dollsorwhatever:

Since the topic of glue seepage is coming up again I figured I would share my method, which is a combination of the Totally Awesome Soak and the Tea Tree Oil Method that I was using back in the day lol

Keep in mind this method is a lot more labor intensive (and expensive because TTO is expensive) than most so it’s likely not the best method for people who regularly collect Mattel dolls from that era or have large MH collections, but I do not frequently buy dolls with glue head so it works for me and I like the results so I thought I’d share lol

TTO also has a risk of dissolving face paint so you have to be really careful with this method lol

While the TA method is definitely the best solution with the lowest amount of risk imo, I wanted to see if it would be possible to not just stabilize/harden the glue but completely dissolve it because I had worries about the glue eventually yellowing the scalp or interacting with the vinyl over time lol

Tea Tree oil works well at dissolving liquified glue on the surface of the scalp, but it’s not very good at dissolving the thicker/harder (but still unstable) glue inside the head (and it’s hard to wash out) so i figured that an introduction of Totally Awesome into the mix would do something- and it does:

(Webarella after 1.5 weeks of treatment with no glue left inside her head, on any plugs or the inner surface of the scalp- with the exception of two tiny crumbs of hardened glue that rinsed out right after this lol)

Another potential issue is that most glue-heads do not have knotted plugs inside the scalp, so there is an increased risk of the hair falling out once you dissolve the entirety of the glue- for this reason I recommend detangling your doll prior to glue removal so that you don’t have to do any hard pulling once you’re done de-gluing and ready to style!

I haven’t experienced any hair loss as a result of this (and I do a lot of shit to my dolls when I style their hair- tugging, flat ironing, washing etc) but I figured I would leave a warning lol 

Tutorial below the cut!

Keep reading

(via dollsahoy)