*sighs* I feel.. defeated

[ashes]

She does look better, but maybe it's just a process you have to repeat a few times to get the results you want.

At any rate, she still is a lovely pony. 

[butterflybuttons]

Those are interesting results!

I hope the peroxide works again.

[sd_dreamcrystal]

I'm hoping so too

[Ponyland]

My experience is that you should never, ever, put a pony who has been in contact with peroxide in the sun or in UV light (actually not even close to strong indoor light) as the part who has been in contact with the peroxide will start to react and turn yellow and after a while even get burnt.
And it seems impossible to restore the burns with another treatment of peroxide.. I have had a pony sitting with it for 3 years now after I made that misstake (I had just faded away some pink highlight marks from her white body and decided I wanted to brighten her up just a tiny bit as well with sunfading). And the yellowness hasn't faded at all. So I've practicaly stopped to use peroxide on ponies now and only use sunfading. *sigh*

[rtattles]

Hiyee I don't think it's the sun's fault. I will blame it on the peroxide. I HIGHLY DISCOURAGE people to use Clearasil or Oxy, or peroxide in any form on plastics at all.

I have had terrible experiences before where I applied peroxide on my pony, and the marks faded, but 5 months down the road, the areas where I applied peroxide and thought I had cleaned off properly turned brown... like caramel brown!!! Peroxide + sun is the ultimate combi to breakdown your plastic, not mark fade it.

I read it somewhere that things like peroxide and bleach are EXTREMELY HARMFUL to plastics. They leech into the pores, breakdown the plasticizers and cause the plastic to "rot" and deteriote over time. It's something I've stopped using on ponies altogether since 7 years ago.

[hathorcat]

I read it somewhere that things like peroxide and bleach are EXTREMELY HARMFUL to plastics. They leech into the pores, breakdown the plasticizers and cause the plastic to "rot" and deteriote over time. It's something I've stopped using on ponies altogether since 7 years ago.

This would make sense - as cancer is a deterioration in the plastic perhaps the peroxide manages to get into the already damaged plastic and cause an even greater breakdown [in speed and scale of damage]?

[FarDreamer]

Do you guys mind if I add some of that info to the site?


It's definitely been more than 5 months since I used it on Tickles, Confetti, and Majesty and I haven't seen anything weird happen.  It probably never would have occurred to me to give them a peroxide soak then sunfade them too.  I'll just wait and see if anything weird pops up.  I've never soaked a pony, taken it out for awhile, then soaked it again.  I have no idea if that would have any negative effects.


If peroxide is really bad for plastic, then the hair bleaches and such that people are using to un-yellowify playsets and accessories would be bad for them too.


Goldenclopper, if you can find that article I would definitely add it to my site.  I did a quick google search for "harmful effects of hydrogen peroxide on plastics" and didn't come up with anything.  Similar search for vinyl and still nothing but I did find this:  "It is anti-bacterial and anti-microbiological, and is used in many medical and industrial applications as a sanitiser and steriliser. Hydrogen Peroxide breaks down into oxygen and water over a fairly short period of time. It uses the oxidising (burning) effect to kill biological contaminants. It is highly effective because bacteria and fungi cannot mutate and form resistance to it."

[/size]The fact that it breaks down into oxygen and water doesn't particularly concern me.  If some ponies do fine sunfading, but others burn, then it would make sense that different ponies would have different reaction to peroxide soaks, with some burning.  I've never left any of my ponies soaking in peroxide/sun for more than a day so I don't know what would happen if you left them a really long time.  Vinyl and plastic isn't the same thing.  Maybe BlackCurtains will see this and jump in, she's the one that's good with chemistry, right?

[/size]Anyway, I'll still use the peroxide soaks on my ponies that are really bad.  I personally don't apply any chemicals except what's in dawn dish soap, shampoos and conditioners, to any pony that isn't really bad.  That's just my personal philosophy.  It took a really long time for me to work up the guts to try oxiclean.  I've used bleach for a few things but that stuff scares me.  I know there are some collectors who swear by it for certain things though.

[/size]The worst I've had happen so far with the peroxide is that I faded Cherry Treats hair.  As soon as I did that I was like "duh stupid, of course red hair would fade with that!!!"

[rtattles]

Do you guys mind if I add some of that info to the site?


It's definitely been more than 5 months since I used it on Tickles, Confetti, and Majesty and I haven't seen anything weird happen.  It probably never would have occurred to me to give them a peroxide soak then sunfade them too.  I'll just wait and see if anything weird pops up.  I've never soaked a pony, taken it out for awhile, then soaked it again.  I have no idea if that would have any negative effects.


If peroxide is really bad for plastic, then the hair bleaches and such that people are using to un-yellowify playsets and accessories would be bad for them too.


Goldenclopper, if you can find that article I would definitely add it to my site.  I did a quick google search for "harmful effects of hydrogen peroxide on plastics" and didn't come up with anything.  Similar search for vinyl and still nothing but I did find this:  "It is anti-bacterial and anti-microbiological, and is used in many medical and industrial applications as a sanitiser and steriliser. Hydrogen Peroxide breaks down into oxygen and water over a fairly short period of time. It uses the oxidising (burning) effect to kill biological contaminants. It is highly effective because bacteria and fungi cannot mutate and form resistance to it."

[/size]The fact that it breaks down into oxygen and water doesn't particularly concern me.  If some ponies do fine sunfading, but others burn, then it would make sense that different ponies would have different reaction to peroxide soaks, with some burning.  I've never left any of my ponies soaking in peroxide/sun for more than a day so I don't know what would happen if you left them a really long time.  Vinyl and plastic isn't the same thing.  Maybe BlackCurtains will see this and jump in, she's the one that's good with chemistry, right?

[/size]Anyway, I'll still use the peroxide soaks on my ponies that are really bad.  I personally don't apply any chemicals except what's in dawn dish soap, shampoos and conditioners, to any pony that isn't really bad.  That's just my personal philosophy.  It took a really long time for me to work up the guts to try oxiclean.  I've used bleach for a few things but that stuff scares me.  I know there are some collectors who swear by it for certain things though.

[/size]The worst I've had happen so far with the peroxide is that I faded Cherry Treats hair.  As soon as I did that I was like "duh stupid, of course red hair would fade with that!!!"

Hey there, I think it was an old post I read. Someone quoted the stuff from some vinyl collection book I think, or maybe it was some book written by a company called Twin Pine. Can't remember clearly. It explained that plastics are porous and particles can get trapped in there. It also mentioned that long exposure to bleach can leech out and breakdown the plasticizers in plastics, causing them to harden and crack. I am no chemist myself, but my mum cleans the toilet a lot with bleach and I can tell it's quite damaging to the plastic pipes, since my dad's been complaining why we need to keep changing them every few years. He expects them to last at least a decade or so, and by right they should. If industrial plastics aren't resistant enough to bleach, I can see how ponies can be a lot more vulnerable. At any rate, I have more negative than positive experiences with using peroxides on my toys, so I highly do not recommend them.

[FarDreamer]

I didn't find any articles on the Twin Pines website, BUT, I did find this:


http://www.twinpines.com/Book.html?VT=lii_VGDKZVuojIi_aQ2icugXDudnLgKW4WL7EGDKKWN8jULe


I'm not sure how I missed that they had a whole book on the topic.  I'm going to go ahead and buy it and I'll get back with everyone on what I find out!

[sd_dreamcrystal]

I didn't find any articles on the Twin Pines website, BUT, I did find this:


http://www.twinpines.com/Book.html?VT=lii_VGDKZVuojIi_aQ2icugXDudnLgKW4WL7EGDKKWN8jULe


I'm not sure how I missed that they had a whole book on the topic.  I'm going to go ahead and buy it and I'll get back with everyone on what I find out!

Please do, like I said... this was really one of those runs that I needed to see if it would work and it seemed to have worked. However, I didn't know that peroxide could be harmful to the pony plastics... if that is the case then would you guys suggest I give her a full make over (FBR and all)?

[EmBee]

To clear something up that I've been seeing a lot lately - cancer is dead bacteria/fungi that was there to eat the plasticizer (stuff that makes plastic soft and squishy).  The plastic is not "breaking down".  When people have sticky ponies that is the plasticizer leaking out due to age or being exposed to extreme conditions, and thus the plastic becomes hard but that's about it.  Don't worry, your ponies won't fall apart!

-Em

[hathorcat]

To clear something up that I've been seeing a lot lately - cancer is dead bacteria/fungi that was there to eat the plasticizer (stuff that makes plastic soft and squishy).  The plastic is not "breaking down".  When people have sticky ponies that is the plasticizer leaking out due to age or being exposed to extreme conditions, and thus the plastic becomes hard but that's about it.  Don't worry, your ponies won't fall apart!

-Em

Yes, the original source may have been bacteria as people have found...but the age marks and spread of the cancer is the plastic breaking down from this. Its not bacteria causing the marks to spread as the only bacteria ever found has been dead whereas cancer does continue to spread across a pony.

On tests, there has been a bacterial degradation in some plasticisers with no attack on the plastic itself - some plasticisers are known to be resistant where as others are susceptible. But the "cancer" spread is down to the plastic with the original source of the attack and weakening of the plastic probably bacteria.

[sd_dreamcrystal]

Hmm I'm finding all this info useful and over loading

[FarDreamer]

Please do, like I said... this was really one of those runs that I needed to see if it would work and it seemed to have worked. However, I didn't know that peroxide could be harmful to the pony plastics... if that is the case then would you guys suggest I give her a full make over (FBR and all)?
[/quote]

Do whatever you want so that you're happy with her.  Don't worry too much about all our fussing.  The truth is no one knows for sure yet what kind of effect chemicals will have on ponies in the long run.  Since they're 30 years old and still doing pretty well, I'd say they're pretty tough cookies.  As much or as little as you decide to do to your pony is up to you, as long as you're happy with her.

That's my two cents anyway.

[hathorcat]

Hmm I'm finding all this info useful and over loading

Lol sorry!!! Gosh we sure like to talk dont we...and as FarDreamer says as a large collector community we have all  really only been sharing thoughts online for around a decade, there are lots of things we are still learning...so much of its speculation!