G3 G3 Disintegrating Hair Syndrome

Day 3 of pony cleaning is done. I only have 1 more batch left before I start working on the playsets, but I might spread it over 2 days depending on how much I feel like cleaning tomorrow. Two more causalities today. Sparkleworks my 2005 McDonald's pony lost all her mane pre-brushing. I have all of the 2005 McDonald's ponies (thanks mom) and she's the only one with the issue. My Romperooni, who came bundled with Rainbow Flash, also has the issue, but only on her pink hair; orange and white is still fine. The hair came out while brushing but only in her mane, not her tail, like with Petal Blossom. Every single pony that's had the issue so far has had a similar color of pink hair. Side note: Romperooni's hair is still curled! She's the only pony I've cleaned so far to actually still have significant curl in her hair. Not sure why but it's really cute.

Unrelated to this actual topic but Spring Breeze has a completely different color head compared to body now. Not sure why, she's been in the same box in the garage as all of the other ponies. Some of the others are also discolored but they are discolored all around instead of just on their head like she is. Included her picture also just for fun.

mlpnohair1.jpg
mlpnohair2.jpg
mlpspringbreeze.jpg
 
Unrelated to this actual topic but Spring Breeze has a completely different color head compared to body now. Not sure why, she's been in the same box in the garage as all of the other ponies. Some of the others are also discolored but they are discolored all around instead of just on their head like she is. Included her picture also just for fun.
ponies are known to discolor with just their head or vice versa (only the body discolors), so this isn't an uncommon thing unfortunately. you mentioned your mom smoked; which is likely the main culprit for the discoloration. i would wager it also contributed to the break down of the deteriorating hair, since a lot of your ponies seem to be affected :sadpony:
 
ponies are known to discolor with just their head or vice versa (only the body discolors), so this isn't an uncommon thing unfortunately. you mentioned your mom smoked; which is likely the main culprit for the discoloration. i would wager it also contributed to the break down of the deteriorating hair, since a lot of your ponies seem to be affected :sadpony:
Yeah a lot of the discoloration is from the smoke (especially with the white ponies), it just seemed so weird it was only her head rofl. I'm not sure about the deteriorating hair being affected by the smoke, although it's possible, I have a LOT of ponies and only a handful were affected. Being left in a hot garage for like a decade and a half was probably worse in that regard, but still surprisingly most of them are fine. It's such a relief to finally be getting them cleaned and put away in a new box that isn't going to stay in the garage, until I have the space to display them, much to my boyfriend's dismay.
 
I just started going through all of my G3s for re-inventoring them, and - knock on wood - I haven't come across too many cases of this yet, thank goodness, but still my girls aren't 100% immune. I didn't check everyone's hair, and I'm afraid to tug TOO hard, but my Green Apple is definitely affected. Though I don't know if this is the disintegrating hair specifically, or just bad glue. Because the hair didn't disintergrate, it just completely pulled out with the lightest strokes of my hand over her hair. :unsure: :sadpony:

G3 hair loss - Green Apple.JPG
 
Bad or insufficient glue would only allow the very bottommost plugs to fall out, and they'd follow in sequence up the head, with intact loops of hair coming from inside. If the hairs come from all up and down the mane, they're breaking, so the hair may have reacted with the vinyl or even the glue to become brittle at the root. I'm sorry, it's very disappointing! But it looks like a color you should be able to replace if you're determined!
 
The thing with "disintegrating" hair is, it doesn't just turn to dust when you touch it. It breaks near the base and then just falls out, and since Green Apple is a discount store pony I'd say she definitely has disintegrating hair.
 
This definitely gets anything made of polypropylene. My green beach chair has been in the back seat of my car for months and I just now took it out to unfold it to use, and the seams turned to power when I touched them. This is why, never leave a pony in a windowsill o_O
 
The thing with "disintegrating" hair is, it doesn't just turn to dust when you touch it. It breaks near the base and then just falls out, and since Green Apple is a discount store pony I'd say she definitely has disintegrating hair.

Yeah... that sounds like what's happening here. Ooof. Packed her away for now, but... looks like a re-hair is in the future for her. Now just have to find the right colour match (and what site sells it).
 
I found a G4 victim! Now this is the earliest, probably the very first G4 I ever bought, Twilight with forelock that came with the light up twinkling balloon. So there’s a probability that this was leftover hair from the G3 era? Or the very least the old material/supplier that they were still using at the time. It is again only that magenta color and not her purple stripe.


1BD2029B-4C9B-4CF0-9D47-F666C6A09607.jpegDCA364D4-0B17-4C0B-ABD9-4B2DA5DF8E44.jpeg
 
I found a G4 victim! Now this is the earliest, probably the very first G4 I ever bought, Twilight with forelock that came with the light up twinkling balloon. So there’s a probability that this was leftover hair from the G3 era? Or the very least the old material/supplier that they were still using at the time. It is again only that magenta color and not her purple stripe.


View attachment 78601View attachment 78602
That sucks it affects G4 too! I was just looking at this thread last night and then I started looking at the new Celestial ponies hair, wondering if this could happen to them someday. I really hope not. My old 80's ponies often have very nice hair and I feel like the Celestial ponies hair is not quite the same.
 
That sucks it affects G4 too! I was just looking at this thread last night and then I started looking at the new Celestial ponies hair, wondering if this could happen to them someday. I really hope not. My old 80's ponies often have very nice hair and I feel like the Celestial ponies hair is not quite the same.
At first I doubted this, but i just did the water test on my basic fun confetti and compared it to a g1. the g1 absorbed it much better, but most of the water just dripped off of bf confetti. her hair feels slightly rougher too. i have no celestial ponies to try it with, but i would assume that basic fun used the same plastic hair for all their ponies. it's so sad to think about the possibility.
 
Strange? All my bf ponies hair took very nicely to water.
 
I know this is a pony log, but i just remembered that i was cleaning my pony room and found my Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron toys that came out when the movie did, i picked up my baby Spirit and his whole tell just fell off :cry: made me so sad lol
 
So, this isn't disintegrating hair, but it is a hair hiccup on a G3 pony. I was blow drying a Misty Blue and her hair melted!!! Obviously that can always happen with synthetic hair, but I was drying a Baby Quackers and a Starcatcher at the same time and they did NOT have this problem (thank god), so it seems like her hair might have a lower melting point than other ponies.
(Hope this is alright to share on this thread!!)
 
So, this isn't disintegrating hair, but it is a hair hiccup on a G3 pony. I was blow drying a Misty Blue and her hair melted!!! Obviously that can always happen with synthetic hair, but I was drying a Baby Quackers and a Starcatcher at the same time and they did NOT have this problem (thank god), so it seems like her hair might have a lower melting point than other ponies.
(Hope this is alright to share on this thread!!)
misty blue was a discount exclusive, so she most likely has polypropylene. it usually has a lower melting point than nylon. this also means her hair will disintegrate eventually.
 
Basic Fun uses nylon hair, like G1. Nylon hair can come in different varieties, which is why it feels slightly different. If you look at the later year G1 UK ponies, like the Romance ponies or Schooltime ponies, their hair is much limper than earlier ponies. But it's still nylon afaik.

G4 used a lot of different kinds of hair . . . Some ponies have different kinds of hair betwixt mane and tail, ith the mane being nylon and the tail being something cheaper. Like the yellow baby with the candy cane symbols.
 
Isn’t it kiwi nylon? I’m not an expert, but BF hair is pretty nice. The product makes it seem rough.
 
Last edited:
misty blue was a discount exclusive, so she most likely has polypropylene. it usually has a lower melting point than nylon. this also means her hair will disintegrate eventually.
Oh my gosh, that makes so much sense. Thank you for telling me!! I feel so silly for not thinking of it... *facepalm*
I'll have to be sure I'm checking on that for future g3 restorations!! :unsure:
 
I know this might not sound funny, but their hair is like what mine is doing right now! :( I am getting off a med that has a side effect of hair lose. I am 39 and my hair is so very thin now! :(
 
Back
Top