Doll Hair Guide 2024 (Kanekalon, Saran, Nylon & Polypropylene!) 

Very well prepared, very informative and just pretty to look at ❤❤❤ I love that you did take the time to get out all those dolls and ponies from your displays.👌 There are some minor things that I might disagree a tiny bit but just out of experience and not because I could really disproove them. I also get a lot of questins on Pony or Barbie hair and they often are scared to work on Kanekalon hair or G1 ponies with tinsel when they watched videos that probably explained it similar to yours. Being scared of using heat on them at all. But both hair types from my experience take more heat than what you expect. I never had Kanekalon melt on me and it is soooo easy to crimp with a crimping iron. I believe it can happen, don't get me wrong. Instead I had RH (Amaya Rain) hair melt on me while boil washing... so I wonder if that hair is something else than normal nylon or if nylon is actually less heat resistant than we all think...😵‍💫Since I usually don't do boil washes on Nylon hair. But especially metallic tinsel on ponies I treat the same way as all other pony hair and it takes it perfectly. I specifically straighten the tinsel hair (sure always wet and with lowest heat setting on my flat iron) but it gets so nice and straight again. The irideceant tinsel is a different story. That one can break open and loose all it's tinsely shinieness over time and especially with combing and also with heat. My fave hair fiber is Kanekalon (RIP) followed by Nylon and then Saran and well.... Poly. I recently found a video that explainded sooooo many more hair types that I had never heard of and I totally got confused😹 it was more from a customizing point of view and I think it was perfect that you focused on the 4 main types used on dolls with some honorable mentions.💗💗💗💗

I hate hate HATE polypropylene hair. I hate that it's so widely used. I do love this video; so informative. Thank you so much and RIP to those girls' heads lol. You tore them up in the name of knowledge. "Chad finally featured me in a video. I thought I was going to be a star but instead my ego was roasted and hair was fried." -the dolls 🤣🤣🤣

GREAT video! I feel like I see so much misinformation about hair types but this one is spot on. ✌🏾❤️

I know some people don’t like kanekalon but I think it’s my fav one (with saran) so I’m sad it’s not used anymore 😅 I have trouble telling nylon and poly apart 🥲 Thank you for the video! ❤

This hair guide is perfect for any doll collector! I love Saran, but there are a couple nylons that look lovely too.

I like tinsel in doll's hair gives it an extra shine.

This is THE BEST, the most accurate, and most comprehensive doll hair video on the internet. 10 years ago when I started dabbling in doll hair rerooting, there was so little information available, I had to mostly experiment as I went 😅. The knowledge I gained from experimenting and a few doll blogs, I can say you are right about EVERYTHING and more! Wish I had this video when I was starting off it would have saved me a lot of time and doll hair lol Thanks for helping out the doll collectors who are just starting to reroot.

Facts & science? No way!!! Because literally every thinks only 2 kinds exist so thank you for this!

It actually hurt me when you pulled the hair out! LoL

Oh my goodness thank you so much for this!!! You did a a truly comprehensive video w/examples one of the best I have ever seen. I have been familiar with Barbie for over 50 yrs but really found most explanations on doll hair quite confusing no really good comparisons, where as you really went all out, BRAVO!!! This content helps me if I were to resell a doll NIB or gently used or purchase a used doll I can now identify them correctly and also style them correctly! I don't often comment on your content but enjoy it as you have a wide variety of dolls and toys and love seeing you excited over dolls you thrift! I have been familiar with Barbie for over 50 yrs but really found most explanations on doll hair quite confusing

Omg this is sooooo helpful and interesting. As a new collector the types of hair has mystified me, how ppl know and what it means. And your hair always looks gorgeous so of course I wanna hear what YOU have to say about doll hair! I’d love more of this series - fibers, materials, etc. and dolls! Like maybe about plastic types/plasticizers/aging/plastic degradation?

Saran seems to be the overwhelmingly dominant fiber used in Japanese dolls. Toyokalon also pops up a lot in specialty dolls and wigs, which as I understand is like Kanekalon but with less tangling and a higher heat resistance so basically an "I'm you but better" situation.

This video was so good & informative! I really appreciate that you did this for others. I know these facts already from experience, but when I 1st started collecting only like 4 yrs ago, I didn't know. And I've noticed that even some long time collectors don't know the difference. But I think they're the type to just buy a doll & put on shelf & never do anything with it. Once you've played & tried restyles on each type, you usually can easily identify what they are.

There's not enough words of gratitude in this world to thank you properly for this video 🥺💛

Doll Hair Guide - Super helpful and much needed video. Thanks for tackling this topic. Awesome Chad 😀

Chad Marvelous, thank you so much for this doll hair guide! This is so very helpful to identify different hair types of dolls that we have bought and collected in our doll collection. I do remember wayback in 2019, I bought a Barbie Fashionistas ( her name is Pretty in Phython) I do really believe she has a kanekalon hair. The hair fibre isn't that shiny, straight, and matted. That way you described it. I had no any idea that she has a kanekalon hair, I boiled wash her hair and it got melted and frizzy. That was so really bad, I ruined her hair just like that. I have another Barbie that has a kanekalon hair which is Cali Girl Lea from Cali Girl Horseback Ride line from 2004 where they had horses and everything. She has a long black brown hair, it's really straight and matted. But yes, it's really soft and easy to style though. That's true, kanekalon is really prone of hair breakage. It's easily got broken compare to other doll hair types. I really love this video so much, it's very knowledgeable to every doll collectors out there that can't identify their doll hair types.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to do all the research and testing: I never knew that nylon 'hair' was so resilient. Your own locks always look GORGEOUS!

I totally love this video. I've been searching so long for information like this, and finally, I have found it, subscribing ❤🎉

I’m pretty good with hair as I’ve been dealing with dolls for a long time but I know so many people don’t know the differences. I hope this video reaches more people and that they understand why we don’t always like certain hair types. G3 in particular made this stand out more.

You explained the hair types very well Chad. I for one like tinsel. Like the sparkly effect.

I’ve always like Saran hair, thanks for the doll guide. When I use a straightener, I made sure i use it fast.

Besides your channel i am subscribed to 1000 splendid dolls

We paid attention in such an intense way than my family thought we were learning about advanced Physics or something. We love your cadence and humor so much that we honestly would listen you talk about anything 😊

I'm one of those active Tinsel haters. I just finished spending a good few hours ripping the tinsel out of my Monster Ball Draculaura because it makes restyling her hair very difficult. I also did the same for my Coffin Goreganizer Cleo. It makes their hair so much softer,

I appreciate you making this video

Informative video In India really less barbies or disney dolls are available and they are really costly

This video is so well done! You’re such a great speaker and you taught me so much! 💗

Thank you for this! After 4 years of doll collecting, I’m still clueless about hair type. 🤪 This helps! BTW, your hair is beautiful. 🤩 -Kada ❤

i’ve noticed personally that it seems when mattel styles dolls with poly they do not use gel but when they style the dolls with saran hair they tend to use product and again like u said it’s bc they can’t hold curls as well as poly and nylon

Thank you so much for doing this video Chad❤ I think you’re one of the best hair identifiers in the doll community and I really appreciate you taking all the time to make this video ❤

For curly hair, you wet it with conditioner and comb it with styling cream for curly hair and there are several finishing methods

Honestly this is the best video that i have seen about doll hair types i wish there was something like this when i started collecting! Btw like you said not many non Mattel dolls have saran but surprisingly when witty toys started making winx dolls instead of giochi preziosi some of their early dolls had saran

My favorite hairvtupes are nylon and saran.

Nylon is my fav!

Is that the tasting history sound... Lol I love it.... This video was excellent it covered things I didn't even know I wanted to know

When I got the Yeti MH one, I was very disappointed with the hair fibre. Such an awesome doll.

Thank you so much for all the info you put into this video!! You put so much hard work it shows!! 🥰

This was very helpful! I’ve saved it for future reference. Thank you so muc!

Very interesting ! Thank you for this video ! This made me want to touch all my dolls' hair lol

This was so helpful and entertaining - Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge! (Also, I applaud your conviction for frying dollhair for us xD)

This is a very well done video. I know so much more about doll hair now than I did before 😁👍

I tried a boil wash on textured hair it didn’t ruin the curl. I wanted the doll rhat came with a updo to have her hair down. It looks so nice and has made me like the doll more.

Lots of great info! 🥰

This helped a lot, thank you! Another thing about identifying doll hair that has helped me a lot is smell. Saran, Poly and Nylon all smell totally different (haven’t gotten my nose on a Kankelon doll, but I assume it’s the same there). It’s not a thing to easily describe, so I usually use a doll with a known hair fiber to test the smell. (Yes, I know how crazy all of this sounds :D)

I loved this video but I think truthfully if you had a flat iron that had heat settings you’d definitely have a wider perspective on how many of these fibers handle heat. ❤ all these hair types can be used with hair tools with heat settings most flat irons with no heat setting automatically go to 360 and that burns most plastic

OMG Thanks for this video!!! Very informative and helpful. The perfect hair guide. ❤

Also there’s another hair type called acetate and metallic nylon (a sparkly hair fiber used for violet willow and daphne that isn’t as good as regular nylon)

Another reason I don't recommend using heat on kanekalon hair is that apparently it releases toxic chemicals when heated. That may well be why it was discontinued. I winced a little watching you touch the melted fibres with bare hands 😅

i feel like in mattel’s sake if they wanted vibrant colors they would use kanekalon but now they use poly at least that’s what i think

This is just what I've been looking for!!! Thank you for making this video

Excellent & very informative video Chad!! Thank you so much for all the work you did putting this together. I’ve been collecting all kinds dolls for decades & learned a lot, especially how to ID the different hair fibers! I’ve saved this video to my favorites to rewatch & will share it too! Thanks again, it was worth the wait! ❤

Thank you for the guide for doll hair even though I am a OG monster high collector back in the day and now in g3 so I know the hair types but these is so so very useful for new doll collectors bless you Chad ❤😊😄

You did a great job of explaining and showing the dominant hair fibers!! There are a few more variants of nylon (DG - doll grade, kiwi, metallic, etc) but those are a lot to keep track of. As someone who has been rerooting for a long time, there are SO many more out there but that I haven’t seen on a factory doll. Synatra is one of those. I’d describe it as a mix between kanekalon and nylon, but much softer than polypropylene. It has a REALLY high temperature that it can withstand before burning, but I’ve found that it tangles really easily. I could go on and on and on lmao

Super comprehensive guide, probably best on RU-vid at the moment!!! Thank you Chad!!

I think the most famous kinekolon hair is hula hair Barbie, such pretty colours for the hair- I only wish they would have given the hula hair Barbie a skirt that went fully around her ❤

Great videooo!!! Thank you for sharing ur knowledge 🎉🎉 My fave is nylon♡ I loooove touching it hajaj helps me relax so yeah.. my shadow high girls are my emotional support dolls♥︎

I don't have many dolls so I have not felt all the hair types you have talked about. But I do know what Kanekalon and Saran felts like because my sister still has her 80s Barbies with those hairs. I don't have any of the MGA dolls so I can't talk about their hair. For me the most softies hair I felt is the Jakks ILY Bambi doll even the other ILY dolls Bambi beats them all. I feel from what you have said I think my Sailor Moon dolls have saran hair but am not sure. But I love dolls with tinsel! lol

This is an amazing video. Thank you for it.

I have a Barbie xtra 3 and it was a success

Some of the best doll hair guide video on RU-vid💖

Thank you for the sacrified dolls you used. The informations were on point and made me understand the hair types much better and even realise why I have so many MGA dolls. Never thought the hair type will be a major factor for my collection, but it is indeed. Cannot wait to see further videos from you 🤗

Great guide!❤

New here!❤ i really loved this information! Thankyou!❤ i hav subscribed and plan to keep watching!

love you for this video omg

Guuuuuurl this is soooo helpful ! Thanks for taking time to share this !

Thank you so much for making this video, it was so helpful!!

Super helpful and interesting thanks chad!!

This was very informative. Thanks for doing this Chad!!

Super helpful! Thank you so much for this! 💫🍓

I felt the hair pulls. Thank you for the information 🙏 you are marvelous

Thank you - I appreciate your effort!

Thank you, got a lot of info from this. GREAT JOB.

This felt like such a fun lesson from a friend ❤🎉 You are just so fun to watch!

OMG! This video was exceptional good. Thank you for ALL your hard work in putting this video together. It most definitely shows. I love the way you identified each doll hair type and some of the dolls that have that type of hair. Love your demonstration! Wow, this was Awesome ❤ Thank you! I was taking notes as you spoke. It was great! I appreciate You and your experience. I enjoy and watch ALL your videos. They're all Awesome. ❤❤

I really appreciate you address what your going to be covering in this video

Awesome tutorial💛

Thank you for all the good info on hair👍👍 Now I know my faves are Nylon and Saran for sure 🥰

Very good video! Thank you!

Hey Chad! Recently came across your channel and I’ve been binging a bunch of your hunts and informative videos - they’re super informative and fun! Please make more! Also - follow up - you mentioned in a doll hunt for the Boo-original Creeproductions with Samantha that places like Las Vegas, Florida, and some random middle state get early drops first. I live in Vegas. Can you confirm/explain a little more?

Glad I found you.

THANK YOU FOR THIS❤❤❤

You can use flat iron but you’d have to turn your temperature to 230 above 230 will melt the hair

I love a thousand splendid dolls! Her videos are always so informative and she's extremely helpful when i have questions! Yes the naturally curly saran hair definitely does bounce back when you boil wash it, i learned that from her when she did it to one of her my scene Madison dolls and i did it to one of my mystery squad kenzie dolls and the results were phenomenal! I also do it with a deep conditioning treatment to any and all naturally curly haired dolls when i first get them out of their boxes or rescue them and it helps to maintain and protect their hair. I did that with my wild hearts crew cori, and my naturalistas dolls, hasbro moana, and several barbies as well and even after being stored in tote buckets they still have beautiful curly hair that's not frizzy. I also recommend pouring watered down gel on their hair after the boil wash and conditioning treatment, as that helps to protect their curls without being crunchy. As for tinsel, it was also used on early 2000s my little ponies, as i have several of those myself, all rescues, and while they're not factory perfect, i think they all still look quite nice, and so i don't really mind tinsel at all. I think it looks nice in the hair isn't difficult to care for at all. I really don't have a favorite hair type, as different ones are needed for different reasons, it's all about learning to work with each one individually, just as with people hair. Tho i will say i feel more drawn to rescuing and restoring dolls with kanekalon hair. I've always referred to that hair as "cotton candy dandelion fuzz" and its actually very similar to my own hair😂 so i feel for them when their hair goes crazy😂

Love your videos Chad Marvelous so much for your vintage Barbies Dolls My Little Pony G1! And more! Sophia MARIA😇

Amo el saran hair ❤❤ mi favorito

Great videó!! Thank you

great video

OMG I didn’t know the Jakk’s ily dolls have Nylon! I thought they were all Poly! I’m so glad because I wouldn’t allow myself to buy them bc of the poly hair 😭😭😭

Kanekalon always is the Best & can be Blow Dryed STraight not 2 long but yes TY 4 This

As a G4 pony collector I am SO MAD they switched from nylon to poly. I've been cleaning up and restyling my collection and it is a nightmare to work with that hair, even if it's only a few years old.

You forgot about the mvp of male dolls, sculpted hair

They actually released a seran Cleo and clawdeen core g3 variants as well

Спасибо вам!- очень полезная информация!❤

i’m not sure what kind of nylon the ily dolls by jakks use but ik for rainbow high they use high quality kiwi nylon hair

Your welcome I love your videos

ok i’m not too bad with defining doll hair but poly can kiss my a$$ the worse hair type ever saran is my faveorite imo and bc i’ve never handled bad kanekalon i will say i find it very soft and fluffy and will take it over poly any day but again i much prefer saran and nylon over kanekalon and poly

Integrity Toys uses Saran!

A great video to watch 😍 but I have a little tinney question. I have one Cry Baby BFF doll, it does feel like polypropylene hair or saran hair, but I'm not sure. Thank you very much for answering this question!

Great video. I waited patiently for this 😊 Have you tried the eyeshadow on doll hair hack yet? I wonder which hair type would adhere better?

I have some Barbies hair is the soft bright white , some are blonde , some are the golden blonde like Superstar Barbie some are like the color like the Cali California Barbie who dates Ken and Blaine