Restore questions - can I save this girl's hair? & what is this?

[Aerora]

I recently got a lot of ponies for my birthday. They're in pretty good condition (and I got an excellent price!) but the problems two of them do have are... pretty bad.

First is Sugar Apple. Her hair's uncut (I think - should she have a forelock?), but it's the roughest I've ever felt, even after three conditionings. I left one in overnight (have done previously for problem ponies with no real problem), and it turned it hard!

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Our flat iron's pretty old and doesn't get very hot, so it probably won't be able to totally fix her frizz. She's also got a bit of tail rust. Her hair just feels so awful to touch! Is there anything else in addition that I can do? (I'll still be flat ironing it no matter what, I just don't know what it'll do when all of the hair is a frizzy mess.)

Second is Best Wishes. Her flocking is really soft and nice, except for one thing: a rough, yellowed patch on her backside. Is this glue? It feels similar around her neck.

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I'm not sure how at all to deal with this - I know you can't restore yellowed glue's color, but can I at least soften it a little?

[Elfpony]

For Sugar Apple, I'd say give her another rinse and leave the conditioner in for quite a long time.  Maybe a week or more.  It will get crunchy, but it might help.  Give it a gentle comb afterward and rinse.  I've done the same with a Caramel Crunch who looked like she had an afro when I got her, but after a week of conditioning I was able to get her hair looking quite good again.

Elf

[hathorcat]

Like Elf says I would persevere with the hair for a few more conditioner and ultimately flat iron rounds - she sounds as though she may have had some kind of chemical [perhaps even a shampoo] left through her hair for years so it may have damaged the nylon or it may just be something coating the hair. Its worth a fight before you give in in my opinion Yes, I believe she does have a shorter pink hair section in a forelock.

The yellowing on Best Wishes does indeed look like glue - unfortunately you probably will not manage to remove or soften that to any extent without removing the flocking. You usually see tough little yellowed patches of glue like that where the flocking is already particularly thin. Unfortunately even a scrub and boiling water can remove flocking so whole you could try a delicate scrub, comb and warmish water you will probably just result in removing the flocking that is there

[Aerora]

For Sugar Apple, I'd say give her another rinse and leave the conditioner in for quite a long time.  Maybe a week or more.  It will get crunchy, but it might help.  Give it a gentle comb afterward and rinse.  I've done the same with a Caramel Crunch who looked like she had an afro when I got her, but after a week of conditioning I was able to get her hair looking quite good again.

Elf

Like Elf says I would persevere with the hair for a few more conditioner and ultimately flat iron rounds - she sounds as though she may have had some kind of chemical [perhaps even a shampoo] left through her hair for years so it may have damaged the nylon or it may just be something coating the hair. Its worth a fight before you give in in my opinion Yes, I believe she does have a shorter pink hair section in a forelock.

The yellowing on Best Wishes does indeed look like glue - unfortunately you probably will not manage to remove or soften that to any extent without removing the flocking. You usually see tough little yellowed patches of glue like that where the flocking is already particularly thin. Unfortunately even a scrub and boiling water can remove flocking so whole you could try a delicate scrub, comb and warmish water you will probably just result in removing the flocking that is there

Thank you! I just reconditioned it - as soon as I noticed it was hard, I washed it out (and shampooed her a little bit) because I was afraid I'd damaged her  She came to me with her hair in a big knot, though, so at least she's in better shape than when I started.

Ah well I'll definitely try a gentle scrub, she's got some surface dirt elsewhere, but even if I can't get it she's lovely otherwise.

[babystarz]

As far as Sugar Apple goes, I would say give the straightening iron a try if it's made of ceramic. Usually when I straighten pony hair I keep it on the lowest setting anyway.

Another thing you can use is liquid fabric softener. I've seen people work wonders with it on pony hair that wouldn't improve with conditioning. Most people recommend working it through the hair and leaving it to sit for a few days, then rinsing it out and repeating if necessary.

You can also combine the two and wrap the conditioner-coated pony hair in a fabric softening dryer sheet, then flat iron over the sheet.

If you're feeling up to it you should take care of the tail rust now, before her tail washer corrodes further and turns into rust powder (which discolors ponies from the inside!).
You can pull out her tail after popping off her head, remover the washer and rusty clamp, smear whitening tooth paste over the rusty area of the tail (make sure to use PASTE, not GEL). Let it sit for an hour and then rinse it out. Repeat until the rust is all gone. Then re-clamp her tail using two zip ties (there are tutorials on this here), and her tail will be good as new!

She is a sought-after pony so I would say an extensive restore like this would be worth the effort.

For Best Wishes, I have heard that bleach mixed with water can help with yellowing but I would exercise extreme caution in this case because the spot is right over her symbol and I'm not sure what might happen to it.

[Unicorn_pops]

Try soaking her hair in fabric softener also