These instructions were posted by my friend Zoila at the The Doll Cafe board. I sure hope they help!


I've had really good success swapping heads on the newer Barbies without breaking the neck and or ball joint.
You can get a lot more variety of dolls that way, and customize them to your tastes.
There are a few tricks and tips:

1.) Gently soften the vinyl slightly by using a hair-dryer (on low setting) aimed at the neck joint.

2.) There is a fish-hook type attachment at the top of the neck knob - that's what keeps the head from coming off.

3.) Gently pry the head off the neck using a gentle side-to-side twisting motion. While firmly holding the neck tight so it does not crack.

4.) You will first pull the head off about half-way. The fish-hook will keep it from coming off any further.

5.) At this point I've found the best thing to do is cut the fish-hook off, while the head is still partially attached to the body.

I have found cuticle nippers very useful for this task.


6.) Once you have cut the plastic fish-hook off, the head will pop right off.

7.) At this point you can either leave the plastic fish-hook in the head (it won't hurt anything if it stays inside) or you can remove it. If you shake the head, it may come out by itself, or you can pull it out with tweezers.

8.) Lastly, I use the nippers to trim-up any excess plastic from the neck knob.
It should now look like this:



9.) Once this is completed, you can easily put the the head back on remove it as many times as you wish.

A few hints and cautions:
- Maintain a firm grip on the neck at all times, if not you can wind-up cracking the neck.

- It's best to practice on inexpensive thrift-store dolls, or dolls that are already damaged.

Good luck!
Smiles Zoila