Girls Just Wanna have FUN!

Every Girl's Dream!

Once a year we take a trip to the American Girl Store located in Water Tower Place in Chicago.  We like to make it a memorable experience, so going with friends is a must.

I suggest going online or viewing the catalog prior to your visit.  Knowing ahead of time what your daughter is interested in can save your sanity.  Two full levels of American Girl merchandise, can be quite overwhelming for young girls.  Mine are 7 & 4!

My 7 year old with Nicki!

My 4 year old with Ruthie!

  

We first headed to the second floor to get all of our doll's hair appointments, something that can and should be done in advance.  The styles range from Basic ($10) to Advanced ($20), but I will be sharing tips we learned about how to brush and style your American Girl doll's hair.

We arrived at 10:30am and the first available appointment was at 12:45pm.

That left us plenty of time to shop, eat lunch in the mall, and head back for our doll's hair appointments.  We found ourselves up and down the escalator numerous times.  Limiting all of the girls to 2 outfits each made them really think about what they really wanted!

When we returned from lunch, our dolls' were all ready to have their hair styled.  Fun and exciting!

Ruthie is having her hair done, all the girls are waiting patiently.

Nicki getting the final touches!  A brown and turquoise bow to match her outfit.

As the dolls are being styled the stylist quickly go through how to and how not to care for your doll's hair.  The first key point was to always wet the hair down with a spray bottle before you brush it, keeping clear of the eyes (it is possible that they can rust if they get wet).  Second, always use a wire wig hair brush, sold for $8 at American Girl.  (Money saving tip:  You can purchase a similar brush in the pet aisle of your local Walgreen's for $1.99.)  The stylists really pulled on the dolls hair to get the tangles out.  Whenever I styled their hair, it took me about 2 hours to gently get the tangles out while I watched TV.  The stylist were completely done in 15 minutes.  Also, they said more for tangles use more water, but never use a blow dryer or curling iron on your doll's hair.  After the hair was brushed out, they styled Nicki's and Ruthie's hair into a 1/2 ponytail and bow (this was a Basic style which cost $10 per doll), and used the tail of a ratting comb to put the curls back into each of the dolls naturally curly hair.

Let me just tell you, then when you pay for a style they will give you all of the tips and tricks to keep your doll looking great until the next time you come, but if you ask for advice without making an appointment for your doll, they will tell you to purchase the hair care kit below for $20.

We purchased this the last time thinking I would save money by doing myself.  Now that we learned some tips and tricks, I will be doing it myself, and sharing with you!

Note: The curls that they put in Ruthie's hair were done with the tail of a ratting comb.  Twisting the hair around.  However, Ruthie already has curly hair to start with.  This will not work with straight hair.

The girl's were all pleased with their doll's new hair styles and we were ready to head home!

I love taking the girls out for a girl's day and as long as I budget ahead of time what they can spend and what I am willing to add to their Christmas/Birthday money, everyone leaves happy!

 

 Hope you enjoyed a few tips that I learned over the years of visiting American Girl.  I will be sharing styles and photos with you soon!