Does anyone know what the difference is between Alpaca mohair, English mohair and regular mohair? For example, I purchased 2 different colors of mohair from a business in Australia (listed on ebay). The hair felt very thin to the touch, almost like the down of a feather. I used the first color to root a doll. I rooted the hair very thick. When it was done, it reminded me of cotton candy and was hard to style. I used the second color to root another doll. This time I rooted the hair a lot sparser. The hair looked a lot better when it was not rooted as thick. I don’t know what type of mohair this was. I have purchased mohair from different reborn businesses. Some hair is thicker than others. Some have more of a natural shine than others. How can I tell which type of mohair I have and is there any type that is better to use than others?
I know the mohair is further categorized as: kid (very fine), yearling (prob. what most use) and adult (coarse, great for older babies). You might have had kid mohair since it was very fine.
The first one almost sounds like roving that’s used to spin into yarn. It’s extremely soft but does have kind of a cotton candy look to it. I bought some but tried it on a test head and decided not to use it as baby hair.
Mohair comes from a goat, alpaca comes from an alpaca. There is not alpaca mohair. Alpaca is usually very fine, soft and straight. Mohair does come in different thicknesses depending on whether it is kid, yearling (my favorite) or fine adult and adult. Most mohair ranges from slightly curly/almost straight to very curly.
Mohair can be different quality, depending on the goat, but also its age, health, and diet, and also the weather before clipping, Just like with sheep wool, the mohair is graded by the thickness of the fiber, which is measured in microns. Baby Alpaca has the finest hair, but there are Alpacas that have hair thicker than some goats. The finest mohair, or kid mohair, is from the 1st or 2nd clip. I personally prefer yearling, which is stronger and more resilient. If i want really fine I use Alpaca.
Goats:
Super Fine Kid Lines are generally under 23 micron
Kid lines are from 23 -27 micron
Strong Kid lines are from 27 -29.5 micron
Young Goat Types range from 29.5 - 32 micron
Adult lines are32-36 micron
Alpaca
Baby (finest) 21-23
Superfine 25-26.5
Suri 26-27
This is confusing to me 
@Nikkiroc , all you need to know is that Mohair is from goats; alpaca is from alpacas; alpaca is very fine compared to mohair and can be bought in very straight which is hard to find in mohair. Use alpaca or super fine mohair for fragile looking newborns; Use yearling for most babies. Use adult for older babies with hair that is more like an older childs hair. Alpaca comes in lovely natural colors and can be straight or curly. ONLY BUY SURI ALPACA.
@ludmila Very interesting information. I love seeing the actual comparisons in size although it’s pretty hard to visualize microns! LOL
Thanks for the micron breakdown info and thanks to all who responded to my question. It has been helpful.
Thank you for your kind words. I like to know everything about materials I am using, so I do bit of research on everything that is recommended to use on reborns.
The tables I posted above are the official criteria; what the seller might claim is of-course, totally another story. I have had some supposedly kid mohair, which was like fuzzy wire. When questioned the seller said that it was the 1st clip from her baby goat. Maybe it was, but in that case it was not from high quality angora goat. If somebody rounds up heard of feral goats and puts them to angora billy goat, they might get longhaired goats, but the quality will not be like the top quality mohair from many generations of top producing goats.
As far as the difference between American and English or German mohair goes; well, I found that all the absolutely top quality came from USA. If somebody in Europe or Australia imports some stock from US, they might also get better mohair. But as the conditions in which the goat is kept will have effect on the quality of the clip, it is possible that conditions in some countries may not suit the goats, and they will never match the US mohair,
Has anyone tried Economical Mohair before?
Is that a brand name?
Yes.
If this is what you are asking about, I think it is “roving” which would be awful. I wouldn’t waste my time rooting with it.
Roving!! YIKES!!!
Roving is for needle felting, knitting and spinning into yarn. It does NOT work as doll hair. I tried it.