How to Restore American Girl Doll Hair | Fix My AG Doll (2025)

American Girl Doll hair can get tangled, dry, and dirty over the years, leaving your favorite doll looking a little … unkempt. This can be frustrating, and it can be intimidating to work with hair that won’t grow back.

Fortunately, cleaning, brushing and straightening American Girl Doll hair is relatively simple, and in most cases it is easy to avoid damaging the hair. Better yet, the results can be stunning.

This step-by-step guide will provide general advice on how to clean, brush and straighten non-textured American Girl Doll hair. This guide doesn’t cover how to restore textured hair—the type of hair that Addy, Claudie and Melody have—you can click here for a tutorial on that subject. This guide also does not discuss how to style American Girl Doll hair, as this varies by doll and hair type.

However, if you do want to style your doll’s hair, this guide is a great place to start! Just as with human hair, it is important to make sure your doll’s hair is cleaned and brushed before styling.

With all that in mind, let’s begin! If you’d like to support our work on this site, consider buying any materials you need through the Amazon affiliate links below. It will not cost you anything extra, and a portion of the proceeds will go to us.

You Will Need:

• Dawn Dish Soap

• A Gentle Conditioner

• A Small Wide-Toothed Detangling Brush

• A double sided fine-toothed comb/bristle brush

• A Handheld Steamer

Here’s How to Do it Step-by-Step:

• Inspect the doll’s hair to determine how to begin. Check for the amount and type of dirt, the level of tangling, and areas where the hair might have been cut or permanently damaged. Carefully undo any braids and remove any elastics, bobby pins, or larger objects tangled in the hair. If the hair has been cut or suffered other extreme or irreversible damage, you may consider re-wigging the doll.

• If the hair is extremely tangled, it is best to begin by brushing. Alternatively, if the hair is dirty but not tangled, it may be better to start with a light shampooing. Use your judgment to determine how to begin. In general, it is best to start with brushing—detangling the hair and brushing out some dirt will make cleaning and straightening easier for you and gentler on the hair.

• If your doll has textured hair, refer to this guide for brushing instructions!

• Use the wide-toothed detangling brush. Brush the doll’s hair by starting from the ends and working your way up to the roots. Be gentle and methodical, as any hair that gets pulled out won’t grow back! No matter how careful you are, it is normal for some hair to come out during this process, so don’t worry when that happens.

• Use the fine-toothed comb to part the doll’s hair at the part, and use the bristle brush to control the ends. However, if you are going to wash and straighten the doll’s hair, there is no need to be perfectionistic at this point in the process. The purpose of the initial brushing is to remove tangles and big pieces of dirt or foreign material that have gotten caught up in the hair.

• If the hair is dirty, wet the hair with cold water and gently work a few drops of Dawn dish soap into the hair with your fingers. Be careful to avoid getting the eyes and cloth body of the doll wet, as these parts can be damaged by moisture. Rinse all of the soap out with cold water. Be thorough to avoid soap buildup on the hair. If the hair is still dirty, repeat the process.

• Allow the doll’s hair to air-dry, and then assess the hair. Sometimes, a brushing and/or a washing is all a doll’s hair needs. If you are satisfied with the look and feel of your doll’s hair, you can move on to styling the hair or do a more detailed brushing (part the part and touch up the ends) and leave it at that!

• If your doll’s hair is dry, frizzy on the ends, or bent out of shape in a way that brushing won’t fix, a combination of steaming and conditioning can solve all of your problems! One important exception—if your doll has textured hair, steaming can over-straighten and remove the texture. For more information on steaming textured hair, refer to this guide.

• Click to read our guide to steaming, or continue following along here.

• To begin steaming, fill your handheld steamer with clean water. Lay your doll’s clean, brushed hair out flat on a surface that you are comfortable using a steamer on. Turn on your steamer and cover your doll’s face with a clean cloth to protect it from heat and moisture.

• Once steam begins coming out of the steamer, point the jet of steam at the ends of your doll’s hair. You will see the hair begin to straighten and hydrate. Once the hair looks the way you want it to, move on to steaming another section, working your way up closer to the roots. While steaming, pause intermittently and use the bristle brush, fine-toothed comb, or wide-toothed brush to manage frizz and tangles, especially on the ends. If you notice the ends are still dry and difficult to manage, wet them and work in a small amount of conditioner with your fingers, then continue steaming and brushing.

• Once you have steamed one side of your doll’s hair completely, flip the hair over and steam the other side. Continue to work through any difficult sections with the bristle brush, fine-toothed comb, or wide-toothed brush, and massage in small amounts of conditioner as needed. Do not use conditioner on the doll’s scalp—generally, conditioner use should be limited to the ends of the hair unless other areas are extremely dry.

• Once you are done steaming, brush out any remaining tangles and allow the hair to dry. If you are satisfied with the look and feel of your doll’s hair after it dries, congratulations! You have just successfully restored your doll’s hair, and now you can further style it if you please. Whether or not you choose to style the hair, a final brushing is always a good idea. In the final brushing, focus on parting the part with the fine toothed comb, removing any frizz or small tangles on the ends with the bristle brush, and doing a once-over with the wide-toothed brush.

• If the hair is still dry, difficult to manage, or bent out of shape, a second (and sometimes third) round of steaming or conditioning will do the trick. If the doll’s hair is greasy from over-conditioning or still dirty (it happens to the best of us sometimes!) give it another wash and re-assess. Getting the hair to where you want it can take time, but stick with it and you will achieve results you can be proud of!