How to care Barbie's body
"Barbie" is a registered trademark of Mattel, Inc.; "Fashion Royalty" and "Candi" are registered trademarks of Integrity Toys, Inc.
Marcdolls are not affiliated in any way with the manufacturers of these dolls, or any other doll manufacturer.
...
The photos and text of the entire contents of this web site are copyright of Marcdolls, 2000-2013, in Watt / Switzerland, and may not be used without special written permission.
...
Index:

Bild-Lilli, Barbie's predecessor

Barbie's Introduction

Barbie's early history

Barbie's biography

Barbie the doll

Barbie's Manufacturers Markings

Barbie's controversies

Barbie's friends and relatives

Ethnic Barbie's

Barbie's fashion

Barbie through the ages, 1959 - 2009

Barbie luxury doll to massproduction

Barbie as collectors object

Silkstone Barbie doll

How to care Barbie's head?

How to care Barbie's clothes?

Barbie versus Bratz

Dolls of the My Scene-line

The five different collector types

Glossary of Abbreviations

Miscellaneous

Caring General:
..
Dolls and wardrobes are generally easy to clean with soft soapwater (be careful
with the face, some of the paints are water soluble). Watch out for color buttons
these may dissolve shen the clothes are washed. Never wash fur, brocade and
velvet. Always remove metal earrings, as the metal will oxydate when in contact
with vinyl. Always remove the hairbow from Skipper’s head.
..
..
How to care Barbie's body?
..
Cleaning the Body:
..
Always remove the head.
First, I wash the body with a sponge dipped in diluted Palmolive dishwashing
liquid. Then, I wipe down the body with Formula 911 in 2 parts water. For stains,
I put Soft Scrub on a cotton ball, and gently wipe the area, then rinse thoroughly,
making sure no grit remains. I find Soft Scrub w/Bleach works well on dark stains
and some stains caused by clothing. When the legs get a little sticky or tacky from
cleaning, I rub them with Johnson's Baby Powder. It gives them a nice finished
look and smells wonderful.
..
Mildew/Mold Stains:
..
The secret here is the sun. I use Soft Scrub w/Bleach. First, I remove the head. I
clean the entire body with the Soft Scrub to kill all the mold spores. Then, using a
Q-tip, I dab the Soft Scrub w/Bleach wherever the mold is and set the doll out in
the sun.  I repeat this process daily, until the stains are gone, and this can take
quite a while. I make sure to cover the part of the doll I do not want exposed to the
sun. I've only succeeded once in completely removing the stains. This is strictly a
summer project for me.
..
Other suggestions for TNT legs, which I have NOT yet tried: Wash the legs with
bleach, then set the doll out in the sun Use Clearasil, and set the doll out in the sun.
..
Smoke / Musty Odors:
..
I put Barbie into a sheet of folded white tissue paper, taped at the ends, and bury
her in a container of unscented cat litter for a week. If her legs are a little sticky, as
the mod legs sometimes are, I rub a tiny bit of unscented talc on them first. Caution:
If the cat litter has a fragrance of it's own, it will transfer to Barbie.




 
....Caring General:
..
Dolls and wardrobes are generally easy to clean with soft soapwater (be careful with the face, some of the paints are water soluble). Watch out for color buttons these may dissolve shen the clothes are washed. Never wash fur, brocade and velvet. Always remove metal earrings, as the metal will oxydate when in contact with vinyl. Always remove the hairbow from Skipper’s head.
..
..
How to care Barbie's body?
..
Cleaning the Body:
..
Always remove the head.
First, I wash the body with a sponge dipped in diluted Palmolive dishwashing liquid. Then, I wipe down the body with Formula 911 in 2 parts water.
For stains, I put Soft Scrub on a cotton ball, and gently wipe the area, then rinse thoroughly, making sure no grit remains. I find Soft Scrub w/Bleach works well on dark stains and some stains caused by clothing. When the legs get a little sticky or tacky from cleaning, I rub them with Johnson's Baby Powder. It gives them a nice finished look and smells wonderful.
..
Mildew/Mold Stains:
..
The secret here is the sun. I use Soft Scrub w/Bleach. First, I remove the head. I clean the entire body with the Soft Scrub to kill all the mold spores.
Then, using a Q-tip, I dab the Soft Scrub w/Bleach wherever the mold is and set the doll out in the sun.  I repeat this process daily, until the stains are gone, and this can take quite a while. I make sure to cover the part of the doll I do not want exposed to the sun. I've only succeeded once in completely removing the stains. This is strictly a summer project for me.
..
Other suggestions for TNT legs, which I have NOT yet tried: Wash the legs with bleach, then set the doll out in the sun Use Clearasil, and set the doll out in the sun.
..
Smoke / Musty Odors:
..
I put Barbie into a sheet of folded white tissue paper, taped at the ends, and bury her in a container of unscented cat litter for a week. If her legs are a little sticky, as the mod legs sometimes are, I rub a tiny bit of unscented talc on them first. Caution: If the cat litter has a fragrance of it's own, it will transfer to Barbie.
..
Split Neck, Feet, and Knees:
..
SUREHOLD® Plastic Surgery #Plastic Surgery comes in a tube, similar to Crazy Glue or Super Glue. But that's where the similarity ends. The difference is, this stuff doesn't dry out. It is specifically formulated for use on nylon, polystyrene, PVC, urethane, etc., so it's perfect for vinyl. Simple to use, it's a one step process. I just put a couple of drops into the split, hold it together for a minute, then let it set for about two hours. I use a metal needle file to sand off any excess glue. The same process is used for split knees and feet.
..
Tip: TNT Barbie dolls should be stored with the legs clicked back once, but no more than once. This prevents splits in the vinyl at the back of the knees, and still avoids 'baggy' knees in the front.
..
Painting the Repair:
..
If the nail acrylic doesn't closely match the vinyl, I would work with PrismaColor® markers, blending Peach and Blush Pink, trying to match the doll's coloring. It is difficult to do, but using the tinted nail acrylic powder seems to make matching less of a task. I've also tried matte acrylic paint thinned with water, lightly painting the repair, allowing it to dry for half an hour, and applying another light coat of paint. It usually takes several coats.  I've never gotten the color to match exactly this way.
..
White Spots on Legs:
..
Why the Mod dolls were dyed after the body parts were created instead of mixing the dye with the vinyl is beyond me, but it has caused white or faded spots to occur on the Mods' arms and legs. For small spots, I use Prismacolor® Artist Markers in Blush Pink and Peach with the Blender Pen.
I use the blender pen on the area, then the colors, blending them together with my finger. The colors dry very fast, but can be reblended or removed with the Blender Pen, thank goodness. I haven't tried dying legs with large patches of white, so I have no idea whether it would work or not. I doubt the resulting coloring would be uniform, unless changing a Barbie to a Christie. Mod Fashion was introduced to the world of Haute Couture in 1964, although it had been popular on the streets of Britain, and then America, earlier in the decade. Sixties designers brought a youthfulness to haute couture and changed the fashion world forever. It wasn't until 1967 that Barbie left her couture clothing behind and once again became the "teenage fashion model" she was created to be. Gone were the Cassini "Camelot Era" suit and Dior "New Look" prom gown, the white gloves and pearls. Barbie entered the Mod generation. Mattel designers were finally drawing their influence from fashions that had been showing on the catwalks for three years... the contemporary, ready-to-wear styles that were currently in demand. Here are but a dozen of the many sixties designers whose influence I recognize in the Mod Era Barbie fashions.
..
Silkstone care:
..
Be careful of DISCOLORING, especially the Chinoiserie fabric tends to leave slight marks. You can try using acetone-free nail polish remover to remove stains, but be careful: Silkstones might be painted (not sure) and if so, it could also remove the paint if you rub too hard. Watch the PAINT on the dolls, the toenails are prone to fading with removing and putting back shoes. Silkstones can get GREEN EARS, so always try to carefully remove your doll's earrings if you want to prevent this. The earrings are straight bars with tiny knobs on the end. In order to make this easier for you, there are a few things to know.
..
A Silkstone head is made of (hard) vinyl. Because of this, you can warm it up with a blowdryer (safe distance, not too close) to make it soft. Then gently pull out the earrings, but be careful, they can get damaged/break. You may consider coating the earring posts with clear fingernail polish, this is said to slow down/stop the metal from oxidizing. Then you could put them back. Do note that this might turn wrong! The nail polish may have a chemical reaction on the vinyl and become sticky over time.
Return to Top Page .........