#(tagging so people see the thing about human hair not being Eeeevil)

[marzipanandminutiae]

What did they use for the dolls' hair? Was it human, horsehair? Were there differences in styling capability depending on what they used?

Many materials have been used for doll hair the world over, but I'm going to assume that we're talking about my speciality (18th-early 20th century western dolls) for this ask.

Human hair has been used at times, yes! Horsehair less so- flax was often used in the 18th century, and mohair- that is, angora goat wool -reigned nearly supreme for much of the 19th. Some Victorian baby and toddler dolls feature lambskin wigs, too, prized for their baby-fine platinum curls.

Human hair had all the styling capabilities we're familiar with, and far and away took the prize for realism. I imagine mohair was so popular because it was somewhat cheaper. Human locks came mostly from the big hair-buying fairs all over the European countryside, where buyers would pay peasant women for their hair and then sell it in turn to hairpiece-makers for people and dolls alike. Whereas mohair simply had to be shorn from a goat's underbelly. But that's just speculation- I don't actually know which, if either, made a doll any cheaper.

Doll with human hair wig. German, by the Kestner firm, probably 1880s-90s.

Mohair could be pretty style-able too. As I've mentioned before, a lot of lady/fashion dolls came with long, loose mohair wigs that could be put up with tiny dolls' hairpins. Just like Mama's, Auntie's, or Big Sister's, which must have been a delightful extra level of play. It does take a slightly higher heat to iron-curl, but I'm not sure children of the day would have done that as often as modern dealers and collectors did.

Fashion doll with mohair wig. French, by the Gaultier firm, probably c. 1870s-80s. Note that her wig seems to have suffered some fiber loss, something that can happen to mohair and human hair alike.

People often get. Weird. About human hair doll wigs. How often do you see horror movies that mention a doll having "real human hair" as a Scare Factor? And yet, there's really nothing scary about it IRL. The hair was purchased from more or less willing sellers (usually), commercially processed, and widely available. There are apocryphal stories about dolls being made using the hair of deceased children, but very few of these- if any -have been confirmed to my satisfaction. And even if they were true, that would have seemed touching back then, not ghoulish.

If every doll with a human hair wig were haunted, there would be

A. MANY more haunted dolls, and

B. a ton of very confused and not especially angry European peasant woman ghosts hanging around