Weird marks on my Barbie

[Beldarna]

I spent the day cleaning my old Barbies which I saved from storage in my moms house and my oldest one has these marks on her legs, like they have been bleeched? Anyone knows what it is? How did they end up on her and not on the rest of the dolls who shared the box with her? Does it spread? I'm sorry if the picture is bad, my camera don't like macro and only wanted to focus on her butt>_<. The marks are actually quite large, being pale yellow, going into that kind of milkish grey/white and in the middle is a very dark spot, not visible in the pic. On the side of her thigh is also some weird pale mark, but that one is only yellow.

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[LunaDehligt]

I have never seen that before :O

[bagheera86]

i've seen that on some old barbie, it's hte plastic becoming weaker and it'll go really soft and just  fall apart. Time will tell D:

[daydreamwinn]

I lovingly call this "80s leg disease".  It's common on a lot of doll from the 80s, including Barbie and Lady Lovely Locks.  I think it's similar to My Little Pony regrind, where the different plastics were melted down and mixed together when they were made (probably to save money), and now they're starting to separate.  Some lines are more prone to it than others.  The ones I've noticed having it a lot are the later 80s ones, such as Barbie and the Sensations, the California line, Funtime Barbie, etc.

[Beldarna]

Aaw, that s****! I had a suspicion it might be something like that but really hoped it wasnt. I have no idea what line she is but I got her -88 or -89 so it seems correct to your assumptions. Does it spread and if so, can I prevent it somehow?

[toyjunky]

I have some dolls with the same issue. Years ago (around 1998 or so) when I discovered my dolls like that, my mother actually called Mattel's customer service number and at that time she was connected to someone who told her that they had heard of it before and what it was unfortunately is the plastic changing. I know older dolls this happens to as well sometimes as the oils change in them and they can sort of get sticky and get dark oil dot spots. Here are my answer and opinions based on my own Barbie dolls, so take it for what it is worth, free

1) No, it will not spread to other dolls, it really is about what the doll leg is made of, nor will it spread to body, etc. I have found it only on the legs and my dolls all lived together (about 20 or so) in the same rubber maid box under my bed for YEARS before I discovered it and they were stacked on top of each other. It seems to affect a particular series of years, as my dolls between a certain set of years seem to be affected and others are not. HOWEVER, I did separate them as extra caution diseased and non-diseased once I discovered it.

2) Something I have found, is that if yours seem sticky or tacky wipe them off with a clean wet washcloth and let them air dry. Air seems to help sticky things in my experience with my Barbies and also my SSC dolls and minatures.

3) As a precaution if they will be stored in a box, I would wrap their legs in tissue paper.  When I discovered my own diseased dolls one of mine had her fake leather boots stuck to her legs. I have had issues with Barbie's painted leather jackets (such as Dance Club Barbie and sadly Sensations) having the paint peel off and stick to the doll or doll next to them and damage the other clothes. So I have now removed and bagged any painted item so no other clothing gets damaged.

NOW for some free thoughts as to why this happened:
1) I have some wondering if heat is a component to why some people have had it happen to their dolls and some have not and it is the same doll. I live in California, it gets to 100 or a bit more. I have not had air conditioning until recent years and my dolls were already damaged by then. They all lived in a plastic box. I can only guess what degree it was inside the box if it was 100 in my room.

2) The plastic used at the time. I have wondered if the legs possibly were made with some form of Silicone that was an issue. I know it is a broad category of synthetic compounds, but for any of you that are old enough to remember, there were issues with silicone breast implants from the 80's with lawsuits, recalls, and issues with them leaking/breaking down. (Yes, I know, a possibly far out there idea) So perhaps poor Barbie may be victim to the same issue? There was a LOT of different plastics being introduced into the market back then, and only time tells us what actually survives over the years.

 

[Beldarna]

This is alot of helpful information, thank you so much

What I remember from this doll is that her legs has always felt a bit sticky, so has my Kens legs. Not oily sticky, but sticky as in their cloths get stuck and is a pain to take on and off around their legs.

I live in a climate where we can go from -40C to +40C winter to summer but the basement storage they've lived in has been halfway under ground and being either dry cold or moist cold. We once got moistdamage to the walls after a heavy rain causing a lot of things in the storage to mold and I had to throw away a number of things. My Barbies were ok but I gave them and their cloths a good wash. This is perhaps six or seven years ago and she didn't have those marks at that time.

She will be put back in storage eventually. I would've loved to display them but have no room at all at the moment. At least this storage is two stores above me and with the same type of temperature as my own home and I can check on her regularly. I shall remember the tissue paper thing for sure.


Funny thing, I googled Sensation Barbie and it turns out I have her! I always called her Rock Star Barbie as a kid! ^^ I still have her original dress, jacket, shoes, microphone and jukebox. She's not the one damaged tho, nor are her legs sticky. The one who is I can't find on the web at all..

[daydreamwinn]

I'm glad you got some more answers, but I really think that these things happen no matter how the doll was stored.  I have some MIB dolls that still have this problem.  The wiping down idea is what I normally do with the loose dolls I have that have gotten spots.  And yes, be wary of any piece of Barbie clothing that is supposed to be "leather".  Those pieces break down extremely fast, and it's rare to find them without pieces flaking off.

If you post a pick of the doll you're trying to ID, we may be able to help.  I know there were different international releases, but a lot of the lines were the same.

[from1981]

oh well, if I were buying an older Barbie I just worry about the face, but I sold all my 80s Barbies a few years ago because I has hit by a drunk driver & can't work & found that the kind of pjs & Christina dolls I had were going for $60 & up. But I'd like to have some of my Teresas back. I think one of my Teresa dolls had this problem & I had no idea what it was.

[toyjunky]

The thing that I find interesting is why some do have it and some don't for the same doll, or even in the same years. You would think that either ALL of those doll lines would and everybody would have a diseased doll, or ALL that year would be effected. For me, the breakdown of the diseased doll years in my childhood Barbie dolls is from 1985-1988:

1985 -Dream Glow Barbie

1986- Jewel Secrets Barbie
1986 - Fun Time Barbie (Does NOT have the disease, yet same year)

1987 - Sensations Barbie
1987 - California Dream Ken

1988 - Homecoming Queen Skipper
1988 - Feeling Fun Barbie
1988 - Fun to Dress
1988 - Teen Looks Cheerleader Jazzie (Does NOT have the disease, yet same year)

Funny how a few "missed" getting it. I am of course 100% okay that a few didn't, but still odd to me. My 1989 dolls and up seem okay as far as I know.

[Beldarna]

If I were a scientist that would have been interesting to research about. I was thinking about different factories, but I have no idea how Mattel does the dolls or where. Is it like hasbro with several different factories? The doll this thread is about was bought in Sweden, but Sensation was bought by an aunt in the US.

This is the doll, daydreamwinn. She looks different than the original tho. A neighbour did a wonky hairdo to her and when trying to undo it, the head went off and I had to cut her hair a bit. So all I have to go on is the dress and shoes. The dress is original and I am 98% sure the shoes are as well.

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And yes, the dress looks weird on her, but it gets stuck on the legs..

[daydreamwinn]

The face looks a lot like other mid 1980s Barbies, but I do not think she was one that we got over here.  The dress doesn't look familiar, but it does look like others from the Best Buy series from the 1980s.  I hope that some other European collectors can weigh in on this, since I'm 99% sure she was an international release doll.