Questions about Wig Care and Joints

Hey everyone, I have a couple questions/concerns that I could use some advice on:

 

1) What type of comb works the best for wigs? I've tried using some normal combs...and they didn't work that great....

 

2) One of Airy's legs doesn't seem to have a lot of strength when she stands or when the leg is in a straight postion, is this something that could be fixed by tightening the joint? The leg really isn't "floppy" but you can move it alot easier than her other leg....

 

3) This one really concerns me...When ever you move Airy's right arm to a certain height her arm piece catches on the shoulder portion of her torso and causes the arm to slide and expose her shoulder joint. (I can't really think of any other way to describe, so at the end I'll include some pictures) I can't really find alot of information about this anywhere so I don't know if this is normal, or just some weird deficit, so I could really use some help on this one....

 

DSC_0708 by Iachion, on Flickr

 

How it normally looks...

 

DSC_0709 by Iachion, on Flickr

 

The issue...

 

DSC_0717 by Iachion, on Flickr

 

Afterwards...

 

DSC_0716 by Iachion, on Flickr

 

I'm really sorry if any of this stuff has been asked before, or if it is just common DD knowledge...so thank you for taking a look!

If you want to comb a wig use a toothbrush for children (one with really "soft" fibers) and never push the "comb" into the headcap! You have to be really gentle! You can also comb it with your hands.

For her leg you can try to tighten a few the screw in her knee joint or just buy some stockings (thick ones!).

I have never seen that problem related to her shoulder! Let's see what the experts says!

I've never seen that issue either. Maybe the soft vinyl on her upper arm is just a little looser than average? You could try coating the area it slides off of with a thin layer of super glue, waiting for it to fully dry, then popping the vinyl part back on. It's how I deal with all types of looseness!

What a coincidence that I looked at your post earlier today!

 

I was just redressing my Airy and as I was pulling her right arm out I noticed that the vinyl "upper arm" part slid off the shoulder joint a bit to look like your photo. Since I had her arm removed anyhow, I just gave it a push and the round shoulder joint slid back into the vinyl sheath very easily.

I have seen the same thing with my friend's Neris body. The arm comes out more easily than on other DDs. I felt like the vinyl was softer or something. I don't know what to do to prevent it from happening.

Combs: You want to use a comb with big wide-spaced teeth, and start by brushing out the ends first. Metal combs are recommended, maybe because there is less frizz-inducing static. Avoid pulling out hairs but know that some wigs may shed a bit at first. Don't use a dirty human brush/comb on wigs, the oils and dander are bad for the wig fibers.

There's a nice wig tutorial on WigWing, you can get the point just by the photos-

http://www.wigwing.com/front/php/b/board_read_new.php?board_no=7&no=122&number=1&offset=0&page=1&search_key=&search=

As for wig care I bought Volks "VS Hair Cutting Razor":

 

http://www.volksusa.com/matlst0009.html

 

I'm sure it's a bit over priced but I like the comb. The only down side is you have to be really careful not to use the razor side when you only want to comb your girls hair!!!!

 

I haven't really used the razor side, not exactly sure when/if I'd want to. I'm sure getting a small plastic comb from your local drug store would work fine.

 

**** Remember for long wigs, comb starting from the bottom and move up towards the top where the wig is. So much easier to avoid tangles and knots that way. This may be common sense to our female DD owners but as a guy who has always had short hair, it was new to me. haha ****

 

 

Finally, I also use Volks Wig Oil spray from time to time:

 

http://www.volksusa.com/matlst0002.html

 

It does a good job of keeping down the stray hairs and seems to help the wig stay softer and more controllable. So far I haven't had any problems with it staining clothes or the girl. I'm careful not to spray their face though.

 

If anybody knows of a better/cheaper alternative to their wig oil, I'd love to know. $9 for a tiny bottle is a bit much but I like the results.

 

**James.

I brought some Wig spray from Dollmore at $5 (i think), but shipping is the killer so it might be worth ordering other stuff as well.

 

The dollmore spray also gives you a refill for the same price.

 

I havenb't used it yet as anyone who has seen Sae, know she doesn't need it as she like the "just woken up look" hair style.

There's a lot of threads on wig care already but I just wanted to chime in and say I really love the Volks brush here:

 

http://www.volksusa.com/acaniv006.html

 

The 'pick' side is really helpful when parting hair or dealing with bangs. I also could not live without the aforementioned wig oil.

 

Yes, you can tighten the knee joint easily with an eyeglasses screwdriver or the tip of a sharp knife, if you are handy and dexterous. It will make the knee tighter but you may have to repeat the process in the future. Also be careful not to over tighten! A little tightening goes a looong way.

 

As for the shoulder... I've had that problem with a couple of girls when raising the arm up like that. I've not actually done it on that body so I'm not certain how much help my following advice will be. For me it was more about the torso vinyl catching on the joint- You can pull the joint out of gently press on the torso, widening the opening in the correct manner so the arm joint can fit inside. It doesn't look like she has the same sort of shoulder fitting so perhaps this solution will not work for you? On my doll it was caused by the torso sitting slightly to the left or right inside the doll. I've also seen people take the DD apart and try to 'reset' the chest so it's a bit more even. I've not attempted that myself. If anyone here has- throw us some info or a link please?

 

Just for the record, the dolls being slightly odd and one shoulder joint sitting farther out than the other is pretty common and not a defect- though it sure is annoying. I wouldn't worry too much, it's just something to be careful with as you wouldn't want to put extra stress on it!

 

It's always fine to ask questions. If there's answers already available we'll point you in the right direction. *^^* Good luck with your girl- she sure is lovely.

Thank you for the answers everyone!

I'll defiantly look into trying a few of those brushes, I've been meaning to make an order with Volks, so I figure I'll try some of those of brushes out and see what works best.

 

**** Remember for long wigs, comb starting from the bottom and move up towards the top where the wig is. So much easier to avoid tangles and knots that way. This may be common sense to our female DD owners but as a guy who has always had short hair, it was new to me. haha ****

 

Thank you for the tip! I've probably would have never figured that out on my own!

 

As for the shoulder... I've had that problem with a couple of girls when raising the arm up like that. I've not actually done it on that body so I'm not certain how much help my following advice will be. For me it was more about the torso vinyl catching on the joint- You can pull the joint out of gently press on the torso, widening the opening in the correct manner so the arm joint can fit inside. It doesn't look like she has the same sort of shoulder fitting so perhaps this solution will not work for you? On my doll it was caused by the torso sitting slightly to the left or right inside the doll. I've also seen people take the DD apart and try to 'reset' the chest so it's a bit more even. I've not attempted that myself. If anyone here has- throw us some info or a link please?

 

Just for the record, the dolls being slightly odd and one shoulder joint sitting farther out than the other is pretty common and not a defect- though it sure is annoying. I wouldn't worry too much, it's just something to be careful with as you wouldn't want to put extra stress on it!

 

It's always fine to ask questions. If there's answers already available we'll point you in the right direction. *^^* Good luck with your girl- she sure is lovely.

 

This is exactly my problem! I was able to pull the joint out a little bit but her arm still catches. But from looking at her arm it almost appears that her right arm is actually higher than her left and that is why it catches...I did notice that if the torso is leaning to the left or right then the joint doesn't catch at all, it's just when she's leaning back or when the torso is in a "straight" position. So would reseting the chest be the next option then?

 

The good news is that I fixed her arm from falling off when it catches, I decided to remove her arm and made sure that everything was tight to see if that was the issue. And it turned out that it was part of the issue!

 

Truthfully, It's not that bad of an issue, more of annoyance really, since I can at least move the torso vinyl abit so it doesn't catch it. But I would still like to fix it if I can.

 

Thank you again for the advice you have all been really helpful!

If anybody knows of a better/cheaper alternative to their wig oil, I'd love to know. $9 for a tiny bottle is a bit much but I like the results.

**James.

 

Hello James , thanks for telling me about this awesome forum, I really like it here

 

This youll find interesting:

My daughter just arrived saturday. One thing that I made sure to order was Volks wig "oil". Just yesterday I was brushing a wig I ordered from ebay which really needed it. I was hesitant about using it because the bottle is SO small and SO expensive, but I gave it a shot and it sure made an awesome job...

 

Thing is the moment I sprayed it on her hair i knew I know that smell from before (I have a memory nose), couldnt quite recall it at first but after one good hour I remembered: Its the same smell of vinyl and vcr cleaners, I was almost 100% positive because i used to help my dad clean his records. So I went looking for a bottle and found an empty one but SURE it still had that EXACT distinct smell. It makes sense to me because one of the uses of that was to eliminate static from vynils vcrs so they would repell dust and keep them clean... properties also desirable and found on this wig "oil"

 

Who would have guessed?... Im gonna buy a bottle (its really cheap compared to volks') and let you know about the results