For more ingrained dirt, you could give a cold oxyclean bath a try. If you do, make sure to wash their manes and tails with shampoo and conditioner afterwards. You could risk tepid water if you think the glue is quite strong still, but cold water is safer. And try not to scrub or rub at the flocking when you clean it- I learned that one the hard way 

Welcome to the forum 

thanks for the tips

Post Merge: August 14, 2019, 11:18:46 AM

I had great success with a spray on spot carpet cleaner, sprayed it on, left it as it said in the instructions and the rinsed with cold water.

The most important thing is NOT to scrub or rub the pony and use cool water.

Love pkw xxx

great! thanks!

The biggest thing is to use the coldest water you can stand. It does depend on how strong the glue is after all this time, and I've had So Softs that could stand hotter water no problem, but it's safest to use cold cold water.
You can also use conditioner on the flocking to make it super soft. Just be careful with how you scrub.

Thank you so much! I'll definitely keep these in mind when I clean her later this week!

When I've cleaned so-softs before I've used shampoo or another liquid/foaming soap all over the body-just be careful not to rub too hard so you don't loosen the flocking.  If the flocking needed scrubbing I've used a baby toothbrush (super soft bristles) to get to any ingrained dirt.  As long as you're careful and let it air dry (do not rub the flocking dry) you should be okay.

Thanks so much! Luckily I haven't seen any dirt spots, just an unwanted smell

Post Merge: August 12, 2019, 10:04:39 AM

Hi and welcome.

I may not really be able to tell you what to do, I can tell you what to NOT do. I have recently been doing (intensional) deflocking on two ponies. To me it has been easy, and successful, which means in your case BE CAREFUL.

Do NOT use nail remover with or without acetone. It works great to remove hard spots you do not get ride of with regular washing, but it also removes the glue holding the flock on your ponies body.

If you wash the pony in hot water and scrub to hard the flock will go (but leave the glue).

I apologise again if I do not give you a real answer you want.

Summery: Do the cleaning carefully. Maybe just warm water and use your hands to rub the soap over the body. 

Post Merge: August 12, 2019, 09:26:04 AM

I found a tutorial. Good luck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRLLDxu6L58

Post Merge: August 12, 2019, 09:27:40 AM

Remember to turn on subtitles

Thank you so much! I'll definitely check out the video when I have some time!

Hi! I'm mintybloom and I'm new to this forum and my little pony collecting/restoring! I recently got my hands on my aunt's childhood collection of g1 my little ponies. There are about 15 total and one is a so soft Cupcake. Her flocking is in excellent condition and all I really need to do is clean her (the box had been sitting in a sketchy and gross storage shed for over 20 years) and style her hair. Should I clean her like I've cleaned the other ponies or should I do something else? I don't want to ruin her flocking since it's in really good shape (no rubs and generally really true to it's original color). Any advice is appreciated! (Also not sure if this is the right place to ask stuff like this)

Welcome to the Arena!
Have a wonderful time here

Thank you! I'm glad to have found this site!

Hello! I’m mintybloom and I’m very excited to join this forum! I’m 18 and from Washington state! I’m about to enter my first year of college and for some reason I decided that now I want to start collecting again! I’ve really only been collecting for a short amount of time. I have a childhood collection of Generation 3 ponies and hadn’t collected any since about 2008. But last year I learned about Basic Fun’s remakes of generation 1 ponies and knew I had to get them! I’ve always loved the classic 80s ponies and always wanted them as a kid so I ran out and bought Minty! Since then I’ve really only collected the rest of the collector pose reproductions and a few others. I love collecting ponies because they remind me of good times in my childhood (not to mention how adorable they are!). I hope to start collecting g1 ponies and continue collecting g3 ponies soon!