Sindy needed her eyelashes replacing and this post is about my first attempt at rerooting the eyelashes of a Sindy doll. I’ve included some photos at various stages of the process and a short video at the end, to show how I knotted and rooted one eyelash plug. (I haven’t included a clip on making the final trim).
Method
The eyelashes were replaced using same technique as for the hair reroot but with a slight variation to making the knot in the eyelash plug. This time I did count out the single hairs, 6 for each eyelash plug which were then folded in half to double the plug’s thickness and then secured with a knot. (The knot was tied in place with the help of the needle and this is shown in the video).
Tools and Supplies
The exact same tools were used:- a long darning needle, small sharp scissors, needle threader, pliers and a small bowl of water.
A shorter hair weft (15cm long) was used instead of the 39 inch loose hair length. This was a 100cm wide piece, stitched together at one end. The black weft was purchased from KinsWonders via Etsy and cost £4.95 excluding postage. I found this hair weft to have very uneven lengths and so I wouldn’t want to do a short-haired reroot with this. It needed to be soaked wet to thread it all through the needle.
Notes
Some of the doll’s eyelash holes had merged together, maybe from when they were originally inserted at manufacture. In this case I still used the same amount of hairs in each plug but I inserted a second plug right alongside the previous one and maybe even a third. Care is needed when inserting the needle, as I think too much pressure could merge the holes into being one single split. I’m sure if that happened it could be glued from inside but I wouldn’t want to chance it with my limited experience.
Having Sindy’s hair plaited helped keep it out of the way and the elastic band lifting up the lashes sat nicely at the hairline.
I left the lashes like this for about 4 weeks (because I was nervous about cutting them) and I wiped a tiny amount of light glue over them, hoping that this would hold their shape better.
Meanwhile I set Sindy’s hair so that it would be wavy when unplaited, first by plunging it into very hot water for a minute and then into cold water straight after. It was left to dry naturally and unplaited after the eyelashes had been trimmed.
When I finally made the cut on the eyelashes it was with small curved scissors. At first I made them 1 inch long to remove the excess, and then I gently trimmed them to their final size.
The End Result
I would encourage anyone to have a go at replacing their vintage Sindy doll’s eyelashes. The apprehension I felt before has gone now and I’m so pleased to have finished my girl’s transformation. I’ve already got 4 more vintage ladies patiently waiting for their chance to shine brightly.
So here she is, my tropical mermaid Sindy, currently wearing a long dress until I decide what outfit to make her. Her crown was made by Kristina Ridgewell, a Sindy fan like me, and also a member of the Vintage Sindy Collectors Facebook Group.
Rerooting Video (2m 13s)
Here’s my short video showing the technique I used for rerooting Sindy’s eyelashes.
Little Miss Dressy 