Ways to Remove Faceup without using W&N?

Hello everyone!

 

I've been thinking about maybe getting my Rise repaint as well as Momo, but I have concerns for having their faceups removed with Windsor and Newton Brush Cleaner.

 

I have a practice 01 head I use for faceups and have removed the faceup with W&N at least 6 times now and the head is no longer a pinkish color; it's more yellow.

 

My question: Is there a safer substance to use to remove faceups that will, perhaps, not yellow the head so fast? Rise has had her default removed once, and any more is making me nervous.

 

Anyone else have experience with this?

 

Thank you.

Wow, that's rather disconcerting. Perhaps the head has yellowed over time? That's probably me being hopeful that my go-to face-up remover isn't going to harm the heads. I know that sometimes people use acetone-free nail polish remover (color-less better) and also 75%+ IPA.

Found this on Dollieh Sanctuary:

 

Completely taking off a face up:

1.) Rubbing Alcohol (THOROUGHLY CLEANED WITH WATER AFTERWARDS)

2.) Mr. Clean Magic Eraser

3.) Windsor Newton brush cleaner (Arrowchild)

4.) Mr. Color Thinner (Biff)

 

I'd say out of those mentioned the safest bet would be the magic eraser. I've never had an issue yet.

Hope this helps

I personally go the rubbing alcohol route, though it takes a bit of digging to find the 90% strength stuff. (Totally worth the trouble though.)

I too noticed the yellowing from using W&N. It wasn't too terrible after only one useage, but still there. I've also used it on a couple other heads and didn't see the same yellowing problem happen on them. The one that yellowed slightly was newer than the other two, but only one of those was old enough that it had a hard headcap. So I don't know why it happened to one head but not the others.

 

Before I bought W&N I used thinner and magic erasers to remove faceups. It takes more elbow grease that way, but I never had any side effects from it.

I use 100% Pure Acetone and Mr. Color Thinner.

 

Volks does face ups with Mr. Color and they arent sealed so it takes it off pretty easily.

 

I used to use Windsor Newton but it was too expensive(not cost effective) and yellowed the vinyl.

 

I know for dolls people are pretty afraid of acetone but I think theres no reason to be afraid as long as you use it properly. (Its very strong.) As long as it has no dies in it you should be fine. Just don't dump it on the head and use a cotton pad and add a little and wipe to allow the acetone to evaporate quickly.

Acetone and *vinyl* are fine; people use acetone all the time for cleaning MLPs for custom bait. It's apparently acetone and certain *resins* that don't get along.

 

If you go the acetone or nail polish remover route, just make sure the liquid is clear--sometimes they add dyes to them that can stain. >.> Ag's old head was distinctly pink-ified by a pink-dyed non-acetone nail polish remover. After a week's worth of zit cream and a new faceup it was hard to tell, but I was still not a happy camper.

Thank you all for such helpful responses!

 

I'll have to get a photo to show the comparison. I purchased one of the soft cap 01 heads last summer and the headcap is so pink I even think the color change is noticeable when mounted on a body!

 

I think I'll try the rubbing alcohol method next to see if there is a difference.

 

I'll also try the acetone!

Also curious in this topic, I don't want my new heads yellowing already:/

I was thinking about using 70% isopropyl alcohol.

Also curious in this topic, I don't want my new heads yellowing already:/

I was thinking about using 70% isopropyl alcohol.

 

70% will work, but it takes quite a bit of "elbow grease". If you can get your hands on the 90% stuff, you'll be glad you did!

Also curious in this topic, I don't want my new heads yellowing already:/

I was thinking about using 70% isopropyl alcohol.

 

70% will work, but it takes quite a bit of "elbow grease". If you can get your hands on the 90% stuff, you'll be glad you did!

WOOT, thanks!

I'm sorry to necro this thread, but I'm still unseasy about removing face-ups...

Today my second DD head arrived and since it's an old limited I'd rather not ruin it doing something stupid!

 

I've removed countless face-ups on my resin BJDs using my trusty cheap, clear, oil-free and non-acetone nail polish remover (better than anything else I've tried yet!) and I also own 100% isopropyl alcohol from my local pharmacy. (Other than that there's an old bottle of W&N and Magic Erasers, but I definitely won't use those!)

 

I know it sounds stupid given all the facts and evidence in this thread, but should I just go to town with the isopropyl alcohol? Properly rinsing it afterwards is out of the question, but I remember the alcohol being practically useless on the BJD face-ups and I'm still a bit wary if this will actually work like intended.

Don't want to damage the vinyl in any way!

Since the inception of the thread I did purchase rubbing alcohol to try out and what I found was that W&N ended up being more friendly to use! The issue with the alcohol, which I believe was mentioned, is that it sorta...smears the paint as it removes it whereas the W&N picked it up no problem. No staining issues that I'm aware of as a result of the rubbing alcohol

 

I think either of the two will be fine. I used the rubbing alcohol on Rise which was super scary

Thanks for the reply, DivinitaAria! I've removed my first DD face-up today and I thought I'd share my experience:

 

I tried using 100% isopropyl alcohol first - dabbing a cotton swab into the liquid and carefully moving around one of the eyebrows. Sadly the colour didn't even budge - it may have become a tiny bit more faint over time, but that was not the result I hoped for from hearing that 70% requires elbow grease but anything over that percentage is a-okay and might smear while removing. I don't know what went wrong.

 

By then I had gotten a bit frustrated and used my resin-safe nail polish remover: This "lightened" the eyebrow a lot, but it was still not nearly removed...just made it seem like someone set the transparency to 50%.

I started getting a bit frantic in fear of ruining this head but thankfully my partner offered to drive to the hardware store to get some acetone. Poofiemus' comment made me quite courageous to use acetone (although I did test it out on a spare vinyl MLP figure - it's squeaky clean now!) and it worked like a charm.

Lightning fast like I expected it from unsealed paint - although it smeared a bit. But I used a generous amount of cotton swab to remove the loosened paint and now the head is clean and ready for my first try at DD face-ups tomorrow!