The Doll Forum

So I followed the frequent advice of powdering my doll with corn starch after washing it, but then when I wash her again several days or weeks later a white-ish extremely sticky goo appears everywhere like in the pic. I already spent several hours removing it and I still I did not finish. That crap is obstinately sticky kind of chewing gum.
This advice of corn starch is one the most wrong that I was ever given. Maybe I will try talcum from now on if anything at all.
Any advice on how to remove this pasta from my doll? (I just used microfiber cloth and water with soap up to now).

Corn starch is popular because it is non toxic, Talc is alleged to be carcinogenic (I know, what isn't these days?)
I'm assuming your doll is TPE. I use baby oil to remove the goo. Rub on a little baby oil, don't drown her, and then scrape the oil off with an old credit card or similar. have plenty of paper towels ready as a load of goo will come off. after that apply a fresh layer of corn starch. I mix talc in with mine so she smells nice after.
Hope this helps,
Be careful with the baby oil in areas where there isn't much TPE like fingers and toes. Don't let it soak in.
Tyr

It takes about an hour to top to toe Ami this way. Just so you get an idea of how long it takes.

Tyr wrote: Hope this helps,
Tyr

Thx bro.

Hmm I dunno I do everything as you describe and never had any problems with corn starch. I wash her with soapy water and a microfiber cloth, let her dry completely, then powder her.

Do you use a big makeup brush to apply the powder? If not you may be applying too much. The brush makes it easy to apply the perfect amount. Dunk brush in corn starch, lightly shake off excess, powder her by lightly kinda stabbing her with the brush (lol) until you see no more powder being applied, repeat. I would not use a brushing motion to apply the powder because I think it might damage the tpe over time.

Sum_guy wrote:Hmm I dunno I do everything as you describe and never had any problems with corn starch. I wash her with soapy water and a microfiber cloth, let her dry completely, then powder her.

Do you use a big makeup brush to apply the powder? If not you may be applying too much. The brush makes it easy to apply the perfect amount. Dunk brush in corn starch, lightly shake off excess, powder her by lightly kinda stabbing her with the brush (lol) until you see no more powder being applied, repeat. I would not use a brushing motion to apply the powder because I think it might damage the tpe over time.

Thx, maybe I applied a bit too much (with a small paintbrush) when it was not yet perfectly dry. Anyway I gave up with corn starch. It makes too much of a mess.

I'm a newish doll owner and I definitely relate to this problem. I wash her with soapy water, let her dry, and then powder her with cornstarch using a kabuki makeup brush. But I find that once lube or sweat touches any part of her, it begins to form a sticky paste with the cornstarch. Once I start rubbing it off, it disrupts more and more of the cornstarch, and I find myself needing to repeat the whole cleaning process on a particular body part.

My current solution is to try to touch the doll with lubricated hands as little as possible, and thoroughly dry my hands after they get lube on them. It's not foolproof, but it does increase the amount of time before needing to reclean and repowder. I still think the cornstarch is worth it despite this inconvenience because it makes her skin look and feel much much more realistic and enjoyable. So it's not bad advice IMO, but it's not exactly foolproof or without extra maintenance burden either.

Baby oil does help to clean it off, but that's a nuclear option basically, since it's also going to strip away any makeup. I'd like to know a better method for cleaning off those black sticky bits. Soapy water and a sponge do a terrible job removing them, I have to pick off the stragglers with my fingers.

Subscribing to this thread because I would love advice from other more senior doll owners on how to handle this issue!

Don’t use paint brush go and get a brush for make up. They have them at a dollar store $1 we’ll spend also when done put the brush in a clean zip lock bag to keep dust and other things away from it.

How long are you waiting to consider "completely dry"? When I wash mine I wipe her dry and then let her hang and air dry for another ~24hrs before I powder her. I'd suggest washing, drying, air dry for a couple hours, wash and dry again, then a 24hr air dry, then see how powdering goes. I know, it means you gotta leave your doll alone for a few days but the first time I tried waiting 24 hrs before powdering, her skin felt the BEST it ever did. It was totally worth it.
Just a suggestion, It's what worked for me.

Beardo822 wrote:How long are you waiting to consider "completely dry"? When I wash mine I wipe her dry and then let her hang and air dry for another ~24hrs before I powder her. I'd suggest washing, drying, air dry for a couple hours, wash and dry again, then a 24hr air dry, then see how powdering goes. I know, it means you gotta leave your doll alone for a few days but the first time I tried waiting 24 hrs before powdering, her skin felt the BEST it ever did. It was totally worth it.
Just a suggestion, It's what worked for me.

Yes, maybe that was my biggest mistake. I just let the doll to dry just 1 hour or so. So probably way too much powder got stuck.

Oh no 1 hour is definitely not enough drying time. Think we found the problem guys lol. Hmm I would say having a fan on in the room and waiting about 5 hours would do the trick.

Well I let my girl dry overnight after washing and lightly oiling her (oil was necessary to get a lot of the sticky goo off, a sponge with soapy water just doesn't remove it at all) and powdered her today. We'll see if she can avoid getting sticky/gooey from lube/sweat now - but personally I'm a little skeptical. Time will tell!