Barbie Totally Hair Styling Head

We were somewhat disappointed with this Barbie styling head. You can't tell from the promotional photo, but the hair is actually cut into choppy layers with the bangs falling close to chin length. This limits the styles you can design. For example, you can't even pull the hair back and put it in a braid because hunks of hair fall short and poke out the braid. If you pull just the sides up and secure them hoping to leave the back long and flowing, the style looks odd because the hairline in the back is so chopped up. I was correct to assume we'd be using our own styling clips and bands since the ones supplied are feeble. The gems are fun but most are terribly small and easily lost. It is difficult for even the adults to load the gemstone tool and the tool didn't function most of the time. We had more luck just using our hands to place the gems. The base is very light. We have to hold the base down with our legs when doing most of our styling. We've had moderate hair loss which we expected.

My daughter-in-law is a hairdresser and my 6 year old grandaughter loves to try to fix our hair like her Aunt E does. She was absolutely delighted to receive this toy for Christmas. Now she can practice hair styles over and over any time she wants.

I am grateful Santa did not bring one of these with a bunch of gloppy make-up. This version is all about hair. My five year old is learning to braid and make pony tails, so this is perfect. Her hair is not coming out in clumps and is actually rather soft. I was happy when the silly things to put in her hair got lost so now we just get to brush her hair. Eventually, my daughter will figure out how to put makeup on her, but until then, I am happy just brushing.

The hair on the head falls out pretty easy and it is really stiff and hard to style. My 6 year old daughter played with it for a little while Christmas morning but I doubt she ever plays with it again. The beads didn't stick either so we just have all the pieces everywhere.

I bought this for my granddaughter for her birthday. She was so excited when she opened the package. She is the oldest of four children (8 years) and I feel she is the right age for this product. Any younger would probably not know how to handle the hair, etc.