- Joined
- May 31, 2011
- Messages
- 24
I wrote up this tutorial on basic care & cleaning for the toy thread at Pony Goons, thought a few here might enjoy it too. Please forgive my camera work, it was my first time trying to do this and it's hard to hold a camera and a slippery pony at the same time.
Snagged these guys on ebay for :5bux:, Kiwi Tart there was the one I really wanted but Peachy Pie is cool too and I didn't have any of the other three. Their hair is stringy because it's overconditioned to hide the frizz and most of them have small issues here and there. I'll be using them to demonstrate how to clean and fix ponies.
How do I cleaned pony? Part 1: The Basics
Our model today is Peachy Pie:
Her hair is greasy and she's got some marks and a bit of general dirt on her, and a smear of paint on her muzzle.
Off-side, showing what look like pen marks and a fleck of dark stuff.
Supplies!
Baking soda, a soft bristled toothbrush, and a microfoam sponge ("magic eraser") for cleaning the body. All available at the dollar store.
Shampoo and conditioner. This is Whole Foods brand because that's what I had, cheapo stuff like Suave or White Rain seems to work best on pony hair. A small two sided comb and a pack of those little hair elastics complete the essentials. Bobby pins and curlers are for styling I'll show another time. Everything except the shampoo/conditioner is from the dollar store.
Part A: The Body
First I put Peachy's hair up with the little elastics so it's out of the way.
Make a thin paste of baking soda and water.
Brushie brushie brushie! A gentle scrub all over with the baking soda paste will remove most grime. This is safe to use over cutie marks, eyes, and other painted areas.
Then rinse.
Still has marks, here you can see a discolored spot that may be marker someone tried to remove. I'm doing some experiments on fading indelible marks and will post about that at some point in the unspecified future.
That's ok though, that's why we have this!
The knock off magic eraser. This is NOT safe to use on painted areas like eyes and cutie marks, so avoid those when using it. It's not going to take them right off but it's a stronger abrasive than the baking soda paste and it will wear on the paint at the edges if used too much.
I cut it into pieces because you don't need much sponge for one pony.
After a quick scrub with a damp piece of magic eraser, the pen marks on hoof and neck seam are gone as is the dark fleck of paint or something. The discolored spot remains and will have to be dealt with another time.
The smear of white paint on her muzzle is too big to scrub off, this requires a slightly heavier approach.
*CAUTION*CAUTION*CAUTION*
Acetone (here in the form of nail polish remover) can be used on G3s if you are very careful. Get it on eyes, cutie marks, or other painted areas and you will have smears instead of pupils and peaches. Don't get it in their hair and rinse with cold water after using on the pony. I have also used it on G1s with no ill effect on the vinyl. It is presumably safe for G2s and G3.5s, I'm not certain of it's safety for the plastic G4s are made of and I'm not planning to test it at this time.
Dip the end of the q-tip in the acetone and squeeze it out so it's just damp, rub firmly on the paint smear until it's gone. It won't take long. Don't touch any paint on your pony that you don't want to remove.
And rinse with cold water.
The results, no more milk mustache for Peachy Pie.
Part B: The Hair
This is all we'll need for Peachy today. After her hair is clean and conditioned properly I'll put it in a Hasbro curl, which is the kind of curl their mane and tail have when they come out of the package. It's easy and all you need is your shampoo (if you need it, I didn't here), conditioner, comb, and some strips of absorbent paper. I cut a paper towel into strips because it looks nice for the internet, you can just tear them or use toilet paper or basically anything like that. The two elastics that were in her hair before aren't visible, but they're useful at the end.
Peachy Pie actually doesn't need a shampoo, so I didn't. To shampoo: Pour a bowl of warm water, like a cereal bowl full, add a small squeeze of shampoo and swish it around. Dip your pony's hair into the soapy water and swish it around a little, then rinse under warm running water. If the hair is tangled condition it first, carefully comb it out starting from the ends with plenty of conditioner in it, rinse that out, then shampoo to get the dirt out.
Kiwi Tart's hair is extra greasy and needs a shampoo, I will edit that into this section when I have the pix.
Take a little conditioner and smooth it into the hair, then comb it starting at the ends of the hair with the coarse side of the comb. If it's very knotty just be patient and gentle, pulling causes kinks and wild hairs and broken hair that don't look good. When you can comb easily through with the coarse side, switch to the fine side.
RINSE! I believe there is less chance of water getting inside the pony's body (that is a bad thing) when you rinse upside down. I don't have empiric evidence to back this up though. Rinse thoroughly with warm water, leaving too much conditioner in makes them greasy and stringy looking like the way I received this batch.
Press hair between paper towels to dry it a bit, don't rub or it may tangle again.
Now it's just damp instead of sopping wet, comb it straight. The fine side of the comb should glide right through.
Now to style, most basic styles require no special products as the nylon hair likes to stay as it's set while it dries. The "Hasbro Curl" is similar to how the G3 and earlier ponies came from the package with a loose curl to both tail and mane. Don't use hairspray or hair gel on ponies, it makes their hair brittle.
Wrap the tail around one of the rear legs, which one and which direction it's wrapped determines which way your curl will go. It's not particularly important for the tail. I used the display side leg for Peachy Pie.
Take your strip of paper towel or toilet paper or whatever you have and, going in the same direction you wrapped the hair, wrap it around the hair and leg.
I said those little elastics would be useful again, they're perfect for securing the paper while the hair dries.
The mane is basically the same, we're gonna comb it out nice and neat again.
Wrap it around a leg, like you did the tail. I'm doing offside leg, wrapped outwards (between the front legs and around) which will make it curl away from the body. Wrapping inwards (from the outside of the leg and then around) will make it curl in towards the body, more like Fluttershy's look. Using the off-side leg puts the mane largely behind the pony and looks bolder, using the display side leg puts it mostly in front of the pony and they'll look shyer and more Fluttershy-ish. You can also wrap around the neck for a bigger looser curl, a style common on G1s.
Secure the mane with paper towel the same way you did the tail, wrapping with the direction of the hair and securing it with an elastic if you have one. Rubber band, piece of string, toilet paper tied in a knot, whatever will keep the towel in place.
All cleaned up and waiting for her hair to set.
Through the magic of the internet, it's now several hours later and the paper towels can come off.
Comb it out and you get this!
And from the off-side.
Comparison shot. Yeah that looks better.
Total work time: about 10 or 15 minutes if I wasn't stopping to take pictures constantly.
Snagged these guys on ebay for :5bux:, Kiwi Tart there was the one I really wanted but Peachy Pie is cool too and I didn't have any of the other three. Their hair is stringy because it's overconditioned to hide the frizz and most of them have small issues here and there. I'll be using them to demonstrate how to clean and fix ponies.
How do I cleaned pony? Part 1: The Basics
Our model today is Peachy Pie:
Her hair is greasy and she's got some marks and a bit of general dirt on her, and a smear of paint on her muzzle.
Off-side, showing what look like pen marks and a fleck of dark stuff.
Supplies!
Baking soda, a soft bristled toothbrush, and a microfoam sponge ("magic eraser") for cleaning the body. All available at the dollar store.
Shampoo and conditioner. This is Whole Foods brand because that's what I had, cheapo stuff like Suave or White Rain seems to work best on pony hair. A small two sided comb and a pack of those little hair elastics complete the essentials. Bobby pins and curlers are for styling I'll show another time. Everything except the shampoo/conditioner is from the dollar store.
Part A: The Body
First I put Peachy's hair up with the little elastics so it's out of the way.
Make a thin paste of baking soda and water.
Brushie brushie brushie! A gentle scrub all over with the baking soda paste will remove most grime. This is safe to use over cutie marks, eyes, and other painted areas.
Then rinse.
Still has marks, here you can see a discolored spot that may be marker someone tried to remove. I'm doing some experiments on fading indelible marks and will post about that at some point in the unspecified future.
That's ok though, that's why we have this!
The knock off magic eraser. This is NOT safe to use on painted areas like eyes and cutie marks, so avoid those when using it. It's not going to take them right off but it's a stronger abrasive than the baking soda paste and it will wear on the paint at the edges if used too much.
I cut it into pieces because you don't need much sponge for one pony.
After a quick scrub with a damp piece of magic eraser, the pen marks on hoof and neck seam are gone as is the dark fleck of paint or something. The discolored spot remains and will have to be dealt with another time.
The smear of white paint on her muzzle is too big to scrub off, this requires a slightly heavier approach.
*CAUTION*CAUTION*CAUTION*
Acetone (here in the form of nail polish remover) can be used on G3s if you are very careful. Get it on eyes, cutie marks, or other painted areas and you will have smears instead of pupils and peaches. Don't get it in their hair and rinse with cold water after using on the pony. I have also used it on G1s with no ill effect on the vinyl. It is presumably safe for G2s and G3.5s, I'm not certain of it's safety for the plastic G4s are made of and I'm not planning to test it at this time.
Dip the end of the q-tip in the acetone and squeeze it out so it's just damp, rub firmly on the paint smear until it's gone. It won't take long. Don't touch any paint on your pony that you don't want to remove.
And rinse with cold water.
The results, no more milk mustache for Peachy Pie.
Part B: The Hair
This is all we'll need for Peachy today. After her hair is clean and conditioned properly I'll put it in a Hasbro curl, which is the kind of curl their mane and tail have when they come out of the package. It's easy and all you need is your shampoo (if you need it, I didn't here), conditioner, comb, and some strips of absorbent paper. I cut a paper towel into strips because it looks nice for the internet, you can just tear them or use toilet paper or basically anything like that. The two elastics that were in her hair before aren't visible, but they're useful at the end.
Peachy Pie actually doesn't need a shampoo, so I didn't. To shampoo: Pour a bowl of warm water, like a cereal bowl full, add a small squeeze of shampoo and swish it around. Dip your pony's hair into the soapy water and swish it around a little, then rinse under warm running water. If the hair is tangled condition it first, carefully comb it out starting from the ends with plenty of conditioner in it, rinse that out, then shampoo to get the dirt out.
Kiwi Tart's hair is extra greasy and needs a shampoo, I will edit that into this section when I have the pix.
Take a little conditioner and smooth it into the hair, then comb it starting at the ends of the hair with the coarse side of the comb. If it's very knotty just be patient and gentle, pulling causes kinks and wild hairs and broken hair that don't look good. When you can comb easily through with the coarse side, switch to the fine side.
RINSE! I believe there is less chance of water getting inside the pony's body (that is a bad thing) when you rinse upside down. I don't have empiric evidence to back this up though. Rinse thoroughly with warm water, leaving too much conditioner in makes them greasy and stringy looking like the way I received this batch.
Press hair between paper towels to dry it a bit, don't rub or it may tangle again.
Now it's just damp instead of sopping wet, comb it straight. The fine side of the comb should glide right through.
Now to style, most basic styles require no special products as the nylon hair likes to stay as it's set while it dries. The "Hasbro Curl" is similar to how the G3 and earlier ponies came from the package with a loose curl to both tail and mane. Don't use hairspray or hair gel on ponies, it makes their hair brittle.
Wrap the tail around one of the rear legs, which one and which direction it's wrapped determines which way your curl will go. It's not particularly important for the tail. I used the display side leg for Peachy Pie.
Take your strip of paper towel or toilet paper or whatever you have and, going in the same direction you wrapped the hair, wrap it around the hair and leg.
I said those little elastics would be useful again, they're perfect for securing the paper while the hair dries.
The mane is basically the same, we're gonna comb it out nice and neat again.
Wrap it around a leg, like you did the tail. I'm doing offside leg, wrapped outwards (between the front legs and around) which will make it curl away from the body. Wrapping inwards (from the outside of the leg and then around) will make it curl in towards the body, more like Fluttershy's look. Using the off-side leg puts the mane largely behind the pony and looks bolder, using the display side leg puts it mostly in front of the pony and they'll look shyer and more Fluttershy-ish. You can also wrap around the neck for a bigger looser curl, a style common on G1s.
Secure the mane with paper towel the same way you did the tail, wrapping with the direction of the hair and securing it with an elastic if you have one. Rubber band, piece of string, toilet paper tied in a knot, whatever will keep the towel in place.
All cleaned up and waiting for her hair to set.
Through the magic of the internet, it's now several hours later and the paper towels can come off.
Comb it out and you get this!
And from the off-side.
Comparison shot. Yeah that looks better.
Total work time: about 10 or 15 minutes if I wasn't stopping to take pictures constantly.
