#doll care

[wtfrepaints]

So I'm gonna make a list of people who are pretty good resources on learning new things for taking care of and customizing dolls here. Please feel free to send me recommendations.

Great glue seepage infographic made by MisfitDollies on here! It includes a tutorial on taking care of it with goo gone specifically but I have been hearing people are getting better results with oxyclean lately.

MisfitDollies

a guide I made about glue seepage, why it’s there and how to treat it with the Goo Gone method! 🩷✨

Doll hair care/styling/rerooting:

Peace love and plastic

PLANET HIMM

ZombiexCorn

Rodney Rainbow

Draculijah

Minor alterations and crafting:

My Froggy Stuff

Delightful Dolls

Adult Doll Collector

Repainting and Full Alterations:

Of Crafts and Curios

Dollightful

Poppen Atelier

hisnameisAkin

[imreadydollparts]

I thrifted some Barbies and one had some mystery gunk in her hair.

I couldn't tell what it was but went ahead and plonked her head into a cup of L.A.'s Totally Awesome and left it overnight. This morning I started scrubbing with a toothbrush, thinking "I should try this on gum some day." but I'm not willing to put gum in a doll's hair on purpose. Then the smell hit me. It WAS gum. Mint. I like mint, but 🤢 Either way, it did take a lot of brushing with a toothbrush but the gum did eventually slide out of her hair with minimal breakage, she's all clean, and now I know Totally Awesome helps get gum out of doll hair.

I'm grossed out, though.

I've mentioned before that I get stressed when I see collectors/restorers throw dolls or ponies into a sink full of soapy water.

This Barbie demonstrates why I do not do that. I only do surface washing with a melamine sponge, dish soap, and water unless a pony show signs of rust or mold inside, then I take them apart to wash their insides, too, and leave the head off for a few days so they can dry fully.

I saw a bag of Barbies at Goodwill with two articulated bodies in it: a Barbie Extra and a Cutie Reveal. I do like to swap my dolls onto articulated bodies, so I picked it up.

When I was opening the bag and going through the dolls, I noticed some of them were wet.

It took a bit to narrow it down to WHO, exactly, was wet and it was these two. Then I gave Barbie a good shake and she sloshed.

I'm........ going to tell myself it was very clean sink water from her previous owner's attempt at removing the gum from her hair, or else I might cry over unknown-days-old, thrifted mystery water.

I might have to drill some holes in her body to get the rest of the water out but did manage to vigorously shake out a lot of it. It seems to be mostly stuck in her legs so I may drill at the tops of her hips where the injection mold spot is and on the bottoms of her feet so they can drain (assuming the lower legs aren't solid).

Right now she's sitting with her joints as "open" as I can get them in the hopes some of that water will evaporate.

Not very dignified.

[teatime-tangents-and-toys]

Recently made the decision/financial mistake to start collecting LDDs again. I was lucky enough to win rather low bids on Revenant and Jezebel, but both seem to have the start of sticky doll syndrome, and Revenant's hair feels like my Posea Reef's: kind of tacky, not quite gummy. Both Rev and Jez have pretty severe staining on their limbs and torsos from costumes. I've never had any issues with Snow White or Agatha (my other 2 dolls I've had over a decade). Reddit had a lot of advice for Barbies and MH doll cleaning/conserving but I didnt see much for LDD.

Do you have any recommendations yourself, or know of any online community for LDD that would have care guides?

Sorry for the long ask, and thank you in advance!

If the dolls are greasy, a gentle wash with soap, water, and very gentle rubbing with baking soda will remove the greasy layer. Hair grease can be treated with regular washing or Goo Gone if needed. Conditioner and fabric softener may also help. The most common hair issue I've found from LDD, unfortunately, is irreversible frying and tangled ends. LDD vinyl staining isn't anything I've been able to reverse. The only recommendation is to let the clothes cover stains back up because nothing I've tried really helped. I only got stains off Dr. Dedwin's face (from his bloody surgeon mask) by aggressively sanding the vinyl. Otherwise, you have to live with it. My blog has a whole separate page linked on the header about LDD care issues if there's more you want to know.

[kawadoll]

I love taking care of my doll

Brushing her hair, Watching videos with her, hugging her before sleeping. i don't care that i am "too old", I'm happy, and I'm not hurting anyone.

[what-raggedy-is-this]

this is the doll

She's still drying

Continued from this post

Ah I see. That damage is definitely fixable, though she'll have some scars.

She's a Knickerbocker (not sure exactly how old, but they were produced from the mid 1960s to the early 1980s). Her fabric most likely became more fragile when it got wet. Knicks are also infamous for being overstuffed, so they often burst, especially when they get wet. We usually recommend not washing Knickerbocker dolls unless absolutely necessary-- and unstuffing the doll if it is necessary.

Once she's dry you can stitch the tears closed. I would recommend possibly putting a patch of fabric under or over the tear on the foot to stabilize it and prevent it from tearing even more. You can do that on the face too if you'd like, but I don't think it would be necessary.

- 🤖

[clonesome]

I was gifted a tiny hair straightener ! I'm going to see if it is safe to use for my dolls hair !!

Does any one have any tips on how to use one for doll hair. I know use the lowest setting possible and to not keep it on the hair for very long or it will melt/destroy it.

[agorangetabbycat2020]

I got a cheap salon set on secondhand, so I gave Kanani a spa day! 🛁 We’re going on vacation soon so I wanted her to feel beautiful! I gave her a baking soda treatment, washed her hair, and put it in curling rollers. It turned out really nice, but I thought it was frizzy so I brushed it out and curled it that way. It didn’t turn out as good as the rollers. 🤦 The results of the rollers are the 2nd-3rd slides. Anyways, we’ll be on a long plane ride so it’s probably best that her hair isn’t perfect. Kanani and I are very excited to travel and take lots of pictures! ✈️

[First image description: a medium skinned doll of Pacific Islander descent stands in the sunlight. She has medium brown hair in a ponytail and wears a blue headband. She has hazel eyes. She wears a blue floral dress over a white t-shirt, and she has pink flip flops. Around her neck is a kukui nut lei. End first image description.

Second image description: the same doll now wears a towel wrap dress with purple and pink hearts. Her hair is down and is knee-length and curly. Behind her is a purple and pink salon chair. End second image description.

Third image description: this is similar to the previous photo but the doll is facing away from the camera showing her hair. End third image description.]

[kiddiekat-toybox]

Decided to start fixing up Ghoulia today- my very first Monster High doll ever, whose legs have been broken for ages. I also discovered though that she’s had a glue seepage problem that I never noticed, her hair doesn’t feel gluey but she has some bad discoloration around her hairline D: On its own this doesn’t bother me as much as it could bc she is a zombie, so it kinda works visually, but I am concerned because it’s a problem I don’t know how to fix and I’m worried the glue will eventually do serious damage, and again, she was my first MH doll, she has tons of sentimental value and I don’t want her to ever end up ruined