Im rooting some combi hair on my Gabriella and the varnish won’t stop cracking as I root!! I had painted her about two years ago back when I still used the matte varnish but even then when I rooted her it was totally fine.
Ive ripped out the hair she had since then and added a layer of soft touch with corn starch once for paint then another to seal the hair and now its cracking! Ive never had this happen to any of my other soft touch babies…what should I try to fix these?
Try filling her head with polypellets up to the neck flange and then packing them in tightly with paper towels. It keeps the vinyl form ‘giving’ and should help with cracking varnish. I do this on all my babies because I use air dry paints and don’t heat my heads. Do the white flakes brush off with a toothbrush or baby brush? Maybe it’s the cornstarch.
I don’t have advice for you, I just wanted to say…wow, she’s precious.
Maybe you are hitting previously rooted holes and since vinyl was already compromised there, varnish gets lifted.
What I would do: put the wet cloth on top of her head and bake. Maybe it will help flakes to stick to the head.
I have had similar problems a couple of times when I rooted and baking with wet cloth always helped. But your situation is slightly different as you said she was rooted before.
I can’t figure out why it happens as I experienced that on the same head, but only in certain directions. First I thought that my needle had become dull, but tried it on another head and it was doing fine. Switching to a new neele also didn’t help. So I think it’s vinyl itself, maye different thickness? Or maybe those places when varnish was applied more thickly. I don’t know. Just sharing my experience.
She is absolutely precious! 
Thank you ladies! I’ll definitely try the polypellets and wet cloth. I’ve tried to rub with both water and thinner with no results so I’ll try in the morning. If nothing works it won’t bother me too much, she’s already a booboo baby!
Welp, I’ve tried the cloth method 3 different times with no avail I think its just the varnish. I’ll change out the needle and I’m going to take my time rooting. I think part of the problem is that I was rushing so my rooting wasnt my best work! Luckily the hair covers most of the spots so its not much of a bother.
