The Doll Forum

Yes good ole H2O2, can't go wrong with some water with some extra oxygen in it.

I also have H2O2 in my cleaning supplies... believe it or not, Olive Oil is also a great stain remover for both Silicone and TPE. It's also edible, so for those that like a good muff dive... have your fill (pun intended).

As far as a "GLUE" is concerned... for mending TPE, I use Xylene and an artists brush as an applicator. The Xylene will "melt" TPE and then fuse to an adjacent surface which makes it very useful when doing deep cuts... just don't use too much and take your time. When properly applied it can take several hours to completely close larger cuts and tears in TPE. For small gaps, blisters, scrapes, abrasions and such... the Xylene will evaporate quickly and completely fuse the affected area closed in only a few minutes. Holding the gap closed while the adhesion takes place is crucial to a seamless repair.

Cheers, Abe

if I use xylene for glue, I premix some tpe in the xylene making a paste it's reduces the aggressiveness of the xylene.

Aberdare wrote:I also have H2O2 in my cleaning supplies... believe it or not, Olive Oil is also a great stain remover for both Silicone and TPE. It's also edible, so for those that like a good muff dive... have your fill (pun intended).

Hi, Abe. I might be overly cautious here but olive oil is a vegetable oil, so with repeated use over time it's likely to cause degradation to TPE, at least according to Indigo20's thread. I've no idea how fast the degradation would occur so it might not be something worth worrying about, but I still feel like I'll avoid it myself and err on the side of caution.

Seattle Slew wrote:Hi, Abe. I might be overly cautious here but olive oil is a vegetable oil, so with repeated use over time it's likely to cause degradation to TPE, at least according to Indigo20's thread. I've no idea how fast the degradation would occur so it might not be something worth worrying about, but I still feel like I'll avoid it myself and err on the side of caution.

As a stain remover... of course after removing a stain, proper care must be taken to prevent degrading TPE. I use a custom mixture of Baby Oil with Xylene to neutralize the olive oil. 50 parts Baby Oil to 1 part Xylene (50:1). Essentially, the Olive Oil lifts the stain, then the Baby Oil treatment "displaces" the Olive Oil.

Of course with anything... Use with Caution and in small amounts. I use a make-up sponge to gently apply the Olive Oil over a stained area, let sit for a few minutes then wipe away using nothing but soap and water. I then apply the Baby Oil and Xylene mixture over the same area to restore the formerly stained area. Another method that is effective but is grossly time consuming, is nothing more than Salt & Vinegar... which incidentally is also a great surface sterilizer for stainless steel -- it's been used in Commercial Kitchens for decades.

Cheers, Abe

Interesting stuff, and good to have more solutions if someone has a bad stain they can't otherwise deal with. In any event, I'm not familiar with petrochemicals like Xylene, and after reading more about it, I'm quite happy to stick with the simple stuff like baby oil.

For anyone else who's curious: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylene

Use of Desiccants

Hi,
100CM Riley-doll in mostly air-tight storage, about 95% air-tight.
Stored in garage (for concealment)
Placed on soft white thick foam, wrapped in manufacturer's pink blanket
then containerized.

With humid weather approaching, I placed about a half
dozen small desiccant (silica) packets in the blanket
with the doll.

Will these suffice? Or will large size desiccant packs,
or even dehumidifier, be needed?

I ordered a humidistat to measure humidity inside
the container, but it wont arrive for about a week.

Riley-doll will be removed, from time to time, then
returned to the "desiccant protected" container.
During short times of removal, ambient garage
air will probably be unfavorably humid to the doll.
After that, hopefully the desiccants will remove
moisture that gets into the container.

Appreciate your comments

Update on efforts to minimize storage container humidity

Hi,

Desiccants are in the container with Riley-doll.
Garage humidity 50%
After a few hours, humidity inside container was 42%
measured with a humidity tester. I'm prepared to
add more desiccants if necessary.

According to this EPA website ...

Indoor relative humidity (RH) should be kept below 60 percent
-- ideally between 30 percent and 50 percent, if possible.

However
Those figures apply to building interior conditions; not necessarily to TPE

You guys are the experts on the humidity conditions that
will cause mold to attack TPE. So, I anxiously await and
will appreciate your comments and opinions.

Thanks much !!!

Mongoose, my understanding is temp below 70 and or humidity under 50 stops prevents mold. However I also have more air flow. Have used damp rid in lieu of silica packets. The packs can be warmed and reused, so they may be better. Lowering the humidity to far may or may not increase depletion of baby oil. If you do the maintenance advised by Indego20, you should have little worries. Most but maybe not all mold can be killed with white vinegar. Baby oil and vaseline are your friends here, as they are your first line preventative.

Thank you for the tips on keeping my gal clean and healthy.

I have had Tera for a year now. I never powder her, I like the feel of her, I am just careful. I Bathe her in a bath tub VERY carefully for holes and pressure points, during bathes i used a dousche bottle that came with her. I find that rubbing her with vaseline takes A LOT of dirt off, I smoke, so it gets in her skin. I rub her with vaseline, and as I do it creates little streaks of dirt that can ball up, and "edges" of dirt that can be wiped off with baby wipes. It seems to remove smoke from her skin, and it leaves her soft and shiny, I LOVE IT! As of yet I see no damage from this treatment, it has been a year, so I don't think I will. Like I said I never powder her, to me that dries out the material and CAUSES cracks, when I first got her and just bathed and powdered I did get a couple small cracks developing under her arms, in the leg joints and inside her vagina, but they have since gotten better, healed, if you will, I think because of this treatment, and no powder. Her body is just as good if not better than the day I recieved her, because I have replaced all the oils that she has lost over time, and even replaced the oils she lost waiting at the factory. Plus I read that with the vaseline in the vagina and anus internals, no mold can grow. I still keep it clean, I use water based lube because it feels better, but I treat inside with vaseline also. i never rub anything dry on her like a towel, I blot her dry after a bath, I use baby wipes on a forcep to clean inside after use, being careful not to poke her with the tip of forceps.

On my silicone torso, I use baby oil and suave lotion for activities, and just for fun all over her, she doesnt tear or rip. I still bathe her in the tub at times, again never rub with anything dry, and keep her fun holes clean. The silicone is more forgiving it seems, I just baby oil and suave lotion all over her every once in a while, even though she does not seem to dry out like my tpe Tera.

Hi I'm new...and currently doing a lot of research for a first potential purchase.
Possibly a silly question : is corn flour (something like: https://groceries.asda.com/product/baki ... 0000345198 ) the corn starch everyone is talking about for powdering?
I'm also curious: with all the maintenance tips...many people still list the TPE doll lifespan as a year, perhaps three. Does anyone have any TPE dolls older than 2-3 years... and in what condition would you say she is (i.e. how many cuts, times repaired, etc.)?

I'm not sure about that product. The safest bet is to get Johnson & Johnson's baby powder. Just read the ingredients & make sure that it contains corn starch and NOT talc powder.
I have not used a TPE doll "to death" so to speak as I usually sell them before then. I had one for 2 years. It had quite a bit of damage at that time. I estimate that it could have gone another year though.
3 years lifespan is an estimate but YMMV based upon how often you use the doll and how well you take care of the doll.
Cost per "use" would be better way to evaluate a TPE doll. I estimate that my cost per use has been approximately $5 per "session". Understanding that "session" means the average session over time as some sessions will not stress the doll as much as other sessions.

Also given that TPE dolls in general seem to have short life spans, the best value in TPE dolls is the smaller models. I have owned small TPE dolls and larger TPE dolls, and the time before damage starts occurring is similar between them. The best "cost per use" will be obtainable with the smaller dolls. Of course, there is a size below which a user may not find a doll enjoyable, so that is a factor that trumps "cost per use".