Cleaning

We start by washing the hair with a mild shampoo, after rinsing that out we gently rub in conditioner. With the conditioner still in the hair, start combing carefully and add more conditioner if needed. After having rinsed out the conditioner, you can carefully try to blowdry the hair, but be sure that there's enough distance between the blowdryer and the hair, or it can burn/melt. Airdrying the hair is also a really good option, just shake well after a couple of hours and it's gorgeous.

After this we clean the doll itself. Usually it works fine to emerse the doll in (water with) Vanish, because of the oxygen it fizzes him/her clean. When the doll is very greasy or it 'sweats' (a much seen condition with vintage dolls) you can also emerse it in a bowl of water with a little dish detergent.

Green ear

We use Hagerty silver clean to treat green ear. This is a fluid that you can carefully put on with a Q-tip. Leave it on for a few days, wash it off and re-apply. This can take weeks to even months, but your green ear will be gone for a while (unfortunately, it will always come back, so check your treated dolls regularly to see if it's started again).

Ink Stains

This method only works on vinyl parts. Look for zit cream (or any other cream) that contains Benzoyl Peroxide. Put this on the affected area with a Q-tip. Let it dry for a day or two, then take it off and re-apply. I've found that it's safest to stop treatment when the stain is ALMOST gone, then wash it off thoroughly. This is because it bleaches a little more even when it's taken off and can leave nasty pale spots (some of my My Little Pony's, who I've tried this on first, will never forgive me). This process can take several days and if the stains are in deep, even weeks. I received this great tip from Damir in Australia: "Hi, I was very interested in your "Tips" section because I accidentally stained one of my Silkstone dolls. Through experimenting I found that the most effective product on the body was Dettol (a British disinfectant), but the only thing that worked on the face was nail polish remover. I put vaseline on the doll's painted facial features to protect them before applying the nail polish remover onto the stain with a cotton bud. Perhaps you could add this to your forum to help other collectors. Regards, Damir" Caution: nail polish remover will ALSO remove the paint from your doll's face (good thing for repainting, bad thing for cleaning), so please DO protect your doll's facial features with something.