Shaving Fun Ken 1994

I’ve been falling behind with my English posts lately, but I’ve been pressed for time and my Polish blog takes precedence over the English one. So without a further ado, here’s my Shaving Fun Ken 1994. I published my anniversary post some weeks ago and it made me realize how great disproportion there is in my collection between my ladies and my gentlemen. Of course, my collection is a woman’s world, there will always be more females, but it doesn’t mean I don’t like Ken dolls. There are several Kens that I’d love to own and it was high time I searched for one. Toy Story 3 Hawaiian Vacation 2011 Ken is one of my top favorites and I looked for him with little result, but instead I found Shaving Fun Ken whom I like a lot. He’d been quite elusive too. For some reason, despite being a 90s doll he’s hard to get and comes with a shocking price tag. What makes him so highly sought after? Maybe it’s his stubble?

I’ve compared my hairy Ken with his first release from 1961 and I’m amazed how much he’s changed. The first Ken was slender and youthful, with the expression of innocence all over him. He’s sweet and adorable, but he’s no match for such a woman as Barbie. What she needs is a macho with a jaw like an anvil and a sixpack, and in 1968 Ken became just that. He also got inevitably older by good 10 years and he’s soon to become hopelessly addicted to tanning cream. He’s a true alpha male, but it’s not enough, give him a beard!

the source: https://barbie.mattel.com/shop/en-us/ba/vintage-dolls/ken-dolls-original-swimsuit-750-1961

the source: https://pl.pinterest.com/pin/539165386609052346/?lp=true

So Ken grew himself a beard and real hair – first time in Ken’s history you could actually brush him! He’s called Mod Hair Ken and he was produced in 1972. Mod Hair Ken comes with quite a dowry, as all shaving Kens would so that you could play a little barber for him. The most interesting thing however is a set of flocked stickers to put on his face, he’s got a mustache, a beard and sideburns too! The only problem is that at some point the glue on the stickers refuses to cooperate, it grows thin and dirty and Ken gets his final clean shave. Being at their wits end, Mattel came up with a very primitive solution to that problem. In 1979 Sport & Shave Ken was given a marker pen that you could literally draw his beard on his face! What kind of idea is that! It’s a no-no to me! But other than that S&S Ken is an interesting specimen – and very manly too. And should you have any doubts as to that, read what his box says – “Shave him. He’s athletic. He’s all man.” Wow!

                                              the source: https://pl.pinterest.com/pin/555561304025258156/?lp=true

 

the source: https://pl.pinterest.com/pin/355995545515594633/?lp=true

 the source: https://pl.pinterest.com/pin/1196337375067305/?lp=true

  

To sum up, we've already had Ken with a sticker beard, and another one that you can draw his beard on with a marker, but these were not nearly good enough. The real revolution took place in the 90s along with the application of a thermal paint! From now on, Ken’s beard will grow, you’ll shave it and then it’ll grow back on itself and the first to present that magic is the 1994 Shaving Fun Ken – my Ken. The below picture shows you Ken still in captivity of his box. My Ken does’t look like that anymore, because I purchased him second-handed, but he’s still a handsome guy! His box holds a number of treasures too – there’s a Frisbee, a visor, some kind of drink, two brushes, a shaver with a sponge so you don’t cut his head off, and real shaving foam! My Ken has lost all these, but I’m not ready to pay his triple price just to get those. Two years later, Mattel blew dust off the design and came up with Cool Shavin’ Ken 1996. I honestly don’t know what to say about him, he renders me speechless! I mean, he has a handsome face – Alan face, he has stubble, he’s outfit is realistic and well made, he comes with a lot, but  ... his hair! Oh woe! I guess the designers were trying to copy the style of Backstreet Boys but the result is mediocre at best! He does smell nice at least. Apparently he was sprinkled with Oldspice from head to toes and sources reveal that the smell still lingers if you happen to be so lucky as to get him boxed. Of course he comes with a Ken scale Oldspice bottle – empty and some other accessories. In 1999 he was replaced by Shave’n Style Ken. He’s all blonde this time and his hair is still rooted and I can’t determine if he’s handsome or not, but I’d love to have him in my cabinet.

 the source: https://www.etsy.com/listing/539803541/1994-magic-shaving-fun-ken-doll-by

the source: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cool-Shavin-Ken-Doll-1996-NRFB-Mint-w-LN-box-15469-/391419615830

the source: https://pl.pinterest.com/pin/503488433322835455/?lp=true

 

Modern Kens are much closer to the original thing from the 60s. They got rid of their heavy tan and their muscles to become youthful again. Some of them shave themselves though. Around 2011-ish Mattel came up with another Shaving Fun Ken whose hair is rooted, he’s a blonde and has a number of accessories to groom his thermal paint beard. And then earlier this year Mattel offered us a brand new Shaving Ken & Bathroom set. This Ken’s hair is molded and painted on but he gets his wash basin and mirror to make his shaving more realistic. He’s also became the ambassador of Wilkinson Sword!

the source: https://www.amazon.com/Barbie-Shaving-Fun-Ken-Doll/dp/B0042ESFQQ

 

My Ken arrived in a pretty decent condition, a little dusty and awfully frizzy. The uncontrolled kanekalon hair wasn’t that difficult to tame though. I gave him a wash and shampooed and conditioned his hair. I combed it back to the desired shape and put on some hair spray while his hair was still moist. It dried and I’m satisfied. The Alan 1990 headmold looks very handsome with a 3-day stubble and eyes as cold as a winter morning. He’s smile is nice and good-natured. His beard doesn’t work anymore though, but I like him better this way. He’s not so handsome when you give him a clean shave.

Ken’s lost all his accessories, but his outfit is complete. I’m glad that he’s not a part of any Barbie line and he has his own style. His clothes are well designed and realistic looking. To make it, Mattel used good quality fabrics. He’s dressed in a hoodie, a pair of real denim shorts, he even has a matching backpack. He’s wearing some slightly too long socks and black ankle high sneakers. I must admit that I like his clothes a lot and if the shorts were just a tiny bit more fitting on the thigh part and the socks shorter, he’d be very much up to date with his fashion.

My new arrival has remided me of my favorite Ken doll list. The Japanese Ken is my all-time number one, just look how fierce he is! The next on the list is Harley Davidson second edition – amazing – all my Barbies would swoon upon the very sight of him! Then there’s my silly looking Toy Story Ken and the fourth one is Jack Sparrow, forgive me, Captain Jack Sparrow and very much like Johny Depp who by the way, is a Barbie collector as well.

the source: https://barbie.mattel.com/shop/en-us/ba/barbie-dolls-of-the-world-asia/japan-ken-doll-v5005

 

 the source: https://barbie.mattel.com/shop/en-us/ba/pop-culture-barbie-dolls/harley-davidson-ken-doll-25638

the source: https://www.amazon.fr/Exclusive-Story-Barbie-Hawaiian-Vacation/dp/B00589VXNQ

             the source: https://www.amazon.fr/Barbie-Collector-Poup%C3%A9e-Mannequin-Pirate/dp/B004LKRRAQ

Wedding Day Midge 1990

At the beginning of my collecting I set certain rules that since then I have repeatedly broken. I decided my collection would exclude all sorts of beach dolls, princesses/ magical creatures, ankle-long hair and brides. And? Well see for yourself:

No beach dolls – see Sun Sensation Skipper, Wet’n Wild Skipper

No princesses/ magical creatures – see rerooted Jewel Hair Mermaid Midge

No ankle-long hair- see Hollywood Hair Teresa

No brides – see Wedding Day Midge

No comment…

Wedding Day Midge has been by favorite Diva ever since I began to appreciate the headmold. The doll would’ve been perfect had it not been for her outfit. I just don’t like wedding dresses. While others may deem them spectacular I think them boring. In fact it took me good two months to find a dress for my own wedding and all of them just looked the same to me- just a flurry of polyester and tulle in white or ecru. I settled for a striking white dress with elaborate embroidery in deep purple. That one did look different and I liked  it, but Midge’s is just ordinary. Or so I thought. At first I planned to purchase the doll nude and find something extravagant for her from the amazing Private Collection outfit packs. But then I took a second look, many looks in fact and began to appreciate the single fact that this is a transformation outfit and I simply love those. And then there were all those details that at first I failed to observe and the outfit intrigued me to the point that I decided I had to have the doll in her stock outfit, and nothing else would do.

The outfit comes in several pieces. There’s the voluminous overskirt that is two layers, the upper one being the kind of fabric I don’t know the name of but it’s very soft and spotted and trimmed with lace and some silver thread. The skirt closes with a plastic snap. The lace sleeves come off as well and so the bridal look changes into honeymoon minidress. The mini has a plain bottom and a lacy top with the same silvery thread. There was also a lavender jacket with polka dots but it’s gone missing as my doll is a second-hand purchase. Perhaps one day I might get it.

Midge has all her bridal accents, there’s the long veil of course. It reaches past her knees and is gathered at the head with some embroidery to add elegance to it. It’s held by a rubber band that has long lost its elastic properties. I might replace it with a new one. There’s a bouquet as well, and those are fabric flowers of some sort – tulips or roses maybe. My Midge has lost her stock flowers, but the one she’s wearing on her hand is quite beautiful. A bride needs a wedding ring of course, and Midge is no different. Her wedding ring is molded on and painted gold on her left hand of course but her jewelry – her ring and earrings are just plain silver and quite boring.

Midge is a striking beauty and that’s for the very simple facepaint. There’s but a whisper of eyeshadow and you need to look for it to see it actually. Her mascara and eyeliner are navy blue and that softens her features and expression. Her eyes are green and purple and there’s the tiny white cross in her eyes. She shines! Her lips are juicy pink and there’s a bit of blush to her cheeks. She would’ve been perfect, but she’s a Chinese version and so her hair is kanekalon as opposed to the Malaysian saran. The color is lovely though – a very warm shade of copper.

Of course, I should mention that Midge was available as a single doll or in a Wedding Party set that included 6 dolls! Now the topic of wedding releases isn’t quite as fascinating to me as it probably should, but there are some Mattel’s brides that have caught my eye. Tracy Bride is my favorite amongst them, the doll is so beautiful it almost hurts and if I ever manage to add her to my collection, I’ll study the topic thoroughly and determine if Pink Splendor is a bride or not because I’m not so sure.

     

the source: https://www.easyweddings.co.uk/articles/bridal-barbie-iconic-doll-debuts-new-look-oscar-de-la-renta-wedding-dress/

           the source: https://barbie.mattel.com/shop/en-us/ba/signature-fashion-dolls/pink-splendor-barbie-doll-16091

 the source: https://barbie.mattel.com/shop/en-us/ba/designer-barbie-dolls/bob-mackie-empress-bride-barbie-doll-4247

                              the source: http://picssr.com/photos/mo1160/favorites/page166?nsid=28969221@N06

Hollywood Hair Teresa 1992

It’s a fact that when we’re not looking for something, it comes to us on its own. And if you happen to be a doll collector, your grail dolls usually appear when you’d spent far too much money on some other dolls and now you’re impatiently waiting for payday. That’s exactly how it was with my Hollywood Hair Teresa 1992. I’ve lost many auctions and I rejected so many others because the doll was just not acceptable. Either Teresa’s glorious hair was butchered mercilessly, or she was just ridiculously and groundlessly expensive. I hate it when a seller describes a doll as being in “great condition” although her hand or foot has been chewed off. It appears that a loss of limb doesn’t decrease her value. She’s expensive just because she’s old, she’s a collectible/ vintage / rare and so on. Once I was utterly desperate and ready to buy her though she was ratty and nude. Well not exactly nude – she was wrapped with her own hair like in a cocoon of some sort. I didn’t manage to close the deal because someone else had done it before me. So I bought a Mexican and an Italian instead and I thought these two have answered the nagging question “And what about Teresa doll?”, but when I saw Hollywood, I knew the answer was not full without her.

I’ll soon move on to my Teresa, but before I do that, I’d like to focus a little on the topic of long hair on Mattel’s dolls. I know that this topic has already been addressed many times, but it just gives me a great pleasure to rediscover it, so here it goes. Mattel manifested their soft spot for really long hair in the 80s already and you can clearly see that in Twirly Curls 1982 and Tropical Barbie 1985 but it wasn’t until the early 90s that they went all the way, no holds barred and so we had Totally / Ultra Hair Barbie 1991. This girl needs no introduction, if you are Barbie collector surely you know her and probably you own her too. She’s the best selling Barbie of all time and her hairy friends were a hit too – Barbie the Brunette, AA Barbie, Ken, the Toys’r’us exclusive Skipper and Courtney and the European Exclusive Whitney. The girls had ankle length hair, crimped too and you could brush it and braid it and decorate it with hair accessories and even put on some hair gel. Long hair, short dress, they had it all and was there anybody who didn’t just adore those dolls? Me! The hair was just too long and a little messy. Now that I’m all grown up I appreciate her for her influence and I begin to grow fond of her little by little too. I mean, the facepaint – it’s amazing, and the dress is so crazy and psychedelic! I may end up buying her or the repro at some point. After all, the hairy Teresa did win me, didn’t she.

                                                source: https://pl.pinterest.com/pin/567594359260362228/?lp=true
 

Mattel would attempt to repeat the success of Totally Hair for the next several years exploring the topic of extremely long hair and what could be done with it. Each series would mark their existence and would be heavily advertised. In 1992 Mattel sites would produce the Hollwood Hair series – Barbie, Teresa, Skipper and Ken. Ken’s hair would be molded and covered with temperature sensitive paint, the girls would get ankle length hair and a bottle of spray to change it pink. You could sprinkle pink stars all over the hair! The dolls were and still are widely liked but not quite as much as Totally Hair. 

the source: https://pl.pinterest.com/pin/68961438018428280/?lp=true

 

Mattel seems to believe you can’t go overboard with glitter and they decided to bring that belief to life with the Glitter Hair Barbie series 1993. Four dolls comprised the series – a blonde, a brunette and a redhead – all superstars and an AA Barbie with the Christie face. The girls wore skimpy dresses covered with glitter. They also got a tube of glittery hair gel with a special applicator. You could make the hair all glittery and sticky with it and then you probably needed to wash it off. The dolls are pretty for sure, but even with all that glitter they didn’t shine quite as brightly as Mattel would’ve liked. Yet the company was determined, they would make another top selling series with super-duper long hair no matter what. They went all drastic and created Cut’n Style Barbie in 1994. Again there were 3 superstars and an AA and you could cut their hair! Not that it’s very inventive, kids had come up with this idea way before, but this time Mattel gives them a sharp tool – the dreaded scissors! Now what if an amateur hairdresser gave Barbie a pageboy look within 5 minutes from unboxing her? Mattel thought of that and so the dolls had Velcro at the back of their heads so you could stick an extension to it. If that was not enough, you could buy some more extension packs and even experiment with different hair colors if you wished to do so.

You would imagine that Cut’n Style would cut the topic of long hair. After all, apart from brushing, braiding, putting on sticky glittery gel on and cutting off, what else could you do with ankle-long hair? Well, you could make it even longer! This may sound a little unnatural, but mermaids are allowed. So in 1995 Jewel Hair Mermaid Barbie, Teresa, Midge and Christie were produced. Their boxes spelled “The longest hair ever”. What could you do with it? Whatever you wanted. Of course, that’s not the end, there are contemporary examples of extremely long hair on Barbie dolls, but that’s past my favorite era and so I’ll leave the topic here and move on to my lovely Teresa. 

I purchased Teresa used, but well-kept and still dressed in her 3-piece stock outfit which consists of a sleeveless jacket, a bodysuit and a skirt. Mattel used to make great clothes for their dolls. They used various types of fabrics. So here we have golden lame and net as well as fiercely orange lurex. How I adore this type of fabric that I remember so well from the 80/90s. It’s glossy, silky and soft. It had its flaws though – it often got damaged by Velcro and lame would flake off in time so I’m amazed at how great condition Teresa’s outfit still is. It’s a pity lurex is not so widely used by Mattel anymore. Now we get this awful plasticky kind of “fabric” heavily printed with glitter that gets all over you and the doll when you touch it! Yuck!!! Anyway, Teresa’s outfit is complete but her shoes are replaced and one of her earrings is broken. The seller included it in the package when I asked her to but so far I haven’t figured out how to assemble it. Her ring is still in place but it’s so loose I’m afraid I may lose it at some point. 

 

Teresa’s selling point is her hair and I’m so happy it’s not been tampered with in any way. I’m still struggling to distinguish between saran and good kanekalon (the bad one I can tell easily), but Teresa’s hair is most probably saran as it reacts well to boiling water. It’s also unique color. Teresa dolls would usually get dark hair, but Teresa’s is 2 shades of golden blond! I can also recall Camp Teresa who’s also a blonde, and there’s a reason for that. Both dolls’ hair works and the result is more spectacular on blonde hair. HH Teresa’s package included a special spray that you could sprinkle her hair with to make pink stars appear. They would go away when the hair dries. This wouldn’t work on other dolls’ hair though. My doll came with a bottle of magic spray but I was afraid it may damage the glorious hair so I haven’t found courage to use it. And in any event, I’m not a big fan of all those tricks that you could work on dolls’ hair. I almost forgot – Teresa still has her stock ribbon in her hair.

But it’s not only Teresa’s hair that makes her unique. Her facepaint is just stunning and beautiful in its simplicity. Her eyes are large and chocolate brown and there’s but a whisper of green eyeshadow. Her lips are raspberry color and she has glowing, sun kissed complexion. HH Barbie is pretty but Teresa surpasses her in terms of beauty. I’d go even further than that and say that to me she’s the most gorgeous Teresa doll ever made on this headmold.

So here’s my three most favorite dolls with Teresa headmold and the next girl to appear on my blog will also come from that same time period and … it won’t be Barbie.