The importance of clean

I'm somewhere in the middle. I am a very hands on collector, and I handle my dolls almost daily. I've never worn gloves and find it highly unnecessary overall. My hands stay mostly clean, so I don't go scrub before touching my dolls, unless I feel dirty, like if I have food, makeup, paint or chemicals on me. However, I am also pretty careful to keep a clean house. I vacuum, do laundry, dust, clean the kitchen/bathroom and organize weekly. Any spills or messes are cleaned up immediately. I have no kids, just a Rat Terrier, and aside from shedding, she's very clean and doesn't bother the dolls, neither does my husband. I keep my dolls either in a bedroom designated "the doll room" or in my sewing room--both places where food and drink or anything messy does not go, and it's extremely rare that anyone besides me goes in there. So I guess for me the "line" falls between regular handling with relatively clean hands is fine, but anything that would put dirt, grime, oil or anything else messy on the dolls that can't easily be removed with a magic eraser is not okay. I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but mostly I do my own faceups/blushing, so if one does get chipped, it's not really a huge deal to fix it.

 

Even though I'm a total "neat freak", and pretty protective of my crew, I absolutely refuse to wear gloves while I'm handling my dolls... Like you OP, I depend a lot on being able to actually feel what I'm handling. I need that tactile feedback or I turn into a hopeless klutz. (It's exactly the same reason why I don't wear gloves when I'm gardening. I end up being scratched and stabbed by my rose bushes and berry canes a lot less often if I'm *not* wearing protective gear, odd as that may sound.) Gloves just seems to wreck my manual dexterity.

That said, I DO wash my hands before I take anyone out of the cabinets to tinker with... That's just a common sense precaution given how many different things we all handle in the course of the day and how much gunk we can end up carting around on our hands as a result..

 

I tend not to wear gloves unless I'll be touching the faceup, or any other heavily painted area. I do however wash my hands before, though. After ten years in this hobby I have learnt that touching them isn't the end of the world. But, I take extra care with faceups because the oil on our skin can effect it.

I also wear one glove if I'm fixing wig, eyes, etc. That way the gloved hand can touch the face (if need be) and the ungloved hand can do whatever needs to be done. XD

 

Glad to help. ^.^ About the hands (though I know this is offtopic, apologies)...are you sure it is the water giving you blisters? I have rather bad eczema and will get them all down my fingers/palms of my hands. Some lotion meant for eczema may help with that. If it is that, it probably isn't the water rather the soap.

 

Eesh, that sounds horrid! Soap is the worst for that I find. Mine always gets much worse if I have to constantly wash mine so I feel your pain. :< And yes, we are everywhere...unfortunately.

But, yes. Try the one glove trick, it works wonders for me! :3

 

I always thought using gloves were unnecessary. These dolls are stronger than we give them credit for and as long as your hands aren't greasy, it should be fine. While hand oils do damage resin, it's more-so over time as the oils accumulate.

This is a little off-topic but have you tried using Goat's Milk Soap? I've heard it actually does wonders for people with eczema. Here's a link to some of the soaps that may help. If you happen to try it and it works, hopefully you won't have to wear gloves anymore.

 

I have excessively sweaty hands, so much so that it can be detrimental if I'm not careful while doing any artwork or crafting with paper as it will warp in mere seconds if I'm not paying attention to where my hands are and what they are doing at all times.

While I've considered the possibility of only touching my dolls with gloves on, I find it's just too much of a hassle. I'll handle my dolls without fear when it comes to touching parts that are covered by their clothes, or if they have no body blushing. However, one of my dolls has all-over body blushing, and I plan to give the others in the crew the same treatment (eventually.) I've thus resorted to either A using my knuckles to touch spots or move parts that are painted/blushed/sealed, or B using the fabric of their clothes or the hair on their wigs to put a material in between my skin and the resin when moving various painted/blushed/sealed parts. Both of these methods seem to work pretty well. :v

When it comes to faceups I've learned that I HAVE to wear gloves, as even holding their faces with my fingertips for 5 seconds will smear everything that I came into contact with. It's a hassle, but it's livable.

 

I newer wear gloves but washed my hands before touching them. Even they are not dirty , the skin reduces oil to keep the skin well moistoired.
I only use handcream when i go to bed not during the day because then i need to wash them even more to get the cream off ^^

 

I don't wear gloves ever, but I also hardly handle my dolls and when I do I'm usually touching the clothed parts or when moving the head, I grab them near the ears over the wig. I don't touch the face and I don't go around with dirty hands anyway. If the gloves are causing this much drama, definitely ditch them.

 

I don't wear gloves-- gloves in general drive me crazy, so unless I absolutely need them for some reason, I don't use 'em. I've only had a couple of pairs of winter gloves that didn't irritate me too much to wear when dealing with weather.

I do like to have clean hands when I'm handling a doll, but then, I like to have clean hands in general. If I just have to move a doll from one spot to another, I hold them where they're dressed anyway, but if I'm going to be seriously working with (or seriously cuddling with, if it's that kind of a day) any doll, I wash up first, make sure nothing's gotten on my shirt if I'm going to be holding a doll against my body, just generally ensure that I'm not a greasy/oily mess for any reason.

 

I wear gloves only when I'm handling other people's dolls and when I'm doing face-ups. I spray coat all my dolls so the resin won't be in direct touch with anything bad, and when the coating gets dirty it can be just cleaned off and re-applied. Though, I have a bad habit I got from drawing a lot: I wash my hands all the time. So my hands are clean but my skin doesn't like me. : /

 

I always wash my hands before touching my dolls or their stuff, as I am an obsessive hand-washer in general, being obsessed by germs as I am *sigh* But I have very delicate, dry skin, so I always slather on a GOOD moisture cream (many of them are totally useless!) I end up washing off the moisture cream 5 mins later when I 'need' to wash my hands again, so I get through a ton of both soap and moisture cream (and now I'm on a water meter, I am dreading my water bill too!) But I would not skip the moisture cream - my hands would be cracked and bleeding in no time.

If like you I had eczema, I would put plenty of cream on EVERY time you wash your hands, even if it has to be washed off a minute later, and wear silicone gloves rather than cotton ones to handle your dolls - they type they use in hospital as disposables. I am guessing you are allergic to latex too? If you google 'hospital grade disposable gloves' there's a lot of different types - some containing powder, some vinyl, some powder free, etc. so have a look for some which suit you and if they are tight fitting you should be able to feel things even with them on

 

I tend to wash my hands before handling my dolls if there's oils or traces of moisturiser on them, or if they're sweaty. Oil (including the oils in moisturiser) and sweat can discolour or even damage resin, so I try to not get those on my dolls. I don't like wearing gloves, though, so I only do that to protect my skin when working with epoxy or glue or the like. Not for handling dolls.

 

I never wear gloves handling my dolls. I totally understand why people do it, but it would suck all the joy out of handling them for me if I had to take precautions each time I picked one up. As long as your hands are washed regularly, you should be good, and honestly my biggest worry when touching them is the moisturizer I use after washing my own hands to prevent dry skin!

 

I have no idea about latex being bad for dolls - I barely touch my dolls mainly because I can't be bothered to wash my hands AGAIN - so they get a dust off and change of clothes every few months, but other than that they just sit there looking pretty

you should be able to change wigs with less than clean hands though - I only hold the doll's ears when I change wigs, and they're hidden under the hair anyway

 

Even though I don't own any dolls as of yet, I feel like I wouldn't use gloves either. It does take away from the experience of handling the dolls and like others have said, as long as your hands are clean or don't have anything that could tarnish the doll or stain them than you'll be alright.

 

I have eczema on my hands too. It's been pretty bad lately, now I'm wondering if I need to start looking at new soaps. This is the second time I've found someone for whom the problem is soap in two weeks!

Weirdly I also don't have a latex allergy, though I am allergic to whatever they put in latex-free things =_=

I don't wear gloves when I handle my dolls - I'm the same way, I just can't function in gloves. I need my fingers free!

 

To be honest, I don't think about it much - I just pick them up and play with them and put them back down. If they get dirty I clean them ( most dirt will wipe off a doll and can be washed out of clothes), bu it doesn't happen that often unless I've taken them to a meet where they've been posed for photos in grubby conditions like trees or on the ground outdoors ( and not often even then).

Even at this meet, the dolls didn't get noticeably dirty:
http://i1286.photobucket.com/albums...malion meet Aug 2014/IMG_2052_zps4a3eaee4.jpg

Teddy

 

When I handle my personal collection, I make sure that my hands are clean and try to touch the face as little as possible, to prevent any damage from happening. I also mostly touch the dolls where they are clothed alone, the doll itself gets rarely handled.
Gloves, like some of you said, prevent you from feeling what you're doing even if you're using latex ones. Plus (and I learned this the hard way), if you need to use wire to restring dolls, for instance because the shafts are very narrow, it's very easy for the wire to get stuck in the gloves and pierce right through your finger. Yup, that hurts.

When I'm working on my dolls for sale, I clean my hands and tools with soap before I start and only use gloves when face-upping, to prevent staining. When restringing the dolls, I use my bare hands, so I have full control, but I do clean the doll afterwards, just to make sure. Nobody wants to buy a dirty doll .

They're not. These gloves (well, nitril gloves) are actually recommended to use when pouring resin. Latex works too, but they aren't able to completely protect you from liquid resin.

 

Tbh I find gloves excessive and restricting. For my habits anyway. My dolls aren't precious cabinet decorations. Playing with them is supposed to be a casual thing.
And I wash my hands so often during the day that I don't bother washing them right before touching my dolls. I wash my hands when I touch anything "weird" so not a lot gets accumulated, and the little bit there is doesn't feel like enough of a threat.

Plus, dolls can be washed! If they have irreplaceable faceups, then just avoid touching the face and the rest you can clean as often as you'd like!

 

I wash my hands if they're dirty, but I don't take unusual precautions and I don't wear gloves. Off topic, but if you chipped the faceup with cotton gloves, it sounds like a rather fragile faceup. Usually they're more durable than that.

 

These comments let me know the important of cleaning!!!! So important!!!!

 

I have really dry hands. I don't attract much dirt, and I only clean my hands after cooking or using the bathroom. I don't bother washing my hands before handling my dolls.

And even when handling my dolls, I'm not too fussy about how I do it. They're objects of enjoyment for me. I take care of them, but I don't view them as objects of art that are not allowed to be dirtied.

 

So, the question stands, where do you draw the line between the need to be clean around your dolls, and the risk of hurting them.[/QUOTE]
what about a thin latex type [they are made out of other substances too if you are allergic] they are thin enough to where you can still feel everything. Also, I'm concerned for you with your hands, maybe take some immune builders to help your skin not be so sensitive and see what is causing it. There are nonwater cleansers you can use too as if they are blistering they can get infected. i'm dealing with a major infection in my system right now and they can be a pain to get rid of!

 

I don't wear gloves when handling my doll, but I do try to wash my hands before I handle them, since I do a lot of art and am almost always covered in glue or paint, or glitter. But if my gal's faceup gets chipped or she gets stained (and she already is a bit stained lol) I'm not too concerned about it. I can always redo her facup and stains can be hidden with carefully placed blushing ;D
I just feel like if I worry about it too much I just wouldn't ever enjoy her, so I try not to worry.

That being said I do get why people want to preserve their dolls! A nice pristine doll is a sight to behold.

 

That's a really good idea Shai, I'm going to take that on board and use one glove. I'm a newbie here so little tips and tricks like this are really useful. Not only that but my girl's head has just gone for a face-up and when she gets back I can put this into practice on her freshly painted little head. I do like the feel of her when not wearing gloves and I think certainly cotton gloves don't grip well which gives more chance of her slipping out of my hands.

 

hmn... i always wash my hand before touching em... because there is this one incident... where im drinking coffee with my doll beside me... and play with her hair...and foundout that the is a cofee on my pinky... got really really dissapointed in myself after that

 

I am slightly OCD about washing my hands, as in I often get up from the table while eating to wash my hands 4 or 5 times per meal. So, I never worry about it. I have had BJDs for 8 years, and there has only been one incident in which one of my dolls was damaged. I had a doll very firmly braced against an oak armoire, but somehow his feet slipped and he smacked his hand against it and broke off his thumb. Their faceups are all perfectly intact. I store them naked and bald in their boxes, so they stay nice and clean. If I redo a faceup, I scrub the entire doll thoroughly.

On the subject of skin problems - I am allergic to pretty much all soaps, the best products I have found so far are: Burt 's Bee baby wash and shampoo, Neutogena liquid soap, and Eucerin baby wash, all of these are hypoallergenic. I recommend them highly for anyone with skin problems.

 

I am a very tactile person, so wearing gloves is out of the question for me. Even when I am doing faceups, I can't wear any gloves because it hinders my mobility.

However, I do wash my hands when handling my dolls, and I often try to protect the resin from staining by giving them silicone head caps, dressing them in light colors, or storing them back in their boxes after I'm done. If I notice any stains, I try to use the magic eraser on sll affected areas.

 

I dont own any dolls yet but I really dont see myself wearing gloves to handle my (future) dolls. :p

 

If I'm going to be handling a lot of bare resin or if it's something I want to keep nicer, I'll wear nitrile gloves. For my older dolls though, I usually just wash my hands.

 

Thinking about care lately... gloves are on my wishlist.

 

My Liam is sporting multiple years of denim, grass, and dirt stains on his legs. So no, I don't care about that.

 

I generally wash my hands before I handle my guy (I don’t if I know my hands are already clean). My guy doesn’t have any body blushing and plain resin is fairly resilient.

 

I always wash my hands prior to handling my dolls whether they’re clothed or not, it’s just common sense as you never know how something you’ve touched is going to impact a particular material or even yourself. I grew up in the countryside around farm animals so washing your hands before and after doing anything was something I grew up with.

I do that for pretty much anything not just dolls, it’s a habit and it was an especially important one when I worked in the aquatics trade as you did not want to introduce anything harmful into the fish tanks.
I even have to be careful what I use to wash my hands and avoid ‘moisturising’ soaps or ones with essential oils not only because I have my own fish and pets but also because I have what’s known as ‘Balsam of Peru’ or BoP allergy. This means I’m allergic to or can react to the chemical compounds found in many plants that produce fragrant oils, resins (as in sap), waxes or are used as spices among other things. I also react badly to the oils found in citrus peel especially when combined with sunlight.
It made me realise even more just how much what we touch can affect other things so I pretty much have to wash my hands constantly with eco-friendly soaps made with minimal ingredients.

Also my hands tend to sweat a lot so I have to be extra vigilant when handling things and doll wise I tend to use cotton gloves a lot of the time for anything delicate or when doing faceups.

 

I haven't used gloves, ever, but I always wash my hands too. Not only for dolls but for everything: figures, comics, books... Everything you can think of can degrade when in contact with the oils in human skin (and other dirt that you might carry with you), and it's a very simple gesture than can help preserve your stuff for a lot longer.
I sometimes touch my dolls' faces, with care but I do, and their face-up lasts years untouched (plus I like to send them to artists for a refresh once in a while). Only one of my crew has a body blushing, but either way I touch their bodies all the time while I'm dressing them and nothing bad has ever happened to the resin.
Still, I don't think it is an issue that you need to stress about. This is something I was scared a lot about when I was a newbie, but now, 14 years later, I think as long as you do handle them with love and care, everything will be fine.

 

Clean enough is good enough in my book.
I just keep my hands clean and if a doll gets a little bit grubby over time, I just clean it. Same thing with doll clothes, although it's rarely necessary. The only things I've washed more than once are a few basic garments that I handle a lot.
Not a big deal.

 

I've always been kinda obsessive with the hand cleaning so I wash my hands thoroughly before handling my boys. I used to use gloves but it feels too cold, I feel like I'm not bonding at all with them.

 

I have a few pairs of white cotton gloves I keep in my doll bag for when I'm handling other people's dolls, but I don't bother for my own. I'm constantly washing my hands, and I try to avoid touching my dolls' faces whenever possible on top of that. I think the biggest thing is that I can smell my perfume on my dolls from when my wrists touch their wigs, but I'm super careful to avoid that when touching other people's dolls. I don't mind my dolls smelling like my perfume, though.

 

I never wear gloves, but if I had eaten something oily (e.g. some pancakes) or sugary-sticky (e.g. fruit), I'll go and wash my hands befone handling my dolls. Also, they mostly wear my own faceups that I'm confident won't get damaged easily.

And when I apply faceups, I wash and remove any possible residue of oiliness from the head and from my hands, but I cannot imagine painting with cotton gloves on.

 

I'm germ paranoid because of all the viral illnesses floating around. I wash my hands and use hand sanitizer all the time. I just can't afford to be sick on top of having autoimmune disease. I go get the mail, go shopping I wash and sanitize my hands. Bathroom trip, same deal.

So my hands get washed a lot.

That being said I have a cat and I pet her and wouldn't hesitate to touch a doll after petting her. I'm not into wearing gloves just to play with my dolls. My dolls are not rare antique books. They're TOYS albeit some of them are expensive toys.

I don't leave my dolls in the box. My toys are meant to be played with. That is their purpose for being here. Dolls are a kind of therapy for me. Most of the dolls I have are used anyway. I do keep them clean as possible but I touch my dolls bare handed all the time and they are not worse off for it.

There are ways to clean them. Mister Clean Super sponges help if you've got stains from clothes. Otherwise a damp wash cloth with a little gentle soap and water is all I use to wipe off grime and I just use a dry wash cloth for dust.

I don't go out of my way to keep my dolls pristine. They're here to be loved and played with.

 

As a collector I am not trying to keep my dolls in prestine conditions so I am definitely not wearing any gloves. I will maintain clean hands though. My house and car cost more than all these dolls. Blushing, faceups, etc. can be repaired its not that serious.

 

I handle my dolls with wild abandon. I'm not reckless, but I don't go out of my way to be careful. I have a "Velveteen rabbit" mindset with them..

 

I wash my hands before handling my dolls. I do use cotton gloves if I have to deal with face-ups. Any doll I buy second hand gets a spa treatment when I have time. I like restoring and styling older dolls, that's part of the fun. I store mine in boxes for practical reasons. I wish I could display them but the cats are too curious!

 

I usually wash my hands. But, less so if trying to craft for them because I'll wipe them with alcohol before re-clothing them or boxing them. There's only ONE bjd I have with weird resin. Like wash your hands and you'll see a water mark from your hands, handling him. You'll see the humidity on the resin before you even touch him. So, I'm ALWAYS wiping him. I am considering wearing gloves. I have to make him a stain suit, since he has no clothes and he's heavy.

 

I wash my hands before I handle my dolls but most of them are quite old and yellow already so I am not overly careful in that regard. I only put on some latex gloves when I'm painting faceups, although that's more to protect my own skin.

I briefly owned a couple of bodies that had a very soft-feeling finish that would make fingerprints etc very obvious - it annoyed me to no end because I like touching my dolls a lot so I ended up parting with them. It's important to me that my dolls can be handled the way I like to handle them

 

I wish I could handle my dolls without gloves my hands sweat so badly that even if I wash and dry them immediately before touching my dolls, the doll will still end up grimy and wet after a few minutes of handling. It grosses me out, even with other things like using a keyboard and mouse or game controllers, so I have some thin cotton gloves dedicated for doll handling and pc/console use.

Ironically, I actually really like how resin feels on skin, but I hardly ever get to feel it due to glove use. It has such a unique smooth feel that other materials don't really compare to.

I tend to be paranoid about dirt and dust on my dolls too, but that's easily solved with a display case that has a closeable glass/clear door.

I'm not concerned about pristine condition or keeping my dolls "mint" really, but I don't like when things look or feel dirty, it stresses me out, so I try to keep my dolls as clean as I can since I know pretty much anything I touch will inevitably get dirty very fast. I know the gloves thing is a me-problem and not common so I definitely don't expect others to be that insistent about cleanliness.

 

I wash and dry my hands thoroughly before I handle my dolls. If they get a little grubby from outside photo shoots I gently wipe them clean with a damp wash cloth. I’d love to display my dolls but for practical reasons at this point in my life they live in their boxes.

 

If I’m planning on doing actual work on them, I’ll usually trim my nails and clean under them. If I’m just doing a photoshoot or dressing, I’ll just make sure I haven’t touched anything gross or stain-y recently.

 

The only time I wear cotton gloves is when I do faceups or body blushing, and then only on the hand that hold the head or bodypart.
Otherwise I am like most people in this thread, I just make sure that my hands are clean and dry, getting to feel my dolls is a part of the enjoyment for me, I handle them often, be it for changing clothes, taking pictures, or just switching up how they are displayed and to keep them around. i make sure they are not getting dirty, but I don't hold myself back from playing with them either.

 

I never use gloves even though both my face-up artist recommended it.
I always wash my hands with dawn dish detergent before handling to minimize the oils getting on the dolls or the clothes/wigs.
When changing eyes or opening new/used dolls or items I wash multiple times.

I was worried about hand oils and damage before I got my first BJD but a fellow collector advised me to enjoy them and I can't quite do that with gloves on.
I worry about it much less now that I have a large collection of secondhand dolls and they seem just fine.

 

I caved in and bought cotton gloves to handle a new doll with full body blushing. Gotta say I feel so much more relaxed with gloves and I wish I started using them before. For how much I worry about ruining the makeup, that peace of mind is worth sacrificing a bit of that tactile enjoyment for. I'm probably getting another pair tomorrow.

 

I have OCD and wash my hands more than I should have, so I wash them before handling dolls but I don't want to escalate to gloves or get too paranoid about it cause it will make me starting wanting to wear gloves everywhere and overdo it in every situation so it will make my OCD worse in general. I actively and through thought and effort I try to hold back myself and be moderate in anything that involves washing disinfecting wearing gloves etc