How To Do A Boil Perm

Shawn needs a new boil perm, so I will use him to demonstrate how to do one. He had previously undergone a transformation from this:

To this:

Part of his transformation was achieved by giving him a boil perm, but I wasn't completely satisfied with his look (and my husband had nicknamed him "Big Perm"). I had left him with enough hair so that I could redo his perm if I ever decided to. I wanted Shawn's hair to look less like a roller set and more like an afro. So I'll get started.

You will need something to roll the doll's hair with. In the past, I've used twist ties, pipe cleaners, and curling rods. This time, since I planned to give Shawn very tight small curls, I opted to use aluminum foil. His previous perm was done with twist ties.

To achieve larger curls, use larger sections of hair.

For Shawn's perm, I took very small sections of hair and rolled it with the foil. I twisted each section of hair a little before rolling.

I then dipped his head (completely covering his hairline) into boiling hot water for 1 minute.

I let his hair air dry completely for a couple of days. For dolls with longer hair, it may take even longer. Do not use a hair dryer on doll hair, as it may damage (melt) your doll's hair.

After Shawn's hair had dried completely, I removed the foil rollers.

I picked out his hair a little and cut off some straight ends, and his hair is finished.

This is an improvement over his previous perm. I'm still hesitant to cut his hair any shorter, just in case I decide to give him yet another boil perm at some point in the future.