During a recent conversation with Lori Allan I asked why she is so insistent in hand rooting her reborn's hair.
"Anyone can glue a wig onto a doll's head. Rooting is a skill developed through many, many hours of practice, patience and love of what you are doing."
After watching her root the head of a Special Edition Berenguer I too became a believer.  I want to share with you a few tips that she shared with me.
I asked what the difference is in rooting, power rooting and now micro rooting.
"They are all really the same  but additional names help sometimes. Rooting can be done with many kinds of instruments, but I use felting needles. The finer the felting needle is the smaller the hole is left in the dolls vinyl. Using a 38 gauge needle is what I would say is micro rooting because it leaves the smallest hole and it is as fine a felting needle that you can use to penetrate the vinyl."
I asked many questions about the rooting process, but as my final question  I just had to ask "How long does it take to root a dolls head?"  After listening for a while I came to the conclusion that there are just too many variables.

Lori's Tips

From this.
Learn how to hold the needle. This is the correct way.

To this!!
What is normal? 5-10-15 per head?
Lori said she will break about 3-7 per head depending on the head she is rooting. Each head has a different thickness. Many times she will sit in the sun just to soften the vinyl. Other times a hair dryer is used to keep the vinyl workable. 

To this.
Oh, what a feeling.

I would like to first recommend spending a little extra on very high quality mohair. The highest quality normally comes un-colored and that is something that you should do yourself. 

Don't be surprised when you break a felting needle. Lori handed me a felting needle and asked me to do it. I was able to push it in one time before breaking it. 

 Heat Up The Head

You can use a hair dryer or light bulb or your oven. Don't make it too hot or you will discolor the vinyl. Pushing the felting needle into soft material is much easier than into hard or cold vinyl

Some of the heads have more wrinkles in them than others and will slow down the rooting and certainly cause needle breakage. If you are new to rooting the sleeping Berenguer doll that we call Matt is has a smoother surface to root.

The Rosebud face has more wrinkles and a bit thicker vinyl and will be more difficult to root.