Pony Talk > The Dollhouse
Cleaning Vintage Barbies?
HelloGoodbye:
Hello all! I recently got inspired by the Barbie Movie and took my mom's 1962 Barbie and Midge out of storage. I'd been meaning to retrieve them for a while since I do have a small doll collection and just love vintage toys in general. Unfortunately, due to some paper pamphlets and such disintegrating in the box, these two ladies are looking a bit grubby despite being stored safely in a doll carry case. There also seems to have been some mildew that happened at some point, even though it doesn't smell like it's still "active" mildew (does that even make sense? hopefully :P). Unfortunately the mildew type stuff also seems to have gotten at their original cardboard boxes. So I really want to get them (and their clothes, they have what they're wearing plus TONS of other clothes in the carry case) cleaned up.
While I am pretty confident cleaning up MLPs at this point, vintage Barbies are new to me! So I was hoping someone here may have some vintage Barbie tips, or be able to point me in the direction of some reliable Barbie resources that I can utilize.
My main concerns are...
1. How delicate is the face paint (plus finger nail and toe nail paint)? How can I was them without damaging their paint?
2. The hair! Barbie in particular has her original hair style basically perfectly intact. How can I make sure I don't mess this up while cleaning?
3. What is the best procedure for cleaning the clothes?
4. Is there anything to be done about the mildew on the boxes? They aren't wet or stinky or anything. I'd love to salvage these if even remotely possible.
Here are some pictures of them!!
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Iridescent:
wow, they're super pretty! i recently acquired a #6 with a cm body, it cleaned up well with regular dish soap and the paint was unaffected. you'd most likely be okay washing the clothes in the same manner. the front curls are stable enough to be washed with shampoo without falling out - the ponytail on mine had fallen out a long time ago, so i can't give suggestions on that. generally i suggest avoiding abrasive cleaning utensils (toothbrushes, magic erasers, etc. i used a q-tip for the scrubbing).
another thing to note is that the articulated legs have tiny holes in them (i'm not sure if yours are articulated?), so you'll want to make sure water doesn't build up inside. this was a nonissue for me since i live in such a dry climate.
i don't have any suggestions on anything else unfortunately because i have no experience with it, though i hope someone else will!
HelloGoodbye:
Thank you for the information!! I really appreciate it!
Iridescent:
no problem! <3
katrine2309:
They look so pretty! I hope everything went ok with your cleaning?
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