Hair is falling apart…

[BabyTaffeta]

Hello everyone

I just got a Fairy Tails bird in the Mail and started to wash her enthusiastically with warm water and mild soap as I always do with new ponies or birds…and just as I started to detangle the tail the hair just fell apart I mean it just fall into tiniest pieces of hair in my hands.
Does anyone ever had this before? I never had problems with washing pony hair? Water wasn’t hot and soap was the same one I used on tons of ponies before…
She definitely needs a rehair for her tail now 

[BlackCurtains]

Yes, this is a thing that happens to some G3 most often but it can happen to any pony, and bird apparently. The hair just disintegrates. I know that if left in the sun, hair will sometimes turn that way. Harsh chemicals may be another reason. Or just age.

[BabyTaffeta]

Wow! I never heard that could happen 
It is Huggy Tails with these bright neon orange hair and it looked a bit faded on parts so maybe sunlight is a good point?
I really hope rehairing her tail won’t be a big thing

[Leave a Whisper]

I'm sorry to hear it.

[BabyTaffeta]

I'm sorry to hear it.

Thank you so much! I hope I found the right color of doll hair to retail her  . I always wanted her because of her bright colors

[Snapdragon]

Oh no, I've had that happen before! It's called dry rot, and although it inevitably happens to polypropylene hair with enough time, it can happen to almost any kind of hair, given the right circumstances. Usually excessive heat over a long time, I think, like being stored in a hot attic/garage for years? But I'm not 100% sure!

It happened to a set of fakies I have - three of the same kind, all little donkeys, with this same very light pink hair. Opened up my fakie bin to do some reorganizing, and I was thinking, where did this pink dust come from? Not dust - the powderified pink hair, destroyed by dry rot! I also had a G1 Barnacle arrive to me with EXTREME sun damage, and his body was incredibly sunburnt and yellowed. His hair was this incredible pastel orange, and when I tried to touch it, it started shredding and falling apart!

I've generally seen it happen with red-tones of hair, like red, orange, and pink, but I think in the right circumstances it can happen to any pony. Remco fakies are pretty notorious for it, almost all of my vintage Remcos have a missing red/orange stripe! Sadly there's no cure, they just start crumbling one day. One thing I would suggest to protect your herd in the future would be to add a little conditioner to your wash routine! That'll return some much-needed oil to the plastic hair, and will help it stay moisturized and hopefully last longer! Big hugs!! I think Fairy Tale birds are relatively easy to rehair, because their head-hair and tail-hair are both basically just tails, which are pretty quick and easy to replace!

[BabyTaffeta]

@snapdragon

Oh no! That sounds so sad  I am sorry that happened to you, too!

I think Barnacle and Huggy Tails have the same hair color so it makes sense that it happens to the red and orange tones.
My Huggy Tails now has only the white hair on her tail left! That color came out silky again after my washing! Strange

I really hope rehairing will be easy, I think I just have to loosen the feet. Hopefully I got the right hair color. Should be Firebird from Dollyhair, but I don’t have any to compare.

[pinkkittywinks]

This happens I've had it happen with G1, G3 and G4 ponies.

Love pkw xxx

[Ponybookworm]

I still recall my baity Mum Sweet celebrations & her brittle hair!!! So yep this happens & it's sad xxx