Help a newbie restore Merry Treat?

[dannahbanana]

Hey everyone!

I recently purchased a Merry Treat off Mercari so I can take holiday-themed photos of her. She isn't exactly in as great shape as the photos made her out to be. The area around her cutie mark is yellowed (difficult to see in the picture but obvious in real life). She has what looks like yellow and pink highlighter on her leg. Her mane and tail are in relatively good shape but can use some care. How can I fade some of the yellowing without harming the cutie mark? Is sun fading the best way to remove the highlighter? What is the best way to treat her hair? I am researching methods on the internet right now, but there seems to be so many opinions and I am so afraid of ruining her! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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[lovesbabysquirmy]

those look like age spots.  you can try to sunfade but be prepared that they won't go away.  35+ year old vinyl toys, they don't stay pristine

[MintyMyndi]

Best thing to do for her hair is to wet it, condition it, then run a low-heat tool through it before rinsing. The smaller your tool, the better your results.
Here's a video on this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUL3JfdseZY

If you want to sunfade her, the best method would be to cover her hair with foil and painter's tape, then cover her symbols with cheap, watered-down acrylic paint. The paint comes off easily with rubbing alcohol. If you're in the northern hemisphere, this may be a slow process, so it can be sped up with a hydrogen peroxide cream meant for bleaching hair. You can DIY a version of it, but I'm not sure of the exact recipe. You'd need to reapply daily to keep it effective.

If she's going outside (which I recommend in your case due to the time sensitivity), put her in a plastic baggie with a silica gel packet or two to keep it from getting too dank.

Also, if her neck joint's loose, you could fill her with dry rice to weigh her down to keep her from tipping over.

Actually, you said there's yellowing around her tail? Go ahead and pop her open to make sure tail rust isn't the cause of that. If it is, you can replace the tail washer with a ziptie, or you can omit it entirely. If you choose to remove it, then her tail might come out with force, but that's fine. Just put it back in.

An easy way to put the tail back in is to pull it through with thin, sturdy wire, the kind you find in Dollar Tree's hardware section in red and black (in a four-pack) or as floral wire in green (single pack!).

Hope that helps!

[tailrustedtealeaf]

The yellowing feels like a normal aging of the pony and I'm not sure how this can really be reversed. I supposed you could do some sort of retrobrite method with hydrogen peroxide, but I do worry that the red of her symbol would fade. It is worth checking to see if there's rust inside, but you should be able to tell just by looking at the tail.
I hear Salon 40 Developer a lot as what people use for retrobriting, I have a bottle but haven't tried it out. Personally, I would spring for the fading of the highlighter, but ignore the symbol issues. Just make sure you keep a close eye on her (every few hours depending on your sun) and make sure she doesn't start to get burnt in the sun.

[Safflower]

Hmm, I’m not sure if Merry Treats burns in the sun. If you do decide to sunfade her, be careful. This tutorial covers the paint sunfading method well. It might be a lot of work for a minuscule result though; her flaws are pretty tiny considering her age. I would check her for rust like MintyMyndi said.

Also, since we’re talking about stain removal and such, a warning to never use acne cream

[dannahbanana]

Hey everyone!

Thank you for your detailed replies and links! It's all very helpful. 

I think for now I will just style her mane and tail and check for rust. I think will try sun fading on a similar pony that isn't quite as special to me as she is first before I try it on her. I worry quite a bit about her symbols being faded if I don't cover them up well.

Hydrogen peroxide has also been extremely difficult to find in Japan this year I think because of the corona virus (not exactly sure why). Once I have more experience I think I will make the call whether or not to sun fade her.

You are right, she is in pretty good shape for her age, so I will do my best to make her look a little more presentable with the advice I have been given and give her a photoshoot regardless if there is a big difference or not! I can reply to this thread with her after photos too!

Thanks again