Does vinyl yellow?

So today, I got my new body from Volks and when I put it next to my secondhand DDII body, the old body looks a bit yellower.

 

Another thing I noticed is that the frame of the old body is more flesh-coloured than the vinyl parts. I received the body that way in 2012 and having had no experience with Dollfie Dreams, I assumed it was normal.

 

I would take pics to show what I mean but unfortunately, the colour difference doesn't really show up in photos.

So today, I got my new body from Volks and when I put it next to my secondhand DDII body, the old body looks a bit yellower.

Yes vinyl yellows, or perhaps discolors might be a bit more accurate. Vinyl doesn't always yellow, sometimes it gets grayer or darker. Time, adverse atmospheric conditions, especially UV light, and contaminants from handling can all contribute to the discoloring of vinyl.

Vinyl can also have slight variances in color from batch to batch, especially when old is compared to new. There can even be slight variances in the color of body parts in the same doll as all parts may not be cast from the same batch of vinyl. Material sources and chemical formulations can vary over the years. That new bust you bought last week may not be a dead on match to the body you bought 5 years ago.

 

Another thing I noticed is that the frame of the old body is more flesh-coloured than the vinyl parts. I received the body that way in 2012 and having had no experience with Dollfie Dreams, I assumed it was normal.

There are numerous reasons for that. The hard plastic frames age at a different rate than the soft vinyl parts. Also there are all the problems associated with color matching two dissimilar materials, probably produced by different manufacturing plants. The different textures of the materials affects how they reflect light.

All in all, some variation in color is to be expected. What you have described is all pretty normal.

Thank you so much for your answers. It really helped put my mind at ease. I'm planning to sell the old DDII body and I was worried that the body being more gray might put off buyers.

As another example of this, Kitsune commented on it and you can see especially in the second picture of Sayo here the difference in coloring between her head and body viewtopic.php?f=31&t=16008&start=30#p229876

So today, I got my new body from Volks and when I put it next to my secondhand DDII body, the old body looks a bit yellower.

Yes vinyl yellows, or perhaps discolors might be a bit more accurate. Vinyl doesn't always yellow, sometimes it gets grayer or darker. Time, adverse atmospheric conditions, especially UV light, and contaminants from handling can all contribute to the discoloring of vinyl.

 

Is this the same phenomenon that people talk about with resins yellowing? I know that that is accelerated by UV exposure. But I always read that one of the pros of vinyl compared to resin is that it didn't yellow (the corresponding con being that it stained much more easily).

I kind of wish I'd known vinyls yellowed before deciding to buy one, as I probably wouldn't have had I known >__<

Is this the same phenomenon that people talk about with resins yellowing?

Essentially, yes. But unless you store your vinyls in a sunlit window, yellowing from UV will take quite a bit longer than with similarly handled resins.

 

I always read that one of the pros of vinyl compared to resin is that it didn't yellow (the corresponding con being that it stained much more easily).

This is true of vinyls, but almost every plastic material will yellow or discolor with age, even those designed for constant exposure to the elements. You've seen discolored/cloudy plastic headlight covers on modern cars that are less than 10 years old.

 

With careful storage and proper handling your vinyls should last for many years.