So much to buy in Springfield!

I spent 2 1/2 days in Springfield, Ohio, which is known for its antique malls.  Here is a list of what I bought from three different locations.  I didn't even finish looking at the third place because I'd already picked up enough!

1.  Italian Barbie

2.  Two versions of Mattel's Wendy from Peter Pan

3.  Barbie's 1967 1690 Studio Tour

4.  Barbie's bandana to 1972 3351 Good Sports

5.  Tammy and Pepper storybook

6.  A 1978 small Battlestar Galactica ship still in the packaging

7.  Two Man from UNCLE books that I will resell on etsy.

8.  A bunch of Scholastic paperbacks.

9.  The Borrowers Afloat

10. One each of 1970s McCall's and Simplicity's fashion doll patterns 

If you go to Springfield, here is how to get to the antique malls.  Their website directions are not the best, so I am telling you differently.

Springfield Antique Centers

There are two large warehouses next to each other, but both have the address of 1735 Titus Road.  Take Interstate 70 to exit 59, which is US Hwy.  41, and then go south on 41 for just a block.  On the right is a truck driver training school.  On the left is the first antique warehouse.  To get to the second one, continue on up the hill and then turn left.  www.springfieldantique.com

The buildings don't have much in the way of Barbie dolls, although there were a number of those (un)collectible contemporary porcelain dolls.  I saw many, many cookbooks.

Heart of Ohio Antique Center

This is just one building at 4785 E. National Road/US Hwy. 40.  This is exit 62 off of Interstate 70. Go about two blocks north.  This is where I bought most of my purchases.  Don't worry, I didn't buy all the Barbie stuff!  The coolest item I saw which I didn't buy was Ideal's Old Fashioned Girl Jody and her Victorian Parlor.  I had never seen one before.  https://heartofohioantiques.com/

If you are looking for Disney items, this place will be heaven for you.  I don't know if all the Disney merchandise booths there belong to one seller or many, but there are thousands of items for sale.

Also, if you put the three warehouses together, you will see more 20th century glassware than your mind can imagine.  It just went on and on!

I can see the Blue Jay water tower

I can see the Blue Jay water tower from my bedroom window, 8 miles as the crow flies.  I know it looks closer because I used a zoom lens on the camera.

Snoopy mails an envelope

I HAD to buy this Hallmark Snoopy birthday card.  The little envelope he is mailing is real and is 1/6 scale and my Barbies wanted it.

Who will be getting a birthday card from Snoopy?
Olaf? Belle? Someone else?

Do not buy Magic Change Hair sets!

Magic Change Hair was sold in the mid-1990s in a large package that held what was basically a baseball cap.

I bought one of these hair sets cheap at an antique store.  I was disappointed when I opened it.  The hair started to disintegrate immediately.  I was left with a million tiny pieces of plastic hair that stuck to everything and yet were impossible to pick up.

So now all I have left is the cap.  I am glad I did not purchase one of these at full price when they were first sold.

There were two sets of Magic Change Hair.  The first set had a box date of 1993 and was sold in 1994.  All six hairpieces had a stock number of 68090, and they were:

Baseball Fan--orange cap and orange curls

Creative Artist--red beret, slightly wavy bleached blonde hair

Crimp N Curl--purple knit cap, wavy bleached blonde hair

Curly Haired Beauty--yellow helmet, frizzy bleached blonde hair

Hip Hop Dancer--dark pink fedora, dark brown waves

Pretty Cowgirl--blue cowboy hat, slightly wavy dark blonde hair

The second sets were sold in 1995 (box date 1994) and 1996 (box date 1995) with slightly different packaging each time.  The additional wording was "Double Hair Fun."  The caps were changed to visors and were open at the top so that the doll's own hair could be pulled through.  Stock number was 68311.  There were three hairpieces:

Orange bandana print with yellow bill, light brown crimped hair

Pink print, pirate hat style, bleached blonde braids

Red bandana print with yellow bill, slightly wavy black hair

At first I thought the bandana prints were the same as the prints used on the Benetton and All-American doll scarves in 1991, but closer examination reveals that the fabrics are different patterns.

Magic Change Hair is the only packaging I have seen
that includes Skipper and Stacie wearing the hair.

Avon Winter Velvet Barbie in a Great Weekend dress
(both from 1996) (love the pink jelly sandals!)
in the Magic Hair orange bandana set.

Style Magic Hair Charms work better on humans than on dolls

In 1989, Mattel sold Style Magic Barbie, Christie, Whitney and Skipper.  Skipper was sold only in Canada and I assume Europe.  The Style Magic dolls had the ultimate 1980s big hair, which was called Wondra Curl.  Wondra Curl is different from Quick Curl in that there were no wires in the hair.  However, while Quick Curl hair worked, I don't see any difference in Wondra Curl after you play with it.

Also sold were Style Magic Hair Charms.  There were extra attachable tresses for the dolls, and they could also be attached to a larger barrette meant for a human girl.  Meanwhile, what came with the dolls were a large comb with holes in it, and an authentic looking curling iron.  While the comb goes through the hair, attempting to leave the comb in the hair and attach things to do does not work.  Nor does the curling iron--it doesn't make a different set of curls.  The Hair Charms switches work fine on the dolls, but again, the larger barrette looks stupid and is way too big in scale for Barbie and friends.

What's really weird is that the Hair Charms sets shown in the 1989 booklet do not correspond with what was actually sold in the packaging.  As you can see in the booklet page I added, the pieces pictured are mix-and-match to what was in the stores.

I own only one of the Hair Charms lengths, a pale blonde braid on a pink and black triangle.  It works well on my Skipper.  Pulling her wild bi-color hair back from her face and wrapping the braid around it made for a much prettier doll.  I am assuming that, with her puffy clothes, she is supposed to be either a ballerina in a tutu or a fairy in a fluttery dress.

I purchased the doll at a doll show from Paul David, as she was not available in stores in the US.  The photo of her with her box is what I shot when I bought the doll, 32 years ago!

Style Magic Skipper is very "fluffy" looking!

The switches that came with the Style Magic Hair Charms were well-made.

Pulling the hair back from her face makes
Style Magic Skipper much more attractive.

No, it's not your imagination.  Skipper's hair has a peach tint to it.

The pieces pictured in the 1989 clothing booklet were rearranged when they were placed
in their packaging to be sold.

Hair Originals were sold for the longest length of time of Barbie's hairpieces

Three different versions of 2457 Hair Originals were sold between 1978 and 1985.  The hairpieces were always the same, but the accessories varied a little and the packaging was very different.

In 1978 (package date 1977) the various sets of accessories were called Fashion Add-Ons.  Packaging for 2457 showed drawings of two Barbies and a PJ modeling the hairpieces and accessories.

In 1983 (package date 1982) the various sets of accessories were renamed as Finishing Touches.  Packaging showed a photo of three Barbies wearing 1983 outfits and the hairpieces and accessories on their heads.

The third version of 2457 was sold in 1985 (package date 1984) and was unnamed,  although the series was still called Finishing Touches.  There was only the Barbie logo on the package, not even any instructions on the back.

The one item I have from this set is the long braid, a very dark blonde or medium brown color.  It is difficult to locate a doll from this time period with that hair color!  Two of the closest I could find were Dream Date PJ from 1983 and the first Mrs. Heart from 1985.  The braid is 14 inches long and wraps around the head twice.  A comparable human braid would be 7 feet long!

No, PJ is not holding a brown snakeskin!
It's the braid from 2457 Hair Originals!

Here are the Finishing Touches as seen in the 1985 booklet.  The items used to have individual names, but they actually didn't in 1985.

Dream Date PJ wears the Kmart version of 5703 Fancy Pants
and the braid from Hair Originals, all from 1983.

Barbie's and Francie's 1970s hairpieces reused

Mattel reused or recreated some of the hairpieces that it made for Francie in 1970 and Barbie in 1971 as the #8640 Hair Originals in 1973.

Also, the braided hairband that was used in the 1968 Hair Fair set reappeared in Francie's Hair Happenin's, with a revision.

Starting at the beginning:

1968 saw the first Hair Fair set, #4042.  This set included a hairband with a braid across the top and bookended by two rose decorations.  I wrote about it here:

https://skippercollector.blogspot.com/2021/02/1968-booklets-show-prototype-and-actual.html

One of the 1970 doll sets was Hair Happenin's Francie, who wore a blonde pageboy. Some of these dolls, unfortunately, have the dried-out straw-like hair which turns almost white.  One of her accessories was a similar hairband, only this time its two end pieces are pink ribbons.

A 1971 doll set was Barbie with Growin' Pretty Hair.  She came with different hairpieces than Francie did; one of them was a series of curls attached to an elastic band to wrap around the head; another was a ponytail with four long curls.

Hair Originals was shown in the 1972/1973 and 1973 clothing booklets.  Hair sets were available in blonde and brunette and what the booklet called "auburn" (not the previous "titian" that was often used).  The blonde sets included the aforementioned Barbie and Francie hairpieces.

So what are the dolls wearing?

Twist N Turn Barbie body with a Hair Fair head in 1855 Team Ups, both from 1968.

Hair Happenin's Francie in 1763 The Entertainer, both from 1970.

Quick Curl Barbie in 7700 A Barbie Doctor's Professional Attire, both from 1973.

Since the Quick Curl dolls hair is prone to thinning,
adding a Hair Originals piece gives Barbie thicker hair.

Note the braided hairpiece that came with Hair Happenin's Francie,
as shown in the 1970 clothing booklets.

All three hairpieces that were sold
with Barbie with Growin' Pretty Hair
also were included in the blonde Hair Originals set.

The clothing booklet on top is from late 1973.
The booklet on the bottom is from early 1973
and shows both 1972 and 1973 outfits.

A comparison of the 1968 hairband with roses and the 1970 hairband with ribbons.
Francie's hairband was supposed to have longer pieces hanging down
but they appear to have been chopped off at the factory.

Look closely at the attached Hair Originals piece--
you can see the elastic band wrapped around Barbie's hair.

Hair Fair changes for 1969

Hair Fair got a new number in 1969, #4043.  The long braid was omitted and substituted with a fake ponytail with two bouncy Buffy/Cindy/Nellie curls, and a long straight ponytail.

In 1971 the packaging was changed and the set was given a third number, #4044.  The contents were almost the same, only this time the head had centered blue eyes.  As before, blonde items are easier to find than brunette.

The doll photo that you see shows three of the items we received as part of a Hair Fair Christmas gift in 1970.  As an adult collector, it's my theory that what we got was at the end of the production line.  The blonde head has very sparse hair.  The blonde wiglet has no attached elastic strap to fit over the head.  The brunette wig has a huge bald spot.  We also got the twirly ponytail and the straight ponytail.  I don't ever remember seeing instructions on ways to wear the pieces, nor do I remember any pins or attachments, and I wonder if they were there in the package at all?  I wonder if perhaps my mother bought the item on clearance?

The original long ponytail we had disappeared decades ago.  I never knew what to do with the curly piece, as the only girls I knew who wore their hair like that were Buffy Davis, Cindy Brady and Nellie Olsen, and one set of curls on the side looks pretty dumb.  Again, it wasn't until I was an adult collector that I learned that these pieces were supposed to come with little attachments, and the piece with the blue barrette was meant to be worn on the back of the head.  Note that the brunette double curls I acquired as an adult is also missing its barrette, which was probably another end-of-run item.

The 1969 and 1970 Hair Fair items vary in quality.

This photo is from the 1969 booklet,
Barbie's World, Bright, Swinging Now.

The same photo as the 1969 booklet was reprinted
in the 1970 Living Barbie booklets.

1971 had a new package and stock number for Hair Fair but the same contents.

Hair Fair heads and hairpieces vary in quality and quantity

My next series of brief articles are going to be about some of the hairpieces sold over the years for Barbie dolls.  The posts will not cover all of them, as I do not own many of them.  The mod era hair items are the easiest to find, even more so than the ones from the 80s and 90s.  The hair itself ranges from sparse to overly abundant.

The variety of heads and wigs sold with and/or for the dolls during the haute couture period up until 1966 have been written about and widely photographed elsewhere.  I don't have many of these pieces at all so am writing about 1968 and after.