Bay Update - Dolly Road Trip!!! Girl AGain Boutique!

Hey all! So, today was an interesting day and since this doesn't really fit under anyone else's parts of the blog yet, I'll do it myself. We went on a dolly road trip today! Two and a half hours in the car each way to visit Girl AGain!
Girl AGain Boutique is an American Girl boutique in White Plains, New York...all of the dolls there are donated, each one hand cleaned and refurbished by the girls of Yes She Can. It's part of a program that helps girls with varying levels of autism learn workplace skills and the profit made on the dolls goes back into the program.
What's cool about Girl AGain Boutique for doll collectors is that they tend to have some of the harder to find dolls - Retired Girl of the Year and Just Like You dolls, original Historical dolls like Kirsten, Molly etc. from before the BeForever rebranding; a lot of their clothes and original accessories and furniture.
They even have some "DIY" dolls, dolls who would need significant repair to be playable again...for those of us who enjoy customizing and restoring AG dolls on our own or needing spare parts to fix someone we already have waiting for new parts at home. 
I'll do a second post for our dolly haul tomorrow, but in the meantime, let me show you what our little friend Luciana looked like when we brought her along for the ride - 

She decided to put on her Galaxy gown, which I might add was handmade for her by a friend of ours last year, along with her Starlight accessories - So it would be easy to tell she was with us and not one of the Boutique dolls. 
The displays at Girl AGain Boutique change with the wind depending on which dolls they have on hand at the time and whose birthdays are in that particular month. Currently featured inside the door when you first walk in is a group of Samanthas, a Felicity and a Caroline or two-

These Samanthas were on sale, as were the outfits hanging beside them - the bargain area is just inside the door as you walk in, along with a small basket of assorted mini dolls who might possibly be missing shoes or clothes but are otherwise in great condition.

As you move further in, on your right is a display of various TrulyMe/Just Like You/My AG dolls along with various scenes and accessories for them - Today, there was a bike and someone's snack cart, if memory serves, alongside half a dozen dolls.

On the left, the start of the Historical doll displays, beginning with Addy and Molly on the end shelf unit - There are multiple of each doll, most in Meet outfits, although some wear their holiday, school and other outfits - some of it depends on what's on hand and some simply to show off alternate outfits. The second shelf unit held Kirsten dolls and more Samanthas, the first of which made me smile since Kirsten has been retired for a while now.

 The third of these historical doll shelves held an assortment of Kit and Felicity (with her friend Elizabeth), each with accessories and furniture setting the scene. The final shelf of Historical dolls on this wall held Josefina and Kaya, although it's not clearly visible in these photos for some reason.

Across the room, with their backs to the large front window, an array of Molly, Emily and Julie (this amused us because our Molly, Emily and Julie are all very good friends with each other) and a few oddball others, a couple of TrulyMe/Just Like You and a Felicity who crept in there somehow to hide among the Molly dolls.

And hidden off in the corner just beyond the Molly and Emily dolls in the window, there were our Girl of the Years. This time, the display featured Kanani, Marisol, Mia, Saige and two McKenna dolls, all grinning at us from the shelves.
There were some Bitty Babies at the bottom of the shelf that housed Kit and Felicity on the other side of the room and a large section for Historical dolls' outfits and one for the MyAG/JLY/TrulyMe doll clothes as well as a shelf unit lined with various American Girl books, from the advice books to the character books that match the dolls and including a row of brand new mini dolls in their boxes, just awaiting someone to take them home.
Girl AGain is a paradise for the AG doll collector, and aside from a few particular dolls who seem to be harder to come by, their prices were worth paying for dolls in the condition most all the dolls were in.
I wish I'd had more time to explore the collections and accessories, but it was still a complete blast to visit Girl AGain Boutique!
Check back later/tomorrow to see the girls we brought home from our visit to the boutique!
--Bay--

Angela - Story Time - My Collecting Story

Hey all. Angela here. I decided to follow a trend I've seen before...people seem to enjoy telling their own 'how I began collecting' stories and reading others' stories. So, here's the story of my doll collection and how it began.
I was twelve when it started. I'd had dolls before that, a handful of Barbies and a few baby dolls, but about that time, Bratz and My Scene started to turn up. For once, Barbie wasn't the only doll with a presence in the toy aisles.
It began with a My Scene Club Birthday Barbie...I was originally buying Nolee as a gift for my best friend and I wanted Barbie so bad, with her purple makeup and dress and those big blue eyes. I can remember asking Mom, and at first she said no, I couldn't have a birthday doll when it wasn't my birthday. She did eventually give in and therefore, I got my first My Scene Barbie doll to add to my collection.
I added a few more dolls, started paying closer attention to the toy aisles and when I could find the time, I would search the internet for information, photos, which dolls had been released, which would come next, store exclusives and collectors editions, every variation of every character, I knew them. I would search ebay for older ones although I was too young to have an account to buy them, it was just fun to look.
I would pack my whole collection of dolls and their accessories and clothes into my favorite pink backpack and take them to my friends' houses to play dolls. But at the end of every play date, every doll was put back in the outfit she came with and her hair brushed and styled neatly, if not in the original style she came with.
...I admit, I got protective of my dolls. To the point where I would rather buy and gift my friends dolls to play with than let most of them touch my dolls. Some of my friends were the type to lop off Barbie's long blonde locks, mangle her hands and feet and then blame a younger sibling for the damage done to their dolls. I was very particular about how my dolls were played with and handled, I still am...maybe more so now than I was.

My collection rapidly blossomed (Although I will note the My Scene an 89% of the Bratz and Monster High are *NOT* pictured here because they're currently in storage for space reasons) from ten or fifteen dolls to well over three hundred and then over time, to six hundred or so (haven't done a count in a while).
It had a lot to do with the fact that each version of a My Scene Chelsea or Barbie doll had different makeup, different hair streaks and styles, different clothes. Each could almost be a different character if I wanted them to or the same character with different makeup. Kaycie's the writer here, but I confess to creating stories for some of the characters my dolls represent.
There was a time around when My Scene and Bratz faded out of the picture where a lot of the regular Barbie type dolls looked like the same blue eyed, blonde, blown up Lara face mold and I just couldn't see having 67 of the same dolls in my collection when the differences in the dolls were so slight as to be unseen.
For a couple of years, 2011-2014, I didn't buy very many dolls at all. I got out of the habit of walking the toy aisles and I was in college at the time, my life was fairly busy with classwork. But then I decided to take a stroll one day down the Barbie aisle and I found a doll different than any I'd seen before. Her hair was dirty blonde, not platinum, and her eyes were gray. Her face was more angular and slightly dimpled too, not your standard Barbie.

Here's a photo of Lex, Alexa Jane. She was my first of the new fashionista dolls. Shortly after I bought her, Mattel launched their 'The Doll Evolves' campaign for Barbie and I got completely sucked back into the dolly world.
This time, I've vowed not to let go again. Catching up after being so far behind is just a pain to do and having to relearn most of the dolly facts I once knew about brands and characters and different doll lines.
So, now you know my collecting story. It began with a love of dolls, a desire for more dolls and an eye for the details and differences in each doll.
-Angela

Angela's Dolly Care Corner - Hair Care Tips #1

Hey all, Angela here.

I've been seeing some stuff going around on YouTube and other platforms about how to care for doll hair. Some people say brush it often, some say not at all, some say use a comb and others say only a wire brush. Fabric softener, hair conditioner, shampoo or soap? What a mess. My way is not the be all and end all of doll care, but I will share the methods I swear by.
Today's will be about maintaining doll hair. We'll work on repairing doll hair sometime in the next while, that'll be a more involved tutorial after my next thrift shop rescue session.

Part One// Tools//
Your tools will vary slightly per which doll you're working on, but for the vast majority of dolls, a wire bristle brush (American Girl, Our Generation and My Life As all make these specifically for dolls, but one made for wigs from your local beauty supplier will work as well and/or the wire brushes meant for use on pet hair.
You do not want to use said brushes on your own hair or your pets' hair as it will transfer oils to the doll's hair and potentially ruin certain dolls' hair.
As a side note, doll hair comes in various fibers, some of which are more heat resistant than others. For best results, use boiling water for hair treatments that require heat such as straightening or curls - don't risk using flat irons or curling irons on your dolls unless you can control the temperature to a very fine degree or there will be the chance you'll melt your doll's hair. Ditto for blow dryers, only use COOL settings.

If you must use heat tools to style doll hair, make sure they have a very, very low setting and avoid straight heat on Barbies with Saran fiber hair.
*Side note number two, AVOID boiling/hot water on Mattel dolls both Barbie and Disney if they have a tendency toward the glue hair syndrome. To tell whether your doll has the glue hair syndrome before you boil, give her head a good squeeze. If she's hard to squeeze/straight up rock hard, she has a large amount of glue in her head. Avoiding boiling water/extreme heat and avoiding excessive brushing at the scalp can and will help not to exacerbate the issue.
You'll also want a small spray bottle. For Barbie and other rooted dolls done in Nylon, Saran or the lower grade Kanekalon Barbies tend toward using (Bratz, Moxie Girlz, Descendants and Disney Princesses etc.) You can use a mixture of one part fabric softener (unscented is best if you don't want your doll smelling like a dryer sheet) to three parts water. For more expensive, wigged dolls, you simply want to fill your spray bottle with water.

Angela's Tangents - The right way to collect?

Angela again, back for another tangent! I decided to split the last post into two because it was becoming quite the novel.

There is a whole world of collectors out there both young and older who enjoy dolls and toys of all kinds. For some of us, it's fashion dolls like Barbie, for others the 18 inch dolls like American Girl, Our Generation. Some like expensive ball jointed dolls or look for the most unique dolls to collect. Others like the licensed Disney, Marvel etc. character dolls from certain franchises and want to collect solely those. And still others prefer to simply collect whichever dolls we find attractive in that moment, regardless of which they are.
And this is the other trend I've seen lately - People behaving as though there's a right or wrong way to collect. There truly, truly is not.
You want to keep your dolls in the box to preserve their original hair and clothes to perfection? That's fine!
You prefer to take them out to play and pose them for photos, restyle hair etc.? Also fine!
Maybe you only collect second hand and prefer to go to thrift stores and flea markets to pick up your dolls of choice for restoration purposes? Cool!
Do you keep them original or customize every doll that comes through your hands? Have just a hand full of customs amid a bunch of originals? Collect modern or vintage or a mix of the two? Barbie? Bratz? Both? Action figures too or just dolls? Larger dolls, smaller dolls, complete sets or just those that strike your fancy? Lots of dolls or just a few choice ones? Doll houses or simple, clean shelves or perhaps you'll turn the shelves into doll houses? Store bought clothes and accessories or DIY crafting? Do you name every doll or do you simply name the few? Leave them on their shelves or bring one down to keep you company at your desk now and then?