I love giving a vintage doll a little beauty makeover while still keeping the charm that made me fall in love with her in the first place. My 1996 Vintage Barbie Pretty Choices Doll already had one feature that immediately stood out to me—her incredibly long, silky blonde hair. Instead of changing the length or doing an elaborate hairstyle, I decided to experiment with the texture and give all that beautiful hair a completely different personality.
Her Hair Before the Restyle
Before I started, her hair was extremely long, straight and smooth. It fell well past her feet and had that wonderfully dramatic length that makes a doll so much fun to style and photograph.
I actually loved her straight hair, so this wasn’t a case of trying to fix something I didn’t like. I simply wanted to see what would happen if I added more texture and volume while keeping all of that gorgeous length.
Inspired by the Barbie Totally Hair Doll
My inspiration for this makeover came from the iconic Barbie Totally Hair Doll. I have always loved the combination of extra-long blonde hair and that unmistakable crimped texture, and looking at my Pretty Choices Doll made me wonder how she would look with a similar hairstyle.
The more I thought about it, the more I could picture those tiny crimps running through her long blonde hair. Since her hair was already so dramatically long, she seemed like the perfect doll for the experiment.
Crimping My Vintage Doll’s Hair
For the makeover, I used my hair crimping tool to gradually add texture to sections of her hair. I worked my way through the length rather than trying to crimp too much hair at once, which helped me create a more noticeable and consistent pattern.
The transformation became obvious almost immediately. The straight, silky strands began turning into tiny waves and crimps, giving the hair much more texture and visual interest. I especially love how the crimped sections catch the light—you can really see the pattern running all the way down those incredibly long strands.
Because this is a vintage doll, I was careful while working with her hair. Doll hair is synthetic, and heat can permanently damage or melt some types of doll hair, so I treated this as a very cautious experiment rather than using the crimping tool exactly as I would on human hair.
The Finished Look
Once I finished crimping her hair and styled it around her face, I couldn’t believe how different she looked!
The new texture gives her a wonderfully nostalgic 1990s feel. Her hair looks fuller and much more dramatic, but she still looks like the Pretty Choices Doll I started with. I also love the contrast between her softly crimped blonde hair, pink top and blue skirt.
And now I think she looks surprisingly similar to the Barbie Totally Hair Doll that inspired the makeover! It wasn’t my intention to turn her into a copy—I simply borrowed the crimped-hair idea—but the combination of her blonde colouring, enormous hair length and newly textured strands definitely gives me Totally Hair Barbie vibes.
Would I Crimp a Vintage Doll’s Hair Again?
I love how this little hair experiment turned out. One of my favourite things about collecting dolls is finding new ways to enjoy them, whether that means sewing and crocheting clothes for them, photographing them inside my dollhouse or occasionally giving one a completely new hairstyle.
For me, this restyle made my 1996 Pretty Choices Doll even more fun to photograph. Her incredibly long hair was already one of her most striking features, and the crimped texture made it even more dramatic.
If you have been enjoying my doll makeovers and vintage doll adventures, keep visiting! There are plenty more dolls waiting for their turn in front of my camera. You can also browse the blog for my Barbie doll reviews, explore my dollhouse, and download my free doll clothes sewing patterns and free doll clothes crochet patterns for even more fashion-doll inspiration.
