How do I tame static in hair?

A couple of my figures are suffering from really frizzy, flyaway hair due to static. I followed a suggestion to stroke the hair with a dryer sheet, but that only helped slightly and didn't last long (their hair sure does smell good now, though). Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

I think this probably depends on the type of hair. Unless that is limited to organic hair (like lamb wool) and you are talking about synthetic fibers, I would advise wetting the hair and letting it dry in the desired shape or giving it a gentle wash with just a little shampoo + conditioner mixed in into the water and letting it dry in the desired shape that way (without rinsing it out). But again, not sure how helpful this would be with synthetic hair, if that's what you have.

It's my YMTOYS "Avril" head that's mainly affected, which I'm pretty sure is synthetic.



Also, the hair on this head is straight. My two figures with wavy hair don't seem to have this problem so much. Maybe because the wavy hair has some sort of product in it? But I'll try your suggestion and see how it works. Thanks

I use the same thing I have for my own hair when it gets too unruly/curled - Harry's Taming Cream. lol Just dampen the hair and rub the cream between your palms to activate it, then apply. Kind of like a mild relaxer. It also works on synthetic hair for a day or so.

AlKelAstra91 wrote:I use the same thing I have for my own hair when it gets too unruly/curled - Harry's Taming Cream. lol Just dampen the hair and rub the cream between your palms to activate it, then apply. Kind of like a mild relaxer. It also works on synthetic hair for a day or so.

That sounds promising; I might pick some up and test it. Have you been doing this long enough to see whether there are any long-term effects on the hair?

If the static is that problematic, as in it changes the effect of something like the synthetic hair daily, if you don’t have a Humidifier, I would consider getting one.

Stryker2011 wrote:If the static is that problematic, as in it changes the effect of something like the synthetic hair daily, if you don’t have a Humidifier, I would consider getting one.

I've been considering getting one before winter, but didn't think I'd have to worry about dry air in my apartment this time of year. But it makes sense that this would be causing the problem. I'll pick one up asap, thanks. Now that I think about it, I've been experiencing a couple of physical issues that might also be linked to the air being too dry.

You can also try using a bit of hair conditioner/ fabric softner and then some hot water to tame the hair. Then use one of those makeup combs to brush it. It's similar to the process done to fix barbie hair. There are numerous videos of those on youtube. Be aware if you use hot water on curly hair, it may straighten it though, so you'd have to do some re-curling afterwards.

csyeung wrote:You can also try using a bit of hair conditioner/ fabric softner and then some hot water to tame the hair. Then use one of those makeup combs to brush it. It's similar to the process done to fix barbie hair. There are numerous videos of those on youtube. Be aware if you use hot water on curly hair, it may straighten it though, so you'd have to do some re-curling afterwards.

Thanks, I may end up trying this!   Straightening of the hair won't be a problem either, since the only figure that's badly affected has straight hair anyway. Although for now the issue seems to have gone away by itself. It's been over a week since I've handled the figure, so the built-up static must have just dissipated. But I assume it will return the next time I spend more than a few seconds touching/arranging the hair, unless I do something to prevent it.

Thom Cruz wrote:A couple of my figures are suffering from really frizzy, flyaway hair due to static. I followed a suggestion to stroke the hair with a dryer sheet, but that only helped slightly and didn't last long (their hair sure does smell good now, though). Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks!

I've been using Aleen's No Sew fabric glue to hold their hair in place. It's a water soluble glue that dries clear so you can easily get rid of it by rinsing in water. It of course holds everything completely in place so if you want to take shots of the hair blowing in the wind, you won't be able to.

Here is an example. There are gobs applied to the top of the head. You can see a couple white streaks but it mostly dried clear and the bit of residue remaining looks like highlights. The hair in the back is still kind of frizzy, but I didn't apply it there very much and was mainly concerned with the top of the head.

GrayBoots014 by Don, on Flickr

Hope this helps!

Best,

Don

DonDeG wrote:I've been using Aleen's No Sew fabric glue to hold their hair in place.

That sounds like a good possibility, for both the static and for customizing the overall style of the hair (which I may actually need to do for my current project). So thanks! Sorry for the delay, btw. I missed your post until just now.