Basic Doll Anatomy


 * This article is about anatomy for Historical Characters, Best Friend Characters, American Girl of Today, Just Like You, and Girls of the Year. Bitty Baby and Bitty Twins anatomy is discussed on their respective pages.

While each specific American Girl doll has a unique combination, there is a basic anatomy to an American Girl Doll. This allows every doll to wear every other doll's clothing fairly well and means that a person is not limited to only buying clothing designed for his or her specific doll.

Head
See also: Face Mold

The head is made of vinyl. It (and the limbs) are spun cast, leaving no seams or marks externally. The faces have a general overall look of a young, ten-year-old girl with wide eyes and soft, childish features.

Head markings
Some dolls have small "artist" markings behind one ear. These cannot be relied on to give a definitive age of the doll.

Near the neck is a copyright stamp; older dolls have "© Pleasant Co" and some have the year. Recently, most dolls say "© American Girl, LLC"; this is dependant on when the face mold was created, not necessarily when the doll debuted.

Face paint
The dolls have light blushing on each cheek, eyebrows (which can either be straight lines or feathered), lip color, and the displayed front teeth (with the noted exception of the Kaya Mold) painted to add color to the doll. Pre-Mattel dolls have very light face paint; when Mattel took over the face paint became a bit more prominent. Some dolls have freckles across the bridge of the nose and under the eyes. Two types of freckling exist; the one first used on the Kit doll and the one used on the  Mia doll.

Vinyl tones
Slight variations in "skin" tone exist because of the different factories used over time, but there are for the most part three main vinyl colors used:
 * Dark (such as that of Addy, Just Like You 18, and  Sonali)
 * Medium (examples being Kaya,  Josefina, and  JLY #26)
 * Light (examples being Samantha,  Ivy, and  Gwen)
 * Asian (obsolete under Mattel)
 * Grey-tinted (defect)

In Pre-Mattel days, JLY #4 had a more "golden" skin tone to reflect her East Asian origin; under Mattel, the Asian dolls have the same skintone as the Caucasian dolls.

Some dolls have "grey" or "green" tinted vinyl due to factory issues during the 2000-2002 period. If a "grey-vinyl" doll is sent to American Girl for limb replacement, the entire doll is replaced with limbs of the vinyl tone she was designed to have.

Eyes
Each doll has sleeping eyes that fall closed when the doll is laid down or tilted backwards.

The eyes have internal decals that give the iris color. Sometime the decals can peel away, making the eyes look silver spotted. This is called silver eye and mostly happens in older dolls. The company considers this a manufacturing defect and will fix this for free through the American Girl Hospital.

When Pleasant Company was in charge, each doll had soft hair like eyelashes that matched their hair color for the most part. Since Mattel took over, all eyelashes have been of a somewhat rougher black plastic.

Eyes can rust or stick if they get moisture inside and are not left to dry or dried out in some matter.

American Girl has released many different eye colors throughout the years. These include:
 * Light Blue: first used on Kirsten.
 * Decal Brown/Grey: first used on Samantha but later marketed as grey on  Ivy.
 * Grey: first used on Molly; all grey-eyed dolls except Molly were discontinued during the early 2000s because they were very prone to silver eyes.
 * Green: first used on Felicity Merriman (doll). Mattel green is much brighter than the Pleasant Company version, which has caused it to be intensively critiqued by collectors.
 * Dark Brown/Black: first used on Addy. It is much darker than the other eye colors and has almost exclusively been used on the dolls of color.
 * Brown/Light Brown: first used in the American Girl of Today line. It is the most commonly used shade of brown.
 * Dark Blue/Sapphire: first used on Kit.
 * Hazel/Green: first used on JLY #21, later marketed as "green" on Mia.
 * Amber/Olive/Light Brown: first used on JLY #26. It was first called "amber", then "light brown", and is now referred to as "brown" by the company. No other doll currently has this eye color.

Hair
The hair of every American Girl doll is a wig made of high-quality kanekalon sewn into a wig cap which is then glued onto the head. Any streaks or lightening is made by adding variant colors into the hair before sewing it to the wig cap. Some dolls have flesh-colored "parts" to add realism to their hair styles; other have sewn woven parts. Most dolls have silky hair with a slight to moderate curl to it; curls such as the ones on #26 are made from heat set straight hair. Any doll's hair can be temporarily curled using rollers; more permanent curls can be put in with heat setting.

Some dolls have small "short hairs" woven in the back of the wig cap so that, when their hair is parted into ponytails or braids, the hairs cover the wig cap making for a more realistic looking hairstyle.

Hair Care
American Girl does not recommend styling doll hair with plastic combs or brushes or any comb that has been in human hair (due to human hair oils). Hair should be dampened before combing or styling every time to prevent damage. This can be done with braid spray water, or a light leave in conditioner. The hair should never need to be washed with proper care; however, some dolls may need a light wash with wig conditioner.

The hair can be damaged or dried out by improper care; braid spray can prevent this. Extreme cases may call for a downy dunk. Severe damage such as hair cuts and massive breakage may call for rewigging or sending the doll to the American Girl Hospital.

Textured Hair
Textured hair is coarser Kanekalon than silky hair and designed to simulate coarse African hair; it so far has only come in black.

Ears
Most dolls have non-pierced ears; there are a few that have pierced ears. These are either non-removable or removable. Addy Walker was the first doll to have earrings consisting of permanent gold loops in each ear; Elizabeth Cole was the first to have removable earrings. As of 2008, any Just Like You doll can get her ears pierced--if ordered off the website, this must be done at purchase. Otherwise the doll must be taken to an American Girl Store. The holes are sized for American Girl earrings and so are bigger than standard human posts. Some collectors prefer to pierce ears themselves so they are not limited to American Girl earrings.

Body
The body is made of cloth and stuffed with polyester fiberfill. It is made to match the skin tone of the doll's vinyl.

"White" Body

 * See also: White-Bodied Doll

When the first three dolls--Samantha, Molly, and Kirsten--debuted, the bodies were made of plain white cloth and the clothes designed for them covered the cloth bodies completely. With the debut of Felicity, colonial fashions were somewhat low cut. This resulted in the body cloth being made in color that matched the vinyl of the limbs and head so as not to stand out.

Body Tag
Since Mattel's ownership, each doll has a body tag sewn onto the right side of their body The text is as follows:

'Made in China Exclusively for American Girl Middleton, WI 53562'

For a while, several had typos that said "American Gril". While there is a year imprinted on the tags as well,, it generally has nothing to do with the doll's manufacturing (most say "2008").

Joints
The joint cups for the arms and legs are made of vinyl and sewn into the body tightly. This allows for free movement of the joints.

The joints are attached to the body by means of tightly pulled elastic cords. Inside each limb and the internal body are small white semi-circle caps that are then clamped tight with metal flanks. This allows the dolls limbs to turn and hold positions without moving and stand freely. When the elastic cord starts to lose its elasticity, the arms and legs will no longer hold position and may result in the doll being unable to stand or sit. The doll is then considered to be "floppy" and in need of restringing. This can either be done through the American Girl Hospital or by various people who have learned to do it themselves.

Neck Strings
The heads are attached to the cloth body by means of a thin tunnel which cotton cord is run through and then knotted. The ends of the cord which are left to dangle down are referred to as "neck strings". Many collectors prefer these be uncut.

For a while heads were being attached with plastic zip ties after returning from the American Girl Hospital; after protest, the company seems to have gone back to neck strings.

Arms and Hands
The arms and hands are made of vinyl. The hands have small nails and defined lines to simulate the folds where finger joints are naturally. The thumb and fingers are curled in slightly; the fingers are splayed, with the ring and middle finger fused and the pointer finger slightly fused to the middle. The pinky is separate. The curled fingers allow the dolls to "hold" various items.

Legs and Feet
The legs are attached the same way as the arms. The toes are defined with small nails and the soles of the feet are flat.

Pre-Mattel vs. Mattel
The bodies were slimmed down overall in the Mattel era in the bodies, arms, and legs. The clothing was redesigned to fit the newer doll body shape. This means that newer outfits may fit tighter on older dolls.