My first re-rooting project!

Is it hot where you are?  It's sweltering here!  I feel like this is the hottest summer I've ever experienced in all my years here.  I don't have the luxury of air-conditioning at home--partly because of the cost it would add to the electricity bill, and partly because of the hassle involved in getting the townhouse association to approve the installation.  I have fans that just seem to blow the hot air around, and it's the worst when there aren't any breezes around.  To keep cool, I've taken to showering in cold water.  It's pretty refreshing for awhile...and then just this week, I made an appointment with the hair salon and had the stylist chop off a lot of my hair.  It used to be past my shoulder blades, but now, I have a bob that reaches just to my lower jawbone.  That seems to be helping a little.  The only one who doesn't really like my new hairstyle is the husband, but well...it's not his hair, and he's not the one who has to deal with trying to stay comfortable in this awful heat.  My hair, my choice.

As if I don't already have enough keeping me busy, I thought it would be nice to learn a new skill.  I decided to give re-rooting a try! I have a Blythe doll waiting to be customized by Buzzingbumblebee of Bee's Dreamland. The doll is already in Norway with Bee, and in the meantime, I thought I would work on her hair. I used an old Blythe scalp that I had lying around, and what is good about it is that there are already existing holes I can use for the plugs. From all the tutorials I read, it seemed like punching holes in a CoolCat scalp would be the most tedious part.

I picked up five hanks of Barbie-length Saran from dollyhair.com in various shades of blue (Phthalo, Lagoon & Midnight). When I got my order, it seemed like a lot of hair, but now that I've actually started rerooting, I'm not too sure. I made quite a few mistakes and some of the hair strands already got trashed...snarls, tangles, breakage. Plugs too thick. Strands that got kinked when I used too much force pulling it through the hole. But now I think I have a better handle on the size the plugs should be.

It's slow going. I started in July, and that was when I did the part line and thatched it. I also started on the spiral on the crown, but I had to stop since I went on my trip. On my last day of vacation, I sprained my finger. That slowed things down considerably for me since my finger is still tender. I worked on the reroot for two hours today, and in that time, I managed to do the outer spiral shown in the photo.

It's a bit messier than I like on the inside. Too many stray hairs sticking out of the locked loops. But I think I'm improving. The reroot looks better from the outside, heh.

This girl is going to have blue hair. She's going to have a beach/ocean theme, and her name will be Shanty. I made up some pull strings with charms made of natural beads, beach glass and seashells. She's all put together in my head, and I am excited to see her completed.