Doll hair- Use Mohair or Human Hair?

by Nikki
(Minnesota, USA)

QUESTION:
I am curious, why do most doll makers use mohair? Is it possible to use human hair? Does the mohair last longer? I ask because I have a pack of human hair left over from my hair streaking days, and I would hate to waste it, so I wanted to see if it was safe to use on my dolls.

ANSWER:
Any hair (as long as it's clean) is safe to use on your dolls and they will all last many years if taken care of. However, there is a very important reason most doll makers tend to use finer hairs, such as Mohair; Tibetan Lamb hair or Angora Goat hair.

Most doll makers tend to make the face of their doll between 1-2 inches long. Due to this tiny scale, it's important to use a very fine hair. Everything on the doll should be in scale. Human hair may be thin on a human head, but on a doll head that is only 1 inch long, human hair can look like spaghetti.

Also, hairstyles on dolls are a lot smaller than a hairstyle on a human. This means that the hair needs to be thin enough for you to be able to style it in a very small scale. This is impossible with human hair; you simply can't get curls or waves to be tiny enough to look realistic on a small doll.

Tibetan lamb hair and Angora goat hair is extremely fine, so you are able to curl, wave and style the hair in a very small scale. You're only limited by how good you are at handling something so small.

You can still use the human hair if you make large dolls. In this case the dolls' face would have to be at least 5 inches long to start being manageable.

I definitely recommend getting some Tibetan Lamb Hair for your dolls size will be limited to being very large.