Preping The Scalp

I started the second day of customising Umi by first taking a good look at her scalp. In this picture you can see what I was talking about yesterday - the big gap between the scalp line and the start of the hair...


I intend to sort this out by adding a couple of extra rows of hair plugs, so the hairline is neared the face plate.

This is what the layout of the hair plugs was like inside the scalp; they were installed with a 'lock and loop' technique as discribed on Punchi Collective and demonstrated by My Little Customs on YouTube...


I then got out the scissors! It was lots of fun cutting her hair off, but in hindsight I would like to have taken my time to look at how the hair was layered before going mad with the scissors, and also to have practiced my hair cutting skills :(

Here's a sombre looking Umi, feeling very sorry for herself indeed!


And from the top...


I had a glass of Pepsi Max, then went to work removing the remainder of the hair. I used tweezers and a seam ripper to take out the stubborn roots, took about 15 minutes. I then had a completely bald scalp to work with, but with one problem - it was painted dark brown...


Aawww, poor Umi! :'(

I spent the evening searching round the internet to see how I could either A) Remove the paint or B) Use to paint over it and leave the scalp both flexible and waterproof. I found a handy guide, again, on Punchi Collective that said the best thing to paint scalps with was vinyl paint, like V-Color and Monster Color. I live in the UK and am unable to get these brands, and I don't want to mess her up by using the wrong type of vinyl paint, so I looked for something to remove the paint itself.

I read on Blythe Kingdom, and I quote, 'No Acetone or Nail Polish Remover that is NOT safe for Acrylic nails, if its not safe for those its REALLY not safe for Blythe'. So I figured it wouldn't be safe for Blybe either as they are basically made of the same thing. So I went shopping the next day and bought some Cutex Acetone Free Nail Polish Remover, for £1.60 from Boots. And it worked!


It got rid of most of the paint, just some little bits that wouldn't budge remain. I probably won't be painting the scalp, I think it should be ok like this. I hope...

I then sarted thinking what colour I would like the hair, more of that to come :)