Dollfie Dream Stain Prevention & Removal FAQ

One thing that every Dollfie Dream owner is going to face at some point in time is staining. It is just a fact of life for the vinyl skin that DDs are made from, and it will eventually happen no matter how careful you are with your daughters. You'll be in good company. It is worth trying to protect your DDs in a reasonable way upfront, and it is also worthwhile to know what to do when they need treatment. This FAQ discusses what staining is, how to prevent it, and most importantly how to clean it up when your daughter does get a mark.

 

What is a Stain?

 

It is color transfer from some object onto the surface of the doll. It's perhaps a bit misleading to call it a true stain since the marks are usually reversible given time and effort, but nevertheless that is the nomenclature that has developed. Most often staining is caused by the dyes used to color fabric, or in other words, leaving your doll wearing dark clothes directly against her skin.

 

What Types of Things Stain?

 

• Thread or Yarn. These are some of the worst culprits of staining, since manufacturers typically put little effort into sealing the dyes in thread. Even if an outfit is light colored or lined, any dark threads that touch the doll skin could leave marks over time. To that end, it's best to avoid making DIY doll accessories out of yarn.
  
• Dark-Colored Outfits. Black, red, or other dark clothes worn directly against the skin. Fabric quality matters, as poorly dyed (cheap) fabrics will transfer color far faster than well-finished ones. Well-made dark outfits are lined with white cloth to help prevent stains.
  
• Wig Bases. The fabric part of the wig that all the hair fibers are attached to. The hair fibers themselves do not stain, just the fabric part that goes onto the head. Dark colors stain most, but even blonde wigs are capable of leaving (light) marks.
  
• Acrylic Paint Intended for Metals. This mostly applies to doing faceups or fingernails. You can paint with it but it tends to leave stains behind if you change your mind and want to redo the faceup. Posters on the painting threads suggest using Liquitex paints for vinyl instead.
  

 

How Quickly Will it Stain?

 

There's no one answer to this, as it depends on so many variables. Outfit fabric, environment, vinyl batch, and more all play a role. In general it is fine to leave your daughter in anything you like for at least the length of a photoshoot, if not significantly longer. You will learn, through experience, how resistant your own individual doll is to picking up color. See the following questions for more information.

 

What Makes it Stain Faster?

 

• Direct Skin Contact. If the dark fabric or thread directly touches the vinyl, it is easier for dye to transfer to the doll.
  
• Heat. Warming up the vinyl makes it softer and more pliable, and in turn more receptive to foreign substances like dye. Keep this in mind if your doll's home is in direct sunlight (best move her) or you take her outdoors for a long photoshoot on a hot (air temp) and/or sunny (radiation warming) day.
  
• Moisture. Clothes (either dark or light) getting wet while worn on the doll will cause the dyes to run. Excess water in the air (humidity) will get in the fabric and also cause dyes to transfer. Much like how you don't wash light and dark clothes together, damp fabric and vinyl is not a combination you want to have. This is another thing to watch out for outdoors in the summer.
  
• Pressure. This includes clothes that cling tightly through elastic or ribbon ties, as well as any clothes that the doll is putting her weight onto. For example, black socks will stain first in a band at the top (elastic), at the ankle joint (fabric squeezed by the angle of the foot), and on the bottom of the foot (doll's weight).
  
• Vinyl Batch. Slight variations in the types of vinyl used by Volks for each run means that some DD bodies stain slightly more easily than others. You might have a doll that picks up color quickly, or you might have one that is very resistant. This is not something you can control or do anything about, but individual differences between your girls is something you'll want to remember as your family grows!
  

 

What Makes it Stain Slower?

 

Preventing stains requires pretty much the opposite of the above. You don't have to do all of these, but each one you do will lower the probability of your doll acquiring stains. That's important to remember, as there's no guaranteed way to avoid them; you just want to make staining as unlikely as you can.

 

• Lined Outfits or Layering Underclothes. Make sure that your dark-colored outfits are lined with white fabric on the inside and/or you wear a body stocking, a slip, or other white undergarments. The thicker the white fabric the better for preventing stains. Volks, CoolCat, and others make a variety of body stocking types you can use, depending on the outfit. Some of the stockings look nice enough that you can incorporate them right as part of the outfit, not just as underclothes. You want to keep the dark fabric off the doll's skin in any way that is practical. That's the most important thing you can do to prevent stains.
  
• Cloth or Rubber Wig Cap. Same concept, just this time for wigs. Most important for dark wigs. The clear silicon wig caps you may come across will prevent slippage of the wig but stains go right through them; make sure to use a white cloth or white rubber one in addition. Stains can go through cloth also, just so you are aware, but it will be much harder.
  
• Cool and Dehumidified Environment. Keeping the vinyl cool toughens it up a bit and makes it more resistant to staining. Dehumidifying the air makes outfits less prone to dye bleed. Luckily, an Air Conditioner does both of these things at the same time. Keeping the house cool is good, keeping the doll near an A/C vent with air lightly blowing on her is even better.
  
• Weight Distribution. If you use stands or furniture for your doll, make sure you use them to support her weight in such a way that it doesn't press dark fabric into her skin.
  

 

My Doll Got Stained; How Do I Clean Her?

 

Despite your preventive efforts, your doll may eventually get stained anyway just depending on her outfit. But take heart, for all is not lost. With a little time and effort, those stains can be removed and make your daughter appear new again. A cleanup kit will cost you only around $25, very cheap compared to most things DD, and you can get everything in one stop at, say, Target. Here is what you will need and how to use it.

 

Materials Needed

 

• 10% Benzoyl Peroxide Cream. Sold as acne or pimple remover in the pharmacy section of the store. Any brand will do, but you want to make sure that the "active ingredient" on the back is 10% benzoyl peroxide. That's the highest concentration that is available, and will make the de-staining go faster. One example is Oxy Face Wash, in a black 6oz bottle. One bottle goes a long way and is enough to start. Cost: $5.
  
• Desk Lamp, Adjustable. Pretty much any cheap desk lamp will do, if you don't already own one. You just want to make sure it can be pointed in many different directions and adjusted to any height you want. The lamp is an alternative to using sunlight to warm up vinyl, which I prefer since a lamp is more adjustable and can be used any time of day. The lamp is a big part of Oxy de-staining. Without the lamp, Oxy can take a month or more to be effective. But with a lamp, it takes a quarter of that time or less. Most of these lamps accept up to 60W lightbulbs. Cost: $9 on clearance.
  
• 50W PAR20-size Halogen Flood Bulb. You want something that emits heat and a wide spectrum of light. Halogens, such as GE Edison or Philips Halogena, are great for this since they run warm and are widely available in flood-style bulbs. You don't want a CFL fluorescent for this as those don't put out enough heat. Regular incandescent bulbs will also do, although they might be slightly less effective due to the non-flood style. Flood style lamps direct the light output into one place (rather than letting it out everywhere around the bulb), and directed light is what we want right on those stains. The 50W and PAR20 size are just the specs that fit inside the desk lamp I bought, nothing special. Cost: $9.
  
• Optional: Magic Eraser. Any brand will do, although the original is by Mr. Clean. These are white squishy bars that feel slightly rough; you use them by wetting them and rubbing. Useful for cleaning dollfies in general, such as after going outside, so you should probably have them anyway.. but they are optional for de-staining. Cost: $5
  

 

De-Staining Procedure, Heatlamp-Oxy Method

 

• Clean the stained area with the Magic Eraser just to make sure it's clean. Dip the white eraser in water and rub over the skin to remove any dirt. Dry completely.
  
• Lay doll down on a table, optionally on a white towel so she's comfortable. Make sure it's a place you don't need to use soon, since your doll will be laying here a while. You can leave her fully assembled.
  
• Cover any exposed areas of her face with a towel or paper towel. Faceups are quite durable, but we may as well shield them from the light to protect them. Also put a paper towel under the area to be de-stained, to catch any Oxy that rolls off the doll onto the table.
  
• Turn the floodlight on and point the brightest part of the light directly at the stain. The lamp can be however far away you want it to be, just keep in mind that the more heat the faster the stain will vanish. I keep it at about 12" away since we want to warm the bare skin and not cook it (an important consideration). Leave the lamp this way for a couple minutes until the vinyl is warm to the touch. The idea is to preheat the vinyl and expand it slightly, so that the Oxy soaks in better in the next step.
  
• Apply Oxy to the stain. The cream is very liquidy, so squirt a big glob onto your fingertip and touch it to the vinyl, leaving a big glob on the doll. No need to rub it in. You want a thick layer on there. Repeat as necessary until a thick white gooey glob covers all of the stained area. If you get it on non-stained areas too that's OK as it will not harm your doll at all.
  
• Leave the Oxy and lamp going for about 3-4 hours while you go do something else. Just be sure to come back and turn off the lamp after no more than 4 hours so the vinyl doesn't get too hot at one stretch. You can leave the Oxy itself on there for as long as you want, really, as it won't harm your doll, but the Oxy seems to lose its effectiveness after about 8 hours and a fresh application would do better than continuing the old. During this time the Oxy will dry out and become a solid white coating on your doll. 3-4 hours is typical for one de-staining treatment.
  
• Get a wet paper towel (with no ink or designs!) and wipe off all of the Oxy. This will take a minute or two since the cream dried out.
  
• Clean up any remaining thin Oxy residue with the Magic Eraser, then dry thoroughly. You're done with one complete treatment!
  
• Repeat as necessary until the stain is completely gone or as light as you think you can get it. It may be gone after one treatment, or it may take a week or more of daily treatments. This method is very effective, and the results just depend on the stain. One useful thing to keep in mind is that the Oxy seems to keep working on its own, even after you stop performing treatments. For stains that don't seem to want to go away completely, you may find a few weeks later that they're suddenly gone. Overall, it's an easy, safe, and effective way to remove DD stains.
  

 

Alternative Treatments

 

There is an alternate de-staining method used by some. It involves two products that are only sold by a company called Twin Pines of Maine through mail order: Remove-Zit (to clean stains) and Formula 9-1-1 (to clean off the remove-zit). The benefit of this method is that it is supposed to be effective at removing stains in a hurry. The drawbacks I have heard are that it's more expensive, requires multiple products, can yellow the doll's plastic skeleton, and has the chance to ruin the doll's vinyl under some (unknown) conditions. I haven't personally used this method, but Wolfheinrich has. I personally prefer heatlamp-Oxy since it is worry-free and at least as fast when the heatlamp is used, but feel free to use whatever you like best yourself.

 

Much thanks goes to baldylox, mitsuki, and all others who helped me learn how to de-stain.

Much thanks also to the posters in this thread who helped refine our collective knowledge.

Edited January 19, 2012 by Guest

Thanks so much for posting this! It's very detailed and will definitely help those in need of removing stains from their lovely DDs I know I'll be referencing it should I ever need it since it covers everything I would need to know in case of such an emergency

I handle stains pretty much the same way except I wrap the area I'm treating with plastic wrap, which keeps it moist longer so you don't have to reapply more then once a day. It generally seemed more effective for me this way.

This is a fantastic guide, SakuraSylph! Thank you for doing so much work to put it together. I think it is a wonderful resource.

You're welcome, all! I hope this info helps people in the future, just as others helped me learn. Having our collective knowledge in one place is something I wished I had had originally, which was the inspiration for the post. Also, it provides a place to talk about and improve our techniques.

 

I handle stains pretty much the same way except I wrap the area I'm treating with plastic wrap, which keeps it moist longer so you don't have to reapply more then once a day.

Interesting idea! It makes sense that plastic wrap would keep moisture in, just like for food. Do you use this plastic wrap instead of a heatlamp, or in addition? If the latter, have you had any trouble with the plastic wrap melting into the skin because of its thinness and lower melting point than vinyl?

I handle stains pretty much the same way except I wrap the area I'm treating with plastic wrap, which keeps it moist longer so you don't have to reapply more then once a day.

Interesting idea! It makes sense that plastic wrap would keep moisture in, just like for food. Do you use this plastic wrap instead of a heatlamp, or in addition? If the latter, have you had any trouble with the plastic wrap melting into the skin because of its thinness and lower melting point than vinyl?

 

 

I use both, I've never had a problem with melting. It hasn't melted when I've used it on bowls in the microwave and that's a lot hotter then you wanna get your dolls I think. Not sure how hot you try to get it but I just like to keep it toasty warm.

 

I originally read about using it in this post on figure.fm, in the comments section:

http://www.figure.fm/post/en/1942/Dollfie+-+Remove+Staining.html

Excellent FAQ! It's nice to see this all listed in one spot... that must have taken you quite some time to setup and type out! Great job on it tho!

 

And you're welcome for any input I had, limited as it was. Anything to help people out for cleaning up their girls!

 

 

Billy

I found this video which is very helpful:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY7ofc7c9iM

 

It's about removing stains from an American Girl doll, and these dolls are made of the exact same material Dollfie Dreams are. All these steps will work on Dollfie Dreams.

It uses the Benzoyl Peroxide and the sun (or a UV lamp).

It uses the Benzoyl Peroxide and the sun (or a UV lamp).

 

UV radiation will damage vinyl over time. Putting your doll in the sun works because it warms it up which causes the benzoil peroxide to work faster, not because of UV radiation. This is why we recommended a desk lamp or heat lamp for speeding up the process, as a heat source and nothing more. A few days out in the sun isn't gonna to noticeably hurt the vinyl but isn't helping it any either. Over time, the less unneeded exposure the better.

I use both, I've never had a problem with melting. It hasn't melted when I've used it on bowls in the microwave and that's a lot hotter then you wanna get your dolls I think. Not sure how hot you try to get it but I just like to keep it toasty warm.

Makes sense. I think I was thinking about how plastic wrap shrinks and melts when it's near a hair dryer even on low setting. You're right that a heat lamp should be kept definitely far enough away from the doll that it wouldn't get that hot.

 

Thanks again for the suggestion. I'm trying the plastic wrap idea right now on some other stains, in fact, to learn how it works. So far, I can definitely see that it's keeping moisture in after 3 hours - rather than drying out into a white paste, the Oxy appears to have become a liquid about half white and half clear in color under the plastic wrap.

It uses the Benzoyl Peroxide and the sun (or a UV lamp).

 

UV radiation will damage vinyl over time. Putting your doll in the sun works because it warms it up which causes the benzoil peroxide to work faster, not because of UV radiation. This is why we recommended a desk lamp or heat lamp for speeding up the process, as a heat source and nothing more. A few days out in the sun isn't gonna to noticeably hurt the vinyl but isn't helping it any either. Over time, the less unneeded exposure the better.

 

I see, thank you for telling me!

 

So I should just get the Halogen Bulb mentioned in the first post?

I've done stain treatments with and without plastic wrap, and while the plastic wrap does keep the oxy from drying out, I've not really seen a big difference in terms of stain removal rate. I'm not sure the excess oxy on the surface of the doll is really doing a lot, it's what penetrates that matters. (See bottom of post on this.)

 

I've tried with and without heat and light sources too. I've had my best bet in a UV blocking window during the summer, which makes me believe heat is more important than UV. I've also tried it under an actual UV lamp and didn't see much benefit. So specifically seeking out UV isn't something I'd recommend.

 

Also, one other thing I've noticed is that the stain removal process continues after you stop specifically treating it. My kitsune (Mio) head came with terrible wig staining. I treated it for two weeks and never could get them to go away. They got lighter but were still clearly visible. Just this week, months later, I was changing the wig and I noticed that the stains are now gone. This is not the first time I've observed this happening.

 

I also have one question I'd like people to weight in on. Have you found it to make any difference if you spread the oxy out in a thin layer or leave a rather thick layer? Personally I've not tried carefully controlled tests or anything but really haven't noticed much difference.

I've done stain treatments with and without plastic wrap, and while the plastic wrap does keep the oxy from drying out, I've not really seen a big difference in terms of stain removal rate. I'm not sure the excess oxy on the surface of the doll is really doing a lot, it's what penetrates that matters. (See bottom of post on this.)

 

Its definitely possible that its just an issue of perception on my part. I haven't done side to side testing but I've tried it both ways and it seemed like it was helping but I could be wrong. There also my be factors that cause it to help in some instances but not in others. At the bear minimum I don't think its hurting.

 

I've tried with and without heat and light sources too. I've had my best bet in a UV blocking window during the summer, which makes me believe heat is more important than UV. I've also tried it under an actual UV lamp and didn't see much benefit. So specifically seeking out UV isn't something I'd recommend.

 

Totally agree. UV can certainly bleach things you leave out in the sun but it takes a long time. I have my doubts as to whether it could even penetrate the cream to get to the stain. Either way the harm it causes is almost certainly greater then any good it will do.

 

Also, one other thing I've noticed is that the stain removal process continues after you stop specifically treating it. My kitsune (Mio) head came with terrible wig staining. I treated it for two weeks and never could get them to go away. They got lighter but were still clearly visible. Just this week, months later, I was changing the wig and I noticed that the stains are now gone. This is not the first time I've observed this happening.

 

I've noticed this too. Actually I've seen very light stains that I never treated disappear with time. Much like with how the dye gets soaked into the vinyl I suspect the same thing causes it to spread out in the vinyl over time causing it to fade, this is total speculation on my part though. Either way there were some light stains on my girls that are now gone even though I didn't do anything.

 

I also have one question I'd like people to weight in on. Have you found it to make any difference if you spread the oxy out in a thin layer or leave a rather thick layer? Personally I've not tried carefully controlled tests or anything but really haven't noticed much difference.

 

I tried it a little bit both ways but never noticed any real difference. I would say just enough to cover the color of the skin/stain is plenty.

Excelent guide, you have addressed every single point!

 

It may be worth mentioning that even white fabric or thread might stain our dolls skin under certain cirbleepstances (i.e. getting little wet).

I know this because it happened to me once when her 100% white cotton socks got a little wet and i didnt mind at the moment because i thought she was safe... only to find out days later that it had left very noticeable blue stains on her calves and ankles

 

Cannot tell why this happended, it may be thats not only the dye color itself but also the compounds present in it that could stain the vynil.

 

Just my two cents

Thanks for the input, scripple! Those are some good points, and I'd like to update the OP to include this extra information that we're discussing.

 

My treatment with the plastic wrap completed, and the stains certainly were much lighter underneath than when I started. However I cannot be sure if keeping the Oxy more liquid helped or if it would be the same. Maybe some more testing will be required on a larger stain. Hmm... (more to come here, if I can find a big enough stained piece to cover half with wrap and leave half uncovered).

 

One possible side benefit I can think of for the plastic wrap though is that it could act as an insurance policy against mistakes. Keeping the Oxy in a more liquid state might help prevent the vinyl from getting scorched / turning black if a new person accidentally puts the desk lamp way too close to it and/or leaves it under heat for way too long. No idea if that's actually true, but it seems like a possibility since the vinyl wouldn't dry out as quickly. I'm thinking defensively here. Anybody have more experience to share in this area? I wonder if it's worth mentioning in the OP for that reason, regardless of whether or not plastic wrap actually helps speed up the removal.

 

I also have one question I'd like people to weight in on. Have you found it to make any difference if you spread the oxy out in a thin layer or leave a rather thick layer? Personally I've not tried carefully controlled tests or anything but really haven't noticed much difference.

Thus far I have noticed better results when making sure the area was covered white goop, and one could not see the underlying skin or stain. In places where I used a small amount of Oxy and spread it around so it was a see-through thin layer, there was not as much fading after the same amount of time under the lamp. Note that these experiences were on different parts of a stain, so it's not a controlled scientific evaluation. More of an, er, observation, at this point.

This is an excellent guide, SakuraSylph! Thank you for all the time and effort you put into it!

Hmm, I wonder how much heat is a factor in speeding the process. For example, the cling wrap may create a greenhouse effect. Would heating parts with a hair dryer before treatment possibly help? Something to try, perhaps.

I have edited the OP to include comments and suggestions given by everyone thus far. New:

• Moisture, getting either light or dark clothes wet.
  
• Removed UV recommendations in the lightbulb discussion.
  
• Added that stains can fade on their own after treatments stop.
  
• Added a couple more details to the Remove-Zit entry.
  
• Specifically called out a reasonable time limit for the heatlamp.
  
• Credits to posters in this thread for adding knowledge.
  

 

I am working on comparing plastic wrap vs no plastic wrap side by side on a single horizontal stain.

 

Hmm, I wonder how much heat is a factor in speeding the process. For example, the cling wrap may create a greenhouse effect. Would heating parts with a hair dryer before treatment possibly help? Something to try, perhaps.

Heat is indeed the major factor in speeding up the process, which is the reason for using the lamp throughout. Pre-heating the vinyl with a hair dryer would likely work just as well as pre-heating it with the lamp. Feel free to do it that way if you like!

Okay, so I got hold of a doll calf that needed some work. This piece had a long horizontal stain on it along with a couple of patch stains, which is a good basis for testing the effectiveness of plastic wrap. I gave the stain three treatments throughout the day yesterday, and as a result nearly removed it. What I did and the results are captured in the photos below.

 

In each photo I messed around with the colors to try and make the stain more easily visible for comparison purposes. I don't actually have a tanned doll leg to work on!

 

This first photo is the original stain without any work done to it. I circled the areas just to make it clear where to look in subsequent photos.

 

Here's some of the equipment used. You can see the Oxy, the Magic Eraser, towels, plastic wrap, directed light shining on the leg, and doll.

 

I applied the Oxy to the stain and covered the left half of it with plastic wrap, like so. Although I won't show it in future pictures, the plastic was always on the same side, covering the stain at the same point.

 

After one 4-hour treatment, this is what it looked like. You can see that the uncovered Oxy has completely dried and become solid, while the Oxy under the plastic wrap is has become a little solid but is still mostly liquid. The Oxy under the plastic is mostly clear, while the exposed Oxy is mostly white.

 

1: Removing the Oxy, this is what the stain looked like underneath after the first treatment. It has faded slightly, and fading appears uniform over the whole area.

 

2: A second treatment was then performed, same steps and time. This is what it looked like after two treatments, eight hours since start.

 

3: A third treatment was then performed, same steps and time. This is what it looked like after three treatments, twelve hours since start. The stain is quite faint now; pretty much just a little bit of the patches is left.

 

Since each time we had plastic on the left and no plastic on the right, if the plastic had an effect I would expect to see a clear line down the middle where one side was more faded than the other. But that is not what the results show. What we saw in the test was uniform fading across the whole stain at each step.

 

Result: That suggests to me that - at least according to this test - using plastic wrap neither helps nor hinders the speed at which the heatlamp-Oxy method removes stains.

SakuraSylph - thanks for the stain removal tutorial - I finally got my hands on a tube of Oxy10 so it was nice to have idiot-proof step by step directions about how to use it! ^__^"

 

I've previously only worked with RemoveZit and although it's very effective, it's a bit risky.

 

I did a post about my experience with it here - viewtopic.php?f=18&t=821&start=0#p17774

 

Since RZ is "homemade" by the person that owns Twin Pines, each batch is made fresh (roughly once a month from what I gathered from their site?) so there may be slight variations from one batch to another. It's wise to test a newly ordered batch of RZ on a spare vinyl piece to make sure it doesn't cause blisters like it did for GabrielVH.

 

On my MDD I had 100% success, but when I treated a small leg stain on my Moe v.2 it created a raised bump, but over the last month the bump has "deflated" and looks normal again. The only differences I can think of are:

a) different vinyl batch. The MDD is older vinyl, and Moe's body is the softer vinyl that the newest dolls are made of, and

b) time. With my MDD I removed the RZ every 12-24 hrs and applied a fresh layer, even if it wasn't completely dried out and crystallized like in Wolfheinrich's post. With Moe, I put a blob of RZ on the stained spots, went away on a trip for 3 days and didn't remove it until I got home. There was a very clear raised bump where the RZ had been applied in both spots, and the vinyl was a bit lighter in color than the untreated area. Very strange!

 

With GabrielVH's Yuki the blisters "deflated" as well over time but the texture of the vinyl was ruined - it was rough and would snag on stockings, nylons and outfits. He ended up buying a new body for her >__<"

 

Jezatron has also mentioned to me that RZ can cause the hard vinyl that DD heads are made of to yellow slightly, but it's only visible in the area treated on the head that was treated with RZ after several months have passed.

 

I don't know anyone willing to test this out on their DD heads, so that's why I've taken their advice and although I'll gladly slather RZ onto DD body parts, for the heads I'll stick with the slower, but safer 10% benzoyl peroxide cream method.

 

Anyways, I kind of rambled on, but I hope some of this info is useful

I don't know if someone can help me about this but I tried to go buy the Oxy cream and they told me I needed a prescription for it, I live in Canada so did it happen to some of you who live there too? I wonder if I can order it online.

 

I got a Rin doll that is badly stained even if I bought a wig cap and a body stocking and I would really want to restore her.

 

Thank you for the thread it's really helpful

I don't know if someone can help me about this but I tried to go buy the Oxy cream and they told me I needed a prescription for it, I live in Canada so did it happen to some of you who live there too? I wonder if I can order it online.

 

I got a Rin doll that is badly stained even if I bought a wig cap and a body stocking and I would really want to restore her.

 

Thank you for the thread it's really helpful

 

You're better off ordering from Twin Pines of Maine and getting their remove-zit. It works faster and if you're treating large areas it's the way to go.

 

If you are going to treat her head, make sure headcap is removed from the head, her faceup can fade from the fumes and chemicals permeating through the vinyl.

Thanks for the suggestion!

 

I wanted to order the remove-zit but i'm very afraid of using it because of what I've read (I don't want to do any error on the faceup because i'm planning to sell or trade her)

 

I've took some pictures of her stains

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/Geb_Geb/Dollfie/DSC05509.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/Geb_Geb/Dollfie/DSC05508.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/Geb_Geb/Dollfie/DSC05507.jpg

 

I'm sad because I've always take good care of her and I never took in consideration that she would stain with a Volks wig cap on (Now I've carefully store her in her box to not create more stains) It's pretty hard to find her a new family with all those stains (I tried a few time). Do you think remove zit is still an option?

 

Thank you

I don't know if someone can help me about this but I tried to go buy the Oxy cream and they told me I needed a prescription for it, I live in Canada so did it happen to some of you who live there too?

There were reports from another member here that Oxy requires a prescription in the UK, so that kind of thing isn't unheard-of. I didn't know about Canada, but it sounds like it is the same there. Hmm. Oxy is sold over-the-counter in the United States, so maybe you can order some from the US Amazon or other online place.

 

Regarding Twin-Pines' Remove-Zit... The heatlamp-Oxy method removes stains so quickly for me that I have a hard time believing that Remove-Zit can really be any faster. RZ was way faster than the old way of just dabbing Oxy (with no heatlamp) and waiting a month or more. But I wonder if the "RZ is faster" rule of thumb is outdated now with this updated procedure. I'd test it like I tested the plastic wrap theory, but I don't own any RZ ^_^;.

 

I will agree that RZ probably is faster on large areas though, since it doesn't require a heatlamp to use. The Oxy only works quickly in the area that the light shines directly on. So you're either going to be doing a small area at a time or need to use multiple light sources in order to get coverage over a wide area.

 

BTW, Oxy's chemicals aren't as harsh as RZ, so you don't need to remove the headcap when destaining doll heads with it. I cover the faceup with a cloth just to avoid direct exposure to the light, and that is all. So far I've had good luck with that.

 

I applaud you for wanting to restore your Rin. I like working on dolls and fixing them up, too. I think it's fun .

Oh, the stain will be mostly hidden under the wig, that's not so bad

I got a pretty stained Yuki and 'Clearasil' worked wonders on her feet and legs! It didn't completely remove the stains after 48 hours, they were fainter and light brown instead of black/blue. But a few days later and they had disappeared on their own. I'm worried about trying harsher treatments so I'm glad I tried the zit cream first, it was fine on its own.