I just received an email from a buyer of one of my dolls that I used alpaca hair on. She said that the hair is falling out, and “we only use the brush that you sent”. She told me that she was giving this doll to her daughter for Christmas, and I thought that she meant an adult daughter. I always put a disclaimer in my descriptions of the doll stating that this is a collectible and not suited for children as it is as delicate as a real baby and should be treated as such. Should I be held responsible for any damage that occurs from daily wear and tear or child’s play. I offered to see if I could remedy the problem, but should I do it if it has been damaged by a child? If anyone has any suggestions or has had this problem in the past please let me know how you handled it.
Alpaca actually suppose to be stronger than mohair. Of-course, different animal has different quality hair. I have had some very brittle, but I do not think that conditioning it will make any difference. Do you have any of the lot left? Take a single hair and see how easily it breaks. I wash every head after rooting, and I never have any hair come out or break while I wash it - I do have a good look in the hand basin to check. Of-course, if anybody plays with the doll and the hair get tangled, they probably break the hair when brushing the tangles out. Properly glued hair will not fall out. My granddaughter was given rooted doll before she was born and dragged her around as soon as she was able to, and now, 4 years later, brushes it daily, and the hair is still pretty good.
I use E6000 to seal the hair and make sure it is secure when dry. I’ve never had a problem with any of the other dolls I have sold or kept for myself. I do have some of that batch left, and will check the breakage. Thanks for the info Ludmila. Thank you all for your insights.
I have had no problems with the doll I made with alpaca and my dolls are right now jumbled up together in a bassinet. I haven’t had to comb it much but it hasn’t tangled or broken off. So I would wonder about her care. If she is giving it to a child for Christmas, why is it being messed up now?
I was wondering the same thing?
Yep, so very true. They are going to be giving buyers 6 mos to say something was not as described and return it. We are sunk if a buyer wants to play that game.
Thanks everyone. I emailed the buyer and explained that alpaca and mohair has breakage like human hair, but human hair grows back and a doll can’t. I also told her to send me a picture, and if necessary, I will repair it. I also reminded her that this was meant to be a collectible doll and was delicate. She said she would let me know if it lost any more hair.
Hopefully, that’ll be the end of it, then. One can hope, right? 
After seeing a neighbor’s 12 year old niece brush her doll’s hair, I rethought offering to make her and her 10 year old sister reborns with hair (and face it, hair is half the fun!). On the other hand, one of my doll’s survived a 4 year old pulling on the mohair as hard as she could and not a hair came out or broke off. On the bad side, the dolls I was going to make for the nieces are the kits that the arms started to melt on so they are on the back burner for now (for the last year 
) I really need some motivation!
I’ve had this happen to me on one occasion and I include hair care instructions. In my initial conversation with the customer, she stated that 'the hair was falling out" so I agreed to re-root the head at no cost. Well, when I received the baby, the head was completely bald! I was horrified because when I sold the doll it had a full head of hair (and I root heavily)! I could tell the doll was being played with … so I put a wig on it and sent it back. And now I’ve made it really clear in my care instructions that I will not re-root hair, etc.
I just paint most of my dolls for sale; the rooted ones do not seem to go for more and do not sell any faster. I root my own keepers. My rooting is not the best, but it is good, definitely better than can be seen on many very expensive dolls. I also make a bonnet for all my babies; that protects the rooted hair or hides the painted hair if people do not want to look at it. 
Ludmila, I can see how painted hair can avoid some potential issues but there’s just something about the rooted hair that gives it the “wow” factor.
I nearly always use Alpaca and have never had any problems with it. I make Child Friendly dolls with rooted hair, but generally root far more sparsely and cut it shorter so that it is less likely to tangle. The exception is bi-racial and AA dolls as these only look good with a full head of hair but I have not had any reports of hair coming out.