How to clean soft vinyl dolls
How to clean soft vinyl dolls like vintage strawberry shortckae dolls.
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Cleaning vintage strawberry shortcake dolls and other soft vinyl dolls
Copyright, Neva J. Howell
Warning! You have to take your own risk in cleaning old dolls.
The fact that these things have worked for me may not mean they will work on every doll.
Start with an inconspicuous area or try it on a doll that is already damaged in some other way.
I went thru a lot of trial and error, trying to figure out the best way to clean the soft vinyl dolls in the vintage Strawberry Shortcake line.
I was afraid I might damage the painted on eyes, mouth, freckles and blush by using a regular cleaner so I tried several things before settling on a particular way.
First, I tried a natural soap I use called neutralizer. It didn’t harm the vinyl but it also didn’t take away the old dust and dirt that is often on the faces of old dolls.
Then, I tried baby wipes but they didn’t work well either.
Finally, I found a product at the dollar store that works better than anything else. It’s called Orange Goop Hand Cleaner.
I tried it on my Huckleberry Pie doll because the hat was molded and I figured that would affect the price a bit anyway. When I wiped it off about 10 minutes later, the face was just simply shining. The doll looks like new.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work that well on my Strawberry Shortcake first edition flat hand doll and that may be due to it being older and, perhaps, a different type of vinyl. It did take some of the staining off her too, but not all.
VDS DAMAGE ON SOFT VINYL DOLLS:
This type of damage causes dark spots on the legs, arms and trunks of the vintage strawberry shortcake dolls.
Sometimes, VDS can attack the face too but I’ve mostly seen it on the body and primarily on arms and legs.
Stopping VDS damage I have several dolls with VDS damage and I’ve read that it can’t be cured but I beg to differ.
There is no way I’ve found that will undo the damage once it’s done but bathing the dolls in colloidal silver (naturally antifungal) should stop it from getting worse.
I have no proof of that but I believe it, based on what I know about silver as a wellness counselor.