My four year old Daughter received a Dream Dazzlers Styling Head as a gift for Christmas among many other things!

The toy is a dolls head and shoulders that are free standing. The doll has long hair and comes with lots of accessories that you can use to style it.

When I was younger I had a Girls World which is very similar to this toy. I wanted one for ages but the only thing I can really remember about it after that is having to brush the extending section of hair all the time because it got so matted.

My daughter was very excited to open her Styling Head and she insisted that she had wanted one! Getting it out of the box was the first problem we encountered. There are loads of accessories that are all wired or tied to the packing and these are fiddly and take ages to remove. There is also a piece of plastic sewn into the back of the dolls hair! I am assuming that this is to keep her hair tidy whilst in transit but as she is in a sealed box I really don't see the need for it. It took ages to get the piece of plastic out and I had to get scissors in the end and carefully cut the thread trying to avoid the hair! Once everything was out my daughter started playing with it straight away.

As well as the Styling Head you get lots of accessories that include a brush, comb and mirror. These are quite a nice size and can be used by your child on their own hair. You also get a small hair dryer that makes a noise. The dryer come with batteries already inside a secure compartment in the handle. You will need a screwdriver to replace these when necessary. There is a small clear plastic carrying bag that is just big enough to hold your accessories except the hair dryer. The other accessories that you receive are all for putting into the dolls or your own hair and these include clips, slides, bands, beads and lengths of coloured extensions. There were also two sets of false nails on a plastic wheel. The nails don't easily come off the wheel and there is no glue or anything so I assume these are just for effect. The doll has no hands to put the nails onto and they are too big for a child's fingers! Could have done without those really.

On the whole the quality of the Styling head is ok. The head itself seem durable enough even though the hair is a little thin and a lot scalp is visible. The head is wearing a piece of fabric that I think is meant to be a top across it's shoulders but this does not stay on very well. It is elasticated and instead of sitting nicely across the shoulders it rides up until it is around the neck of the doll. The accessories apart from the brush, comb and hairdryer and not very good. The slides break as soon as you try to put them into the hair and the bands are too big for the hair. The clips are quite strong but only very small and don't hold very much hair.

The doll is available from Toy R Us for £9.99 (Jan 09) and the recommended age range is 3 years and over.

I don't think I would recommend this doll to anyone really. The idea is very nice but since the initial excitement my daughter has rarely looked at this doll at all. The head sits on top of the toy box with it's hair all matted and it's top round it's neck!

An ok toy for under £10, may be better suited to an older child who is more into this sort of toy.