Buying a Head when you just can't afford a whole doll

I have to say as I am saving for my first girlie, I am very tempted to buy the head first and wait for the body. But as I have no idea how to restring, I want her to come complete, and I think its nice for your first BJD to come complete.

 

I done it with both of my dolls. I like to do it that way if I don't need the fullset such as clothes wig etc. I like to customise them

 

I have not done this, and I don't think that I would. I like to have my dolls ready to play with when they arrive. It's a bit difficult to play with just a head.

 

Absolutely do that. It will usually be a little more expensive in the long run, but it's better than waiting and finding out the doll is no longer stocked!

 

I have bought a head without a body on several different occasions. So far, I've bought four floating heads. Two now have bodies and one is completely finished. The other two were more impulse buys, they had beautiful faceups so I took them in. It will work out if it's a doll that you really want, and have motivation to work towards buying that doll a body. I personally enjoy buying a full doll more, since it's easier for me to play with the doll, create/buy clothes for it, and envision their character

 

I do this a lot lately... The last time actually i bought Amber's head only because he's so goddamn expensive... So now he's waiting for me to save enough money. It's good i think. I didn't buy a full doll in over 2 years.

 

I don't think I would just buy a head normally...if I couldn't afford the body.

But I have been in this situation. After I bought my Hound, I promised my parents I wouldn't buy another BJD for awhile, since I should've been saving for university and such. I agreed, of course, it was a practical request. But I fell in love with the Elysium Lud-N head, since it was absolutely perfect for a character of mine, Anthoney. Worried that the sculpt would be gone by the time I'd be able to buy it, I convinced my mom to let me get him. To be fair, the company didn't even sell bodies, so that wouldn't have been an option anyway...

Unfortunately, I'm now sitting around with a floating head that's 4-5 years old now, still bodiless. I need to find him a match. In the future, I want to avoid buying a floating head unless I know for certain what bodies/company skin tones will match.

 

I know the feels. I have two heads from 2009, and even though I'm not super huge on resin matching, the idea of getting them bodies does worry me to some degree.

But then again, my new years resolution is always the same. "To get bodies for my floating heads."

Ryu

 

I have three floating heads right now! So yes, I do buy just heads sometimes, however, I prefer not too. If the doll is limited and I can only buy the head then and there I think it's worth it but if it's a basic doll that will always be available I would wait until you can afford the whole doll. Having floating heads is kind of annoying :p I never end up doing anything with them and I feel bad having them stuck in a drawer! They're also not all that fun XDD

 

Most of my SDs seemed to follow that pattern ^^

They are too hefty for me to afford altogether, although I didn't plan to get 2 of my 3 so that's a different story :P

Kakeru (Yder) head was gifted to me by my sister who ordered a Yder SP, and Jun (Yew) was a spontaneous buy

...and my fourth is a Luts Summer 10/13 head still on layaway, he's gonna get a body some day

 

tavendano, has your head arrived yet?! I think your plan of looking for an affordable body to save up for next is a good one. Like Ryuichi said, browse the resin match requests. And for Elfdoll you should have good luck with Dollfamily, Mirodoll & Little Monica. Those are the companies my friends have been going to lately...
In answer to the original question, I bought an affordable whole doll for my first doll & while she's not a namebrand knockout & doesn't pose well, she's still with me & I love her to bits. By the second year my friends were laughing that I had become the resin match research geek, because I kept running into great deals on heads I could afford. X0 Sometimes I had good luck getting a body from the same company later by way of the mp & having it match. And thanks to the resin match discussions I was able to find good matches with other bodies I found in the mp. In fact I'm now waiting on an Elfdoll head because of the winter sale. Like Ryuichi, I had just satisfied my New Years resolution of getting bodies for all my heads when the sale was announced & the head I have wished to buy for ages was there. Since buying another doll wasn't in my budget, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to find her a body next year when I have funds. Besides, the right color body wasn't for sale & I've heard mixed reviews on the Elfdoll bodies.
Getting resin matches that work in natural light & photos will be a challenge. Sometimes, the head is good enough you just have to live with the luminosity differences. That's what I found with a rare head that was made before some of the resin recipes were standardized. For her, I got her blushed as well as I could & live with the difference. For others blushing the neck has been enough to help. I got an older WS Elfdoll head & was surprised how well she matched a pale NS Sr. Delf body I had on hand. Which meant I had to get another body for the head that had been on that body....while some folks wisely can have several heads share one body, I keep wanting them all out where I can enjoy them as whole dolls. X0 Your thought that you can put enough clothes on the doll to cover the mismatched resin is a good one. I hunted & hunted for just the right well sculpted bodies for several of my heads. And since I'm a costumer, they've all been covered up. SO I never display those handsome bodies I hunted for!!! But I know they are there... Of all the heads I've bought, the only one that didn't work out at all was a Musedoll Ciel as their resin is a really unique pink recipe & I really wanted her as a younger, less mature, diminutive girl on something besides a Musedoll body. After a year of study & a couple of body attempts I accepted defeat & sold the head. I still miss her. Perhaps one day I'll have to try a complete Musedoll Ciel...when I can afford a full doll....after I find a body for that Elfdoll head I'm waiting on!

 

I think that it's a decent way to space things out, the only thing I'd say you want to be careful of is that sometimes there can be a small difference in the resin tone because it varies batch to batch. But I've gotten several heads and the bodies later, all for various reasons. I am all for cost efficiency in this hobby.

 

I did that with my Reisner. He was one of my grail dolls and at the time I wasn't able to afford him as a full doll... When I came across a head that was priced reasonably, I couldn't resist and bought it. Then saved for his body for the next six months or so. Thankfully SD17 bodies were a bit more common when I was done saving so I found one easily. :3

 

I wish I *could* buy an Iplehouse head - it's unfortunate they don't sell parts separately, and I don't see them offered online a lot. Which kind of figures, if I had one I also wouldn't sell it

 

Usually I like to just save and pay for the entire doll at once.
I do have a head waiting for a body right now but she's an event head someone was selling and I just couldn't pass her up.
I think that's about the only reason I'd ever buy just the head.
It's bothering me as it is that I can't get a body for her for a while yet so I wouldn't want to make a habit of it.

 

Since my dolls are, um, interesting colours and animals, I don't generally get the option to buy the head and the rest later.

 

I couldn't just get the head now and the body later since the resin matching issue would drive me insane. I know I could just blush to match, but knowing that it didn't match by default would eat at me...I guess I am a bit of a perfectionist.

 

I've done this before. I had a couple of boys a few years ago that I didn't want to bring home seperately, because I'd feel the characters they were shelling would 'pine' for each other, so I brought home their heads first. (A couple of Buddydolls - gorgeous boys from a now (sadly) defunct company) Then later on, I brought home the body for Lief from the same company, and started doing research for Cain's body because I wanted him to be significantly shorter than Lief. (A good 5 or 6 cm. Lief is tall and Cain is short-to-average.) So in the end, I fell on a HZ body for Cain because the height ratio is perfect compared to the BD body. HOWEVER, his head sits awkwardly on his neck and while his body poses really well, it's hard to get his head into a position that looks... natural.

This'd easily be solved with a little bit of modding, but I'm an inherently lazy person, so that's on the list of 'one day things that will probably never happen.'

I've... kinda lost what the point of this story was.

Oh right! I think with head-first, body-later method of purchasing, you have to have an idea of what you want, or be prepared to make compromises. It's a great way to get a lot of characters home quickly, but it's also a good way to get a little bit lost in the hobby if you're not careful.

That said, I do have a body coming home that I currently don't have a head for. -_-;; obviously I never learn my lessons.

 

My first SD is a head. I don't have a body for him just yet, but I do plan on getting him one, once I can. I think it can be a good idea, to slowly piece a doll together with just a head, and then body and then everything else. And it certainly helps the bank.

 

I have done that all the time. If the sculpt I like put for sell on market. I will grab them right a way then buy the body later when I have enough money.
Body are easily to buy as a part at a later time (most company do offer body sale, very few company will allow you to buy just head as a part though).