How to Get Those Snarls out of Barbie's Hair

The best and worst thing about Barbie has got to be her hair. Those big time snarls are the first thing to discourage Barbie play and often encourage the want of a new doll. But what of all the snarl hair Barbie's? They deserve play too. I'll tell you how to get rid of the snarls and even how to prevent ones later on down the line.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• comb shampoo and conditioner towel spray bottle scissors

1. The first thing to do is to remove Barbie's clothes so they aren't in the way. Take the scissors and cut any rubber bands, tags, or thread out of Barbie's hair. Wet Barbie's hair with lukewarm water. Add enough shampoo to the hair (at least the size of a quarter).

2. 
   "Fanning" a snarl

   You want to work that shampoo into any snarls as best as you can. You can do this by NOT trying to work it from root to end but by "fanning" the snarl. "Fanning" is when you carefully pull apart the snarl as if you were opening a paper fan. It doesn't have to be perfect. Any shampoo that makes it's way into the snarl is a good thing. It gets to the embedded dirt etc, which help to keep the snarl together.

3. Rinse the shampoo out of Barbie's hair. Turn the water off because you are going to be awhile. Squeeze out excess water and add conditioner to Barbie's hair (2 times the amount of shampoo used). Saturate the hair. Rinse the conditioner off of your hands, put the towel in your lap, and grab your comb.

4. 
   Holding Barbe's head while combing out ponytail

   With the conditioner still in Barbie's hair, grab the hair like a ponytail and comb the ponytail out. YOU MUST HOLD THE BARBIE HEAD AT ALL TIMES OR IT WILL COME RIGHT OFF. Use the towel in your lap to catch the conditioner coming off of the comb. Don't be afraid of the massive amounts of hair that are coming off of the comb too, just keep combing until all snarls are out. You might start to notice how the hair seems to be snarl free until you get to the ends. Cutting those ends off will help prevent future snarling.

5. If you are dead set against trimming the ends off then don't do it because you will most likely be one of the ones that cut too much off. So how do you tell how much is enough? 1/8" is just right. Make the couple of snips until you get to the middle of Barbie's back. Go to the other side of Barbie's hair to make the couple of snips to meet in the middle of her back. Snip any straggler hairs in the middle and you are done. Doing it this way helps keep it even so that you are not tempted to continue cutting the hair in effort to fix a crooked cut.

6. Rinse conditioner out. Take your spray bottle and add a couple of squirts of conditioner to the rest part water. Shake spray bottle to help dissolve the conditioner. You are going to use this mix as a leave-in conditioner. After squeezing out excess water from Barbie's hair, spray her hair about 4 times with the leave-in conditioner. Comb her hair the way you want it to dry. Put Barbie in a sitting position and then let her sit over night or all day. Later on that night or next day, you'll have a Barbie whose hair is snarl free and should remain that way for a long while.

Tips & Warnings

• Do NOT use shampoo with Ammonium Laureth Sulfate. Sodium Laureth Sulfate is what you are looking for. This goes for human hair too.
• Whatever shampoo you use, then use the matching conditioner to go with it. One really does compliment the other.
• Make sure to rinse the conditioner off of your hands before handling scissors at any time. It's probably a good idea to dry your hands as well.