Dying Doll Wigs? Impossible!

[Lexagon]

...Actually I was wondering, if you could do it or not. I think I finally have a character forming in my head for my Bei.

However she requires long hair, I currently only have a long blonde Liv wig, the red hair I have currently is like mid arm length. It needs to be longer!

I read all sorts of things, like dying it with acrylic paints, RIT dye, kool aid.

My head is spinning! Has anyone tried to dye Liv wigs before? Do they bleed onto the doll at all?

[OkamiKodomo]

Thus far, I haven't found any good ways to dye synthetic hair except with specially formulated (and expensive) dyes.... but those are intended for cosplay wigs, not doll wigs. I've also seen methods that use sharpie ink or artists' ink, and rubbing alcohol... again, for cosplay wigs, so it's a fair bet that such a method would run a very high risk of staining. Acrylic paints supposedly make the hair sticky or something, because of the latex in the paint, but I have no idea on that one. Never actually seen it done, or any tutorials for it.

Fabric dyes won't work, and neither with normal hair dyes. Fake hair is non-porous, so there's nothing for the color to grab. I saw one mention of the kool-aid method, but the poster said the color wasn't very intense, and faded significantly after the first wash.

[Kd_Bunchanumbers]

http://www.fatcat.com/dollraves/arttips/dye.html

It only tints hair but I've tried it on my Lagoona, my Ariel and a random doll with frizzy hair and it seems pretty consistent with results. Just remember it'll only tint the hair but it's a nice alternation to boring blonde hair...

Also, I've read to use Kool-Aid, you mix the powder with human conditioner and just soak the hair in the mix.

[Zainin]

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[landwhale]

Thanks Zainin. Good to know. I think I might try this at some point but I have figure out if I can tell if my wigs are Saran or not.

[Evelien]

Burn it! It's fun!

When trying to find a match to replace or touch-up your dolls hair and you're wondering what kind of hair your doll has, you can snip off a tiny piece of it and hold a flame to it (NOT RECOMMENDED FOR CHILDREN WITHOUT ADULT SUPERVISION). Nylon and polypropylene will melt and liquefy. Kanekalon will burn and turn to ash. Saran will mostly just dissipate, but you will see some melting. If you've decided that it's either nylon or polypropylene, you can take the testing a step further by putting the snip of hair into a bowl of water. Nylon will sink, polypropylene will float. This is because nylon hair is porous, and polypropylene hair is not porous.

[delbelcoure]

I've used the paint method Kd_Bunchanumbers mentioned.
On a Liv Wig using cheap, off-brand paint

http://www.flickr.com/photos/delbelcoure/5500077134/in/photostream

On a My Scene doll using Jaquard Lumiere paint

http://www.flickr.com/photos/delbelcoure/5476579561/in/photostream/
They both turned out paler than the original paint color and blotchy. The Lumiere was much better and looks like the color variants seen in human hair. Also. both of these trials were on fine cobwebby hair, not the kind recommended in the tutorial. They are months old and not sticky, stiff or dusty. Overall, I'd say it is worth doing.
Susan