Esthetics Help! Big yellowed old dolls project

Welcome back! Your girls are lovely. Yellowing is a huge topic, because of course so many years have gone by since BJDs became a thing that more and more people are looking to restore older dolls. General Discussion is not really the forum for this - you might want to search in the Customization and Maintenance forum, where you will find plenty of topics on the subject - including the pros and cons of OxiClean (just use the search function at the top of the page). I'm not really sure that it has wound up as a first choice, but you can find several comments related to it. There is also a wonderful thread on color restoration if you are unable to actually remove the yellowing. Unfortunately, not a whole lot of methods will allow you to save a faceup, though.

Best of luck to you! Giving older dolls a second shot at their original beauty is quite gratifying.

Just editing to add that sometimes, when all else fails, some seriously dedicated hours of sanding can make a difference, as you can see in this restoration thread.

 

You will never get them back to 'white skin' sadly. Consesus on Oxyclean is out but most agree the results are neglible, possibly even harmful to the integrity of the resin in the long term. Using red die bath to add back pink tones works very well, but they will be normal skin' after a process like thios not, white. Final option might be to replace the bodies and airbrush the head to match a new, white body (this is the closest you will get to getting back to a 'white kin'). Honestly form the picture thye don't look back though? Definaly seen dolls so yellowed they make me grimace a bit, but that dosen't seem to be the case here.

 

Careful with that Oxyclean or anything bubbly. I had heard a hydroperoxide bath would be good for yellowing and tried it but it kinda ate away on the edges of my doll's eyes. I could be wrong but you might have to rock the yellowing Body blushing could help hide but it looks like yours are in great condition. Also, WELCOME BACK. I'm in a similar boat.

 

I use a Polydent soak as a part of regular maintenance.

 

how often do you use it???

 

Glad to have you return. I wish you luck on getting back into it.
Just like most things in bjd de yellowing is always very back and forth.
I just oxi bathed an old doll I got second hand. It really helped to clean since he was so dirty. For de yellowing it help to get the sickly tone out and turn him more ivory. I only did two bath not huge change but enough for the worst of yellowing. I did wipe the face up and sealant to get a true clean. One of the tutorials I followed is this
https://sites.google.com/site/dollacon/home/resources/oxi-bath-tips-for-resin-dolls

There’s also ones that are more to resolve the issue with dye baths. These of course make the doll resin not white any more but it can revive the sickly color. This one I haven’t done but seems really cool and worth it in the long run if you don’t mind dyed dolls.
Resin Yellowing - the Hows and Whys and What you can do about it. — STAND

Sadly like most things dolls have ware and tear. Even if it just natural age for light colored resin.
Best of luck again with all your new plans and projects. The girls you shared all look very lovely even with the yellowing.

 

I had no such issues. Just for info sake it was an old 2012-14 Colin from Doll Chateau. I think he must have been in white for it to turn so buttery.
I saw no changes in the resin quality and no flaws that he didn’t already have. I have sealed his face and had no issues or noticeable difference.
I actually haven’t heard that anyone had deterioration with oxi when I was researching. It seems for most people a rather safe method. There are several YouTube videos if you want to find any more discussions on it. (All do warn to only use the most basic oxi formula nothing fancy but I think that’s more about dyes)

Another thing people do is high buff sanding (even though that’s a ton of work)
I don’t think it’s worth it for minimal aging and is truly a project doll dilemma.

I will provide a picture of my boi. It’s actually very hard to catch mellow and ivory skin tones on my phone. So for the most part it doesn’t look huge but it was an improvement.
De Mellowing (I still have no clue how to attach photos here. Lol )

Best of luck again. Lol the discourse around each persons bjd is always confusing to wade through.

 

Just to be clear polydent and oxiclean are pretty much the same thing, the active ingredient in both is peroxide. I have used it on my doll, and although it didn't eat away at resin I did feel it yellowed faster afterwards. use with caution.

 

Every couple of years or so, and on every old secondhand doll I receive.

It provides a deep clean to remove surface dirt and has a light blue dye that helps to neutralize the yellow hue. I've noticed that sometimes 'yellowing' is just built up dirt/dust and oils from the dolls being dressed and handled, and the deep clean really helps bring the vibrancy back to the resin.

My friend and I have been using it regularly on our dolls for over 10 years with zero negative issues.

 

Years ago I and a fellow hobbyist used the oxy clean bath method on some butter yellow dolls, and one came out a little whiter but 2 out of the 3 dolls turned orangey yellow in the bath. All had the same treatment (time, concentration of oxygene) following a tut here on DoA that had been used with success before. My friend reported the results in one of the many de-yellowing threads here.
It's as I always say, hit and miss, because every resin mixture is a little different and there are many chemical components coming into play, even within the same company's resin. Resin is a chemically complex material.

As with the changes in resin quality - those would probably not be apparent right away. And in years to come you won't know if your resin yellowing or becoming slightly more brittle is due to its nature, or helped along by previous bleaching processes. But people who use an bleaching agent on any plastic (like people using it on older computer casings etc.) know that is does affect material structure, so one needs to be very careful. (Heck, even if you bleach your jeans or your hair or teeth, this does micro damage to the material, it is really aggressive stuff and no mistake )

 

Ya of course it effects the resin it it wouldn’t be able to whiten without some sort of process going on. Resin is a strange realm of hit or miss like you said. I of course tested the head cap of my doll first to be safe. It just hard to pin down what did what. You can’t always blame one thing but if people don’t want to risk it then that make perfect sense. I wouldn’t be willing to risk a 600 dollar doll for all my projects but a doll I love but need refinishing, then I am willing to see results with risk. I wish there was more study and testing or atleast easily found informations with resin outside of the doll community’s so I am always open to new information. Lol I guess it is cause it a mixture of art work and differences in chemical make up that makes resin it own beast.

 

I know 2 methods to "fight" the yellowing, but have personally tried only one. Without further ado:
1) Soaking in a mix of water and baking soda - this is the method I've tried. It's pretty simple and requires a mix of 2:1 of water and baking soda. You soak the dolls overnight and voila! The big question is, but does it work? From my personal purely anecdotal experience, yes, yes it does! The difference isn't dramatic and the doll didn't turn into the same white resin as it used to have, but it looks drastically different and more natural now.
2) Sanding the parts. I have seen some people get incredible results with this. I used to think that if the surface of a doll looks yellow, means that it's yellowed all the way through, but nope, turns out you can gently sand off that yellow layer off and get yourself a doll that looks like it's brand new. I haven't tried this method because I'm very sensitive to dust and small particles and don't have protective gear, but a friend of mine has, and I was honestly impressed.

 

Does anyone out there actually have french resin that they have done the oxiclean or baking soda rinse on?
all the info on the forums is mostly about normal resin.
I read how different french resin is and its really quite scary to soak my Loong Soul dragon boy
without more info or pictures from other french resin owners.
I will never have the chance again to own a dragon boy now so I really need more info if anyone has it.

 

@YOUKAIMOON, if you can't find the information you are looking for from other owners, I think that in your situation I would probably soak one corner of the headcap in the solution, rinse it well, and then leave it for a few weeks to see if any deterioration occurs. You don't have to risk the entire doll to see what the results would be.

 

thank you celga.

 

I bought a Pinky French resin Narae from the DoA marketplace and she had severe tan lines on her upper arms and upper thighs. I gave her 1 oxyclean treatment (no I’ll effects) and it did not make a dent in the yellowing. I sanded a bit but I just don’t have the patience to do a decent job. My Narae likes pink so I gave up on removing the yellowing and decided to cover it. I used a pink Prismacolor pencil and doodled tattoos to mask the tan lines. The tats stayed on for a several years and she spent 2 years in storage. When she came back into the house, I gave her a spa day, removed the Prisma pencil, which had the effect of dying her red: the yellowing was gone.

Her color is now more like a Volks Normal. She is from 2005, so I never expected to restore her to her Original color.

By no means a quick solution. Dying probably would have been easier.

 

I know nothing about de-yellowing. But to remove stains from clothing, wigs, etc. I use a Magic Eraser dipped in non-toxic Windsor Newton brush cleaner then rinse with water. Works like a charm! It will remove any blushing or face paint however.

 

For your reference:
These are the legs of my SOOM MA Sabik (skin color: normal):



Left: Before sanding.
Right: After sanding.

You may see the difference more clearly between the right leg and the right knee joint.
I usually give my dolls a maintenance sanding every year from head to toe - except of the face.
I use 3M Super Fine, Ultra Fine and Micro Fine Sandpaper and Tamiya Finishing Abrasives Ultra Fine Set.
It takes a whole day to get it done, but careful sanding makes magic. The indentations are pretty hard to sand manually (around defined muscles, hands with veins, etc.), but it is worth the time and the effort.

This resin ages very nicely, it does change its color a bit over time, but it can be easily restored to the original - and even if you don't, you'll end up with a very natural, not really yellow, but rather a light peachy undertone.