American Girl Hospital / Hair???

[newtodcl]

Hi,

My daughters received their much older nieces "gently used" american girl dolls as part of Christmas. They are the "original" ones and have been played with so one has a loose leg and the hair is fairly messy. i thought I remembered someone posting that you could have them repaired and hair combed out or something like that. Do they send you back the exact same doll and what is the cost/location/timeframe of this - if it exists? I would like to be sure the dolls remain in great condition so they can continue to be played with and enjoyed

 

[scootch]

We have sent our dolls to "the hospital" too. They do come back with an id bracelet, a hospital gown, a certificate of wellness and a balloon.(they do not get the wheelchair that is pictured, although you can buy it for $30 It took a few weeks, wasn't long. Here is a link for the info about it. http://store.americangirl.com/agshop/static/dollHospital.jsf

it is worth it to get one of the american girl brushes. When we visited they also suggested us brushing the hair with a toothbrush, not a regular brush as the hair is made out of a special plastic.. just fyi.

 

[skip323]

We have sent a doll every year for at least the past 3 years...maybe even more than one doll. We have done just hair, a new head (unbeknownst to dd), a new arm for one of the bitty twins...all kinds of stuff.

The wellness visit (hair, skin cleaned et) is $24.00 Shipping is $6.95.

I am going to try the link to the page with the charges. If it doesn't work, just go to the american girl website and I usually go to shop then search hospital and it brings up all of the information.

We love it when they come back with a get well soon balloon and hospital gown.

http://store.americangirl.com/static/dollHospital/images/doll_hospital.pdf

 

[emer95]

We did the hospital once to get Samantha's leg fixed. I thought it was really over-priced, and then I found a website that had do-it-yourself ideas.
http://agplaythings.proboards.com/index.cgi Go to the Nurse's Office board. You'll need to register with a username and password. I've found very helpful tips there.

We went to the AG place in Boston and paid to have the doll's hair styled. I felt a little silly watching a woman do something I am certainly capable of doing. You can buy a wig brush (that's what the AG doll brush is anyway), lightly spray it with water, gently brush it, and trim the raggedy ends. Try that and see how it looks.

Also, the woman at the AG place told me to clean their faces with baking soda and water. I did that and the dolls looked brand new.

 

[rhiansmom]

I would see if you could repair them yourself first... sign up at agplaythings.com and visit the hospital board for lots of tips!

 

[MichelleinMaine]

I'll third agplaythings as a great resource- you can also check out some DIY tips at http://www.justmagicdolls.com/articles/article_index.htm

 

[TheLittleRoo]

Despite the somewhat high pricing AG charges for replacement parts, I do give them credit for their extraordinary customer service emphasis.

I bought a used Molly doll that was slightly greenish (definitely noticeable...) and quickly realized she was not going to clean up with a little baking soda scrub. I called the AG Hospital and explained her predicament to the staff, who asked a few questions and determined that her plastic batch lot must have been defective, and to send her in for a full head & limbs replacement at no charge. I now have an almost new Molly (only the stuffed body came back with the all new head & limbs) for next to nothing.

I also had an Addy doll who got silver eye. They replaced both her eyes at no charge, and did her hair for free while she was there with Molly.

That said, I have also paid $45 for a new head, which at 50% of the cost of a new doll - I'm not sure it's worth the price but they do seem to take care of the customer, so imo, AG is worth the price. If you could do some of the caretaking yourself, it might be worth trying to find some dolls on Ebay who need some TLC and save a lot of money, but I can't do much beyond basic cleaning.

I like that fact that if something goes wrong or is defective with your doll, they'll replace it at no charge, and if the dog got ahold of the doll, at least for a modest sum, you can replace the broken part as needed.

 

[dclfun]

I would see if you could repair them yourself first... sign up at agplaythings.com and visit the hospital board for lots of tips!

It's really, really easy to fix the hair. First thing you need to remember is to use a wig brush or a doll brush ( they aren't expensive on the AG site), and always mist the hair or wet it down before brushing. Brush from the ends up. To recondition the hair, you can do a "downy dunk". Most people use the nonscented but if you have scented downy it makes the hair smell good and the the aroma goes away eventually. Place the downy in a low flat pan, lay the doll down and place her hair in the downy. Wrap the doll in a towel or otherwise be careful not to get the downy on her body or in her eyes. Leave it for about 12 hours or overnight. Rinse thoroughly and then brush from the ends up. I've used a cream rinse product that I use on my labrador called Fur Butter that's amazing. Any kind of hair "butter" works- this is often even better than the Downy but still needs to be applied and left in the hair for awhile. Lastly you can use an electric hair straightener. This gives amazing results and will put some shine back in the hair too. Just heat and run it through the hair strands a bit at a time. If the doll originally had curls, you can re-wet and then use foam curlers to restore them. I would try these things before shelling out so much money for a wellness visit. If the dolls limbs are dirty, they can be cleaned with a scrub of baking soda, and limbs are very easy to restring although this requires a bit more skill and supplies than fixing the hair. I am also a member of agplaythings and suggest, as others have mentioned, to sign up there. It's a wonderful community and you'll find lots of helpful info on many topics for AG.---Kathy

 

[rparmfamily]

Ohh subbing, as my DD's Nicki doll has major hair issues. It's so so tangled!

 

[scootch]

. Lastly you can use an electric hair straightener. This gives amazing results and will put some shine back in the hair too. Just heat and run it through the hair strands a bit at a time.

Thanks for the tips. The hair straightener won't melt the hair?? since it is plastic??? just wanted to double check that ?!?!

 

[dclfun]

Thanks for the tips. The hair straightener won't melt the hair?? since it is plastic??? just wanted to double check that ?!?!

No, it doesn't melt the hair. I took a small section of hair and ran the plates over one section at a time and it really looked nice and shiny when I was done. I'm pretty sure the hair is synthetic nylon and isn't really plastic. Take a look at youtube and type in "American Girl Hair". The first selection that comes up is from stephenswodadancer and shows step by step how to fix AG doll hair. She uses Armor-All ( which is the same product used in Son of a Gun for human hair) to add shine also.---Kathy