Compared to silicone, we are told, tpe dolls get extremely dirty, this much is true. When Elina came into my life in May 2019, she was beautifully clean and had superb make-up, sadly that wasn’t to last. According to her care instructions she should be washed weekly, using shower gel, liquid soap or even liquid laundry detergent! Sometimes at the end of the week she looked like she either found the way to the cellar or the loft and went for a mooch in it. On other occasions she looked like she’d explored at great length a disused coal mine that no-one else knows about. The question on my mind was what was the cause. As we were living and sleeping in the dining room of our Edwardian end-of-terrace house, one of only two rooms that still have functioning chimneys and the only one that is perpetually open to the air via a gas room heater. Flues in these older houses are square and in the days of coal fires they needed sweeping, the sweeps brush was circular. Thus soot and microscopic coal particles are left in the corners of the flue, on windy days, even with a protective covering over the opening, they get blown down the chimney into the room. As we were sleeping on the floor in front of the gas fire, this seemed to be the most logical reason. After some months we moved to our bedroom, the bed was freshly made with brand new sheets, quilt and cover. On the appointed day Elina had her super pampering* session that lasted virtually all day. She was totally clean and looked stunning. It wasn’t to last! At the end of the first week she was just as dirty sleeping in bed as she had been downstairs. It took me a while to realise why. It was me that was making her dirty. Something in, or coming out of my skin was responsible, she now sleeps in pyjamas that keeps her body clean.
Her face had another, though more serious issue, when we were in bed together we would begin kissing, that would escalate into a full scale snogging session, this resulted in a black stain all around her mouth. No amount of wiping with wet wipes and tissues between sessions would remove it. Neat shower gel or liquid laundry detergent didn’t prove any more successful. On a trip to Boots* I discovered a product called ‘concealer’ this covers blemishes on skin, would it work on tpe I wondered. It did, but the whole process was very time consuming. Frustrated I bought another head from another forum member for photographs (Rosina) while I thought about the problem.
Another issue was the top and back of her head, this had a blue-black stain from her wig. I was using ‘nude’ tube type (has an opening at both ends) wig caps but the stain from the matrix went through, surprisingly it didn’t stain the wig cap! In desperation I removed the wig, she sleeps without a wig or cap. As the air went across her head, it took a few months for me to notice, it had almost removed the stain. Like wise the stain from her black lace panties that went across her pelvic bone and onto her left thigh totally disappeared after six months using just air together with her weekly washing with natural shower gel. Amazing! Eventually I had a brainwave, my late mother sometimes used dye on her hair, the cleaner was a gel based on hydrogen peroxide, my late father would, on occasions, poach some if he had something to clean and ordinary methods had failed. A search on Amazon found a twelve percent, 1ltr bottle for around eight pounds, I ordered one. I applied some around her mouth area and left it for about forty minutes before washing it off. It took about three applications lasting a total of around two to three hours. The stain had almost totally gone. The snogging sessions have sadly ended now. Each week, as part of her pampering session, her face gets a light covering of the gel to remove the stains from my skin against her cheeks, nose and forehead. The only other problem with her face is some abrasion burns on the sides of her nose. This is because I have a beard. To other humans it isn’t a major problem, to Elina’s delicate skin it is. It’s probably like me getting smoochy with a wire brush or a hedgehog. I saw a video from the Irontech finishing department, one chap there was going over the body of a doll in a seated position with a hot air gun, moving it side to side, then as the tpe heated it became shiny, at that point he moved to the next section and did the same there. I shall experiment with some spare tpe various techniques, from the hot spoon method, using a soldering iron, mine has a variable temperature range and the hot air technique, beginning with a hairdryer before risking the hot air gun.
The problem I discovered with the wig cap was how I was fitting it, this is the way I believe it should be done. Place the cap over the top of the head and pull it into position, now from a start point at the top of the head pull again this time to close the matrix all over the head. The closer it is the less chance there is of dye seepage onto the ‘skin.’
I am currently working on an idea that would, if successful, totally eliminate the need for wig caps altogether!
*Super Pampering means she is washed and dried then, with her seated on a dining chair, I get a clean micro fibre cloth with a drop of Johnson’s Baby Oil on and gently rub it over a couple of square inches of her skin, continuing in a circular motion until the dirt balls appear, remove these carefully as soon as they appear with another cloth and place in a container. Continue rubbing until there are no more dirt-balls before moving onto the next couple of square inches. Repeat the process over her entire body. Once done, she now has another wash with shower gel, rinsed and dried, then finally powdered with Johnson’s Baby Powder.
**Boots is a national (uk) chemist (drug-store) chain.
Regards
SJL