you to use a wide-tooth comb. The softener would make it easier for you to brush through the doll’s hair. If the hair is a bit longer – be patient.
- After you are done brushing, fill the bowl again, but with water this time. Soak the doll’s hair in the water and rinse.
- Pull the doll out and wipe her hair with a towel, but be careful not to make any knots. Leave her to dry out on the towel for some time. When the hair is totally dry, take a fine-tooth comb and brush the hair again.
The second one would be using baby shampoo.
- Take a regular bowl and fill it with cool water. If you are working with a doll with curly hair, the water should be cold. Grab a teaspoon and pour some baby shampoo in it. Add the teaspoon of baby shampoo to the water and stir a couple of times. But be careful, don’t confuse regular with baby shampoo.
- Take the doll and put her hair into the mix. To make it work, massage her hair for a minute or two.
- This time, you should leave the doll’s hair in the water for 10 minutes. This will give the hair enough time to absorb the shampoo and untangle the hair.
- Spill this mix and fill the bowl again with water. Rinse the doll’s hair three times in order to get all of the shampoo out.
- Dry the hair with a towel and brush it with a fine-tooth comb after you finish. Be sure to brush it slowly and gently so that you don’t break it.
The third and last one would be avoiding the pitfalls.
- Take the doll and remove all of her items – clothes, jewelry.
- If you want to avoid the trouble of having to deal with tangled hair every now and then, you should have a small tooth-comb and brush the doll’s hair regularly.
- If she didn’t have a hairstyle when you bought it, to prevent further tangling, braid her hair or tie it in a ponytail. Don’t overdue the hairstyle because you will have trouble later.
- Please read the manufacturer’s instructions, and maybe there is something mentioned there; perhaps she isn’t meant to be washed because of mechanical parts.
Squeaky Clean
Keeping the toys clean for the kids is very important. During playtime, they end up everywhere, and dust can be easily collected.
Before deciding to wash any toy, check what it says on the box – maybe the manufacturer has already recommended a way in which you should clean the toy.
For a general cleaning session, a cloth soaked in alcohol would be perfectly fine. It would be best if you wiped the toy a couple of times and through the cloth afterward. Alcohol can be helpful and effective in many ways.
If you want to clean vinyl dolls and toys, this might need a little more work. You can make the paste from baking soda and water and clean it with a damp cloth.
If your child prefers stuffed animals and has developed some kind of allergy, you should clean the toys more frequently. The best way to do this is with the help of a washing machine.
You can use the same detergent you wash your clothes with.
However, before throwing them in the machine, it would be good to check the label on the back to see if the color on the doll will fade after washing.
Danger Alert
Today, the variety of toys is much greater than it was in the past. Toys are made from all kinds of materials, and some of them can be very dangerous for your child. So, it would be best if you checked the doll yourself before handing it over to your child.
Here are five toy dangers you should be aware of:
- The danger of choking – your child’s toy might be built out of small parts that can easily be separated from the doll and end up in their mouth. These items include wheels, buttons, or any other kind of clothing.
- The danger of magnets – some toys contain magnets within them, and this shouldn’t be near your child because if they swallow it, this can lead to serious choking.
- The danger of fake makeup – many toy makeup kits for girls contain much little makeup equipment. It would help if you were extremely careful with this because those small items can poke them in the eye, or they can swallow them.
- The danger of electricity and batteries – some toys and made with batteries in them- is really dangerous for small children, especially if you are not supervising them.
- The danger of ordering online – you should never rely on ordering toys for kids online. This is unreliable and dangerous. They can arrive in poor condition. So, when buying – go to the toy shop.
Choose Safe
Before getting toys for children, you have to make clear and specific guidelines about what you are looking for.
When choosing toys for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, you should:
- Make sure that the toys are large enough so that they don’t try to put them in their mouth
- Check the toys for their small parts and avoid those toys and sets, which include marbles, small balls, or coins.
- Make sure that the toy is not easily breakable and that it won’t surprisingly snap it two during playtime.
- Check the toys you won at carnivals and fairs. They should be thoroughly inspected and washed in the washing machine.
How To Untangle Doll Hair – Conclusion
If you have a child at home and a lot of dolls, you should know how to untangle doll hair when this problem occurs. There are actually three ways in which you can do this – with the help of a fabric softener, baby shampoo, or avoiding pitfalls in advance.
With the first two, the process is pretty similar. It would help if you prepared a towel, a bowl, and a wide-tooth comb. Pour water and fabric softener into the bowl and dip in the doll’s hair. Leave it there for some time, then take it out and spill the mixture. Pour water into it and rinse the hair.
Another way is taking the doll and removing all of her items – clothes, jewelry. If you want to avoid the trouble of having to deal with tangled hair every now and then, you should have a small tooth-comb and brush the doll’s hair regularly. If she didn’t have a hairstyle when you bought it, to prevent further tangling, braid her hair or tie it in a ponytail. Don’t overdue the hairstyle because you will have trouble later.
Before deciding to wash any toy, check what it says on the box – maybe the manufacturer has already recommended a way in which you should clean the toy. If your child prefers stuffed animals and has developed some kind of allergy, you should clean the toys more frequently. The best way to do this is with the help of a washing machine.
When choosing toys: make sure that the toys are large enough so that they don’t try to put them in their mouth and check the toys for their small parts and avoid those toys and sets which include marbles, small balls, or coins.
