Lulu - hair rooting - eyebrows
































I have chosen to not set Lulu's eyebrows until after the hair is finished so they will be in the correct position compared to the hairline and brow. 

In the picture above the bottom 'hair' is the mohair I've used for Lulu's hair. The picture above is a slightly darker shade of viscose which has no curl which I have used for the eyebrows as eyebrows tend to be a little darker than the hair.

There are several ways I could add the eyebrows. Drawing on doesn't work too well on silicone. I could have used silicone paints but I thought it would look more realistic if I hair rooted them as I had done the rest of Lulu's hair. Again the reborning community provided some great tutorials on how to do this. 

CustomDollBaby has many very good tutorials including one on which needle to use and how to draw on eyebrows. The difference is that the baby in this tutorial has a good depth of vinyl into which to insert the needle. For Lulu's head, the depth is only a few millimetres so the hair is not implanted so tightly.

For the eyebrows, as I need to be very accurate I have used the 'root-a-loop' method rather than the stab and grab method used for the rest of Lulu's hair. I'm using a number 42 crown needle which has a barb close to the end of the needle so it will still insert hairs even if the needle isn't inserted very far into the silicone. 

The hair is smoothed and then  held firmly in a loop with one hand. the needle is used to pull out only a few strands of hair to insert. 



I have inserted only a few strands intermittently along the browline where I want the eye brows to be. I have made the eyebrow thicker at the end near the nose. It is important to lay the needle as flat as possible to the face when inserting, insert slowly and hold the needle in the direct of the eyebrow hairs which start at the side towards the side of the head almost horizontally and finish more vertically at the nose end. 

The eyebrow looks quite odd at this stage, like she might have werewolf blood!







After implanting, I have dragged the bunch of hairs out in the direction I want the hair to lay which encourages it to lay flat. 





















I have cut the hairs with very sharp scissors. Cut longer than you think to start with then gradually shorten them until they look right. I have repeated for her other eyebrow. The picture above shows me gently pulling the hairs in the correct direction.

When the hairs are first cut they look quite spikey but once wettened and smoothed will lay nicely flat against the face. 

Reborning experts tend to seal the hairs with a layer of clear silicone or other sealant but I've not tried this yet. 






I'm quite happy with the finished eyebrows as a first try, they appear fairly even and not too bushy and in the correct position although they could probably have been a little lower.



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