i wonder

Wysteria said:
But from the gist of this thread, it sounds like people would prefer to clean their own ponies and I'm just wasting my time :? To each his or her own though :wink: I'd personally rather buy a pony that looks like the one I cleaned up below over a dirty, frizzy pony that you can't see well enough in the photos to determine it could be cleaned or not. I want to know my ponies are going to be nice when i get them, not disappointed later when it doesn't clean up. This is all just my two cents.
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I can go both ways on this. You're right in that cleaned ones usually sell much better than dirty ones do, but I do find a certain joy in washing up their hair and rubbing off their dirt. At the same time, I've bought some completely NASTY ponies that absolutely REEKED when I took off their heads to get at the dirt inside them. It's kind of a gamble either way, and at least if they're clean you can always behead them and let them dry out if you're paranoid about moisture. If they're filthy, you never know how bad it's going to be.
 
wow, everybody's got such great input on the subject i wonder why it isnt spoken of sooner? maybe people are afraid of offending others somehow with the subject.
 
ladyphoenix9 said:
Blitzn, what are the recommended products you encountered in your research? Might as well share the knowledge to help future sellers. :D

Personally, I let ponies dry for at LEAST two months before I even list them for sale. The obviously dirty ones are beheaded and cleaned out and left apart to dry as you've described. If there's no reason to remove the head, though, I won't. I just get the surface dirt and any stray marks, and pretty up the hair. If I'm not planning on keeping the pony, I'm not going to try any risky cleaning methods, either.
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I have no cleaning secrets really. I went by what people have been using for years to clean their ponies and posted at forums, tried out things, talked to a doll person, and made some generalizations. Lemme see if I can state the obvious (which wasn't all that obvious to me at first!). i'm sure we can think of more.
  • It's a consecutive process. Start mild and work towards stronger cleaning steps as required.
  • Bleach is not a good standard cleaning agent. There are better alternatives.
  • Always wash/rinse well after applying chemicals. Try not to mix chemicals.
  • Don't use human hair care styling products (mousse, hairspray, gel) on synthetic hair. Many swear by conditioner so I won't dare gainsay that. I prefer fabric softener since it's formulated for synthetic fabrics which is what nylon is.

Here are the steps I take. I am sure what you and other devoted pony cleaners do is fine too, since we care and have done so many ponies for so very long. Yours actually sounds better since you keep such a good eye on em afterwards and "less is more."
  1. I start w/warm water & mild soap(dye- and perfume-free ideally). I never submerge or squeeze unless head was removed. I try to avoid water leaking into orafices.
  2. I was told by a vinyl dolls expert that if that don't work to use rubbing alcohol. That don't seem effective enough for MLPs so I instead spot clean with acetone nail polish remover (on a q-tip) and rinse well/immediately. Some people also swear by those Mr. Clean Magic Erasers so I bought some. I've always been a huge fan of Good Off so sometimes I use that for some marks (I experimented on a pony and it seems safe enough but since it's sucha strong solvent I think people should be careful).
  3. If there's tail rust or interior mold, I remove the head and clean insides with hot water, rubbing alcohol, elbow grease.
  4. Hair: Wash w/soap if it's dirty. Rinse. Fabric softener for a few. Detangle carefully. Rinse. Use heat if it's frizzy and nothing to lose. Style. Air Dry. On the more elaborate hair-dos I've used water-soluble wig hairspray, but it's expensive stuff. I keep pony sideways to try to keep water from running into orafices.
  5. To remove semi-permanent marks, do like Satinslipper said. Or I'll try Remove Zit (but that can be perilous to colored ponies! bleach spots can sometimes appear long after).
Sidenote: I don't buy cleaned ponies partly cuz I'm always trying to get the best deal (mint g1s can be way too expensive) and cuz I've been burned by people (no one that posts here as far as I know). But if everyone wanted dirty ponies none of us pony-flippers would bother! My post wasn't really directed at anyone here, I was kinda venting like at a few certain eBay sellers :oops:
 
The way I see it, as a collector and ameture restorer, even if I buy a pony that was not properly washed and issues like mold and rust pop up in the future, I can easily clean them again. No harm, no foul. Cleaning ponies is actually one of the biggest joys I get out of my collecting because it gives me an excuse to "play" with my ponies!! You should hear some of the jokes I get about beheading my ponies from my mom! hehe. So whether the previous owner clean them or not is kinda a moot point with me but it would stop me from selling one's I've bought and cleaned myself either. But being me, I'd definatly tell buyers that I have cleaned them with due time given for them to dry and any other modification I may have done, like rehairing.

Course I don't touch mint or near mint ponies because I usually can't afford them any way! :lol:

:shock: eww, wet ponies in the mail!
 
Thanks, Blitzn! That's pretty much my standard procedure, too. I was just afraid that some of my faithful cleaning products might be inadvertantly hurting ponies.

This may sound horrible, but I have asked sellers through ebay not to clean the ponies before they ship them to me, not only for my own cleaning pleasure, but because I am terrified of them coming wet and moldy. I've heard lots of stories on the TP about ponies arriving sopping wet and moldy inside plastic bags. Do people not realize how much water ponies can suck in just through the tail hole and mane plugs? :shock: I'd rather have a pony smell like cigarette smoke than mold. Gack!
 
i just want to jump in the fray again here and add that, the very fact that "clean" ponies sell better is what worries me. people are buying them because they THINK that they won't have to do anything to the poonies to keep them in their current condition, and if they've been wet unfortunately thats not the case. what theyll soon have is a pony whose vynil is being discolored from whatever is growing inside it, be it mold or rust. that's what worries me, that younger collectors are buying these ponies without realizing that not all sellers on ebay know anything at all about my little ponies.
 
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