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You will need a doll with mid length hair (such as a Pretty In Plaid as shown) and:

2 Rubber bands or plastic hair ties (like the ones that come in Barbie's hair
A couple of straight pins
Mousse or hair gel
Piece of matching fabric or trim
Glue or matching thread
Hair Brush
Scissors

1. With a straight pin, seperate out half of the first row of hair plugs above Barbie's left ear.

2. Apply a small amount of mousse or hair gel to the small section you seperated out.

3. Next, put a straight pin into Barbie's head where you want the swirl to bend around. Should be somewhere above her right eye, up in her hairline. You might need to play around with the positioning of the pin to get a nice swirl in front. Brush swirl section of hair to lay flat to her forehead and bend around the pin.

4. Draw the remainder of the hair into the main ponytail. Secure all her hair into a ponytail with rubber band or plactic band. The ponytail should be tied towards the center back of her head.

5. Now, with all the hair secured in the hair tie, trim off the short part that is the end of the swirl hair. If your doll has too much hair, now would also be a good time to trim some hair out of the ponytail. Trim hair from the top of the ponytail or the top right of the ponytail, as this chop will be hidden by the rest of her hair. Once you have finished trimming, apply a generous amount of hair mousse or gel to the ponytail.

6. Once the hair mousse or gel has been throughly worked through the ponytail, twist all of the hair in a clockwise direction. With the hair twisted, secure the end with another hair tie. Keep the hair twisted in the clockwise direction.

7. With the hair still twisted, take hold of the end of the pontyail and twist the twisted ponytail in a clockwise direction around thwe main ponytail tie. The ponytail usually wont go all the way around but try and get it as far as you can. Temporarily secure with a straight pin through the tie into Barbie's head.

8. Take a look at her from the front. See if you like the way the twist in back looks. If you dont like the way the hair is fanning out on top, unsecure the straight pin and the tie at the bottom of the ponytail and start from step 6, omitting the reapplication of hair mousse or gel. (usually takes me a couple of tries too).

9. Once you are sure you like the way the up do looks, trim off the hair below the bottom hair tie about 1/4 inch from the tie. Now would be a good time to either glue or sew a piece of fabric or trim around the bottom hair tie. This is to hide the rubber band or plastic hair tie. You could also either glue or sew in a couple of fabric or silk flowers to hide the tie instead of fabric or trim.

10. Take out the straight pin that holds the swirl in front and either leave it as is (When the mousse or hair gel dries it will stay secure) or make a faux hair clip out of a bent straight pin and a couple seed beads or pearls. In the back you can eithe rsecure the twist with straicht pins or sew it down. That is up to you and your design.

This up do can also be done without the swirl in front and look just as nice. If you want to do it this way, start from step 6. Dont forget to brush out the pieces of hair as you are working to make sure that things arent flying away. Once you have everything secured, take a pair of scissors and trim away any stray hairs.


FINISHED DOLL:

To see some dolls I have done with this hair do please click on the following links:

Megan
Evening Elegance Blue, Teal, and Plum
Silver Serenade
Summertime Sweetheart