Suwi's Place

Supplies:
clear small rubber bands
sharp scissors
stick pins with small silver blunt end (no colorful balls)
thimble (a lifesaver for your fingers when pushing pins into a hard headed doll

For starters, it will make things easiers if the doll's hair is straight to begin with.
Pearlescence originally had large soft curls.
As she has wonderful high quality saran hair, I just ran very warm tap water over it and removed virtually all of the curl.
I allowed the hair to dry and began by combing out the hair to get it smooth in preparation for a ponytail.
It depends upon where you want the majority of the twists to be on the dolls head as to where the ponytail is to be positioned.
With Pearl's style, her hair was to be completely away from her face, so I opted to place the ponytail at the back of her head.
If the twists were to belong on top of the doll's head, then that is where the ponytail would be based.
You could also base the ponytail on either side of the doll's head for a side twist hairdo. However, I would recommend a shorter haired doll for this.
If Pearl were to be used for a side of the head twist style, then her hair would need to be cut at her shoulders and not left at her waist before starting.
***Note: Place the head of the doll your working on, on a junk doll body as you will have to be a little rough during this process and you wouldn't want to split or crack the neck of a good doll body

Be picky about the ponytail and pay attention to how tight it is!
You don't want any stray hairs before you start.
Make sure it is good and tight and is holding the hair on the dolls head smooth and tight.
Once the hair is in the ponytail, begin separating the hair into sections.
Once you have a desired thickness in the section you want to start with, make sure that you use that first section to gage all other sections on.
Any other sections that are not the size of the original one, will result in off sized twists and they take away from the overall appeal.

As you make sections (I usually start at the top right side of the doll's head and then alternate back and forth mimicking the exact spot on the other side of the doll's head that I made the twist before).
This will help you to recall how you just placed the last twist and will give you a greater chance at uniformity in the end.

As you separate each section, hold them straight up and away from the doll's head.
I pin the dolls body between my knees, however, I sometimes use a vice grip to hold the doll still - hence the junk body.
(My junk doll body is named Vergie and is actually kind of special to me, if that makes any sense, as she's been through a war zone in my sometimes torturous makeovers). She's in sad shape, but she's tough and gets the job done!!
***Update***
Sadly - Vergie is no longer with us.
Too many trip in the vice grip - had smased her boobs and I had to amputate her legs to get her in the vice grips the way I wanted.
LOL - dollie torture - but it worked for the time I need it to...


Back on track......
Get the section of hair SMOOTH by combing the hair upwards away from the dolls head.
Hold the hair pointing straight up. I use very small clear bands for the sections of hair.
They are for braces and can be found at most Walmart Stores.
They hold up well too.
Place a band about 1/2" from the end of the hair section and get it tight.
If you've got the band in the hair and it's too far from the end, just use your fingers to work it into position.
Ready to twist!

Grasping the hair section at the band, begin to twist it making full turns over and over again.
Use your other hand at the base of the section to help keep the twist tight.
As you twist the section, it will naturally begin to twist into itself making loops.
Keep the hair section tight at all times once you've started twisting.
As you twist, you will find that the section is becoming shorter as the section loops over and over again bringing your finger tips and the band to the doll's head.
Carefully (take your time and don't get frustrated), snip and cut away the loose ends of the hair about one centimeter from the band.

Make sure that you end up with a nice blunt section of hair after the band.
Holding the twist tight, fold the banded end of the hair under the twist and pin the twist down on top of it.
The key here is to cover up the end and the band so that it doesn't show.
Even if you know that you are going to pile another twist on top of the one you are making, you still should do high quality work and hide every band and section end.
Once you have the section pinned in place (it may take three to four pins), press down hard on it with the tip of your finger.
Does it feel soft and squishy or hard as a rock?
If the answer is hard as a rock, continue with your next section.
If the answer is soft and squishy, take out the twist and start over because you did it wrong - lol
No Pain No Gain My Friends!!
Keep the twist pulled as tight as you can while twisting the hair.
Make it a contest of wills between the twisting and the hair....
Doing it like this will result in smooth twists that will not come out or show frayed and fuzzy sections from handling.

Continue twisting sections and working your way alternating sides of the ponytail until you come to the last section at the base of the ponytail.
Take care, as you make that last twist to finish off the back of the style just as nicely as you did the first one, don't get in a hurry because your almost done.

Once your finished, look at the hair all around.
Are any pins showing?
If there are, use the thimble to protect your finger and push them down hard into the dolls head.
I use tweezers to position the hair over the pin head and spray holding spritz/spray on the hair to hold it in place to cover the pin heads.

If all as gone well and you have followed these steps, you have just created a twist "Courtesan" hairstyle!!

I have included a few pictures for your reference.

Cheers!!!

Jon