Bjds's strong smell?

I'm going to assume you haven't acquired a new BJD recently based on your wording, but has your part of town been experiencing either a heatwave, or a rise in heat in the weather?

My first theory (there's many reasons for increase in resin odor, so this might not be the exact reason, sorry D: ), resin is a form of plastic, and one of the compounds to casting BJDs reacts to heat like most other plastics. Unfortunately, it's not exactly a healthy form of smell. Though the effects of the resin smell will vary depending on your own personal immunity, and allergens. I recall that there is a thread on DoA from around 2014 to 2016 about resin fumes.

What I can suggest for now is to wipe down all of your dolls with a very dry/scarcely damp cloth, and leave them in a room you don't use much, but has something like a fan pointed at them. Leave them overnight and see if the smell dissipates (this is going to be hard though without an open window but I am NOT recommending leaving a window open unattended in the middle of the night XD)

 

Resin never stops off-gassing, it tends to ease with age. But, if you've just went through a heatwave, it could make the resin open up and start off-gassing(smelling) again. It could be made worse with the dolls "trapped" in a cabinet. I agree with what @NosKryme said, move the dolls to an open room with a fan and let them air out. It shouldn't cause much of a health issue unless you are asthmatic or allergic, but it is a unpleasant smell to deal with everyday.

 

I keep my dolls sitting out in a spare bedroom with the door shut, and I definitely get that resin smell when I go in that room. Some of the dolls are new, others are over ten years old. I think the smell is partly due to them being in an enclosed space—my first doll is 14 years old and stays in a cabinet and I smell resin as soon as I open that cabinet. On the other hand, I have three newer dolls (one barely a year old) sitting in my den with much more open space and ventilation, and I don’t smell them at all.

 

Agreeing with others that it’s probably the enclosed space. I never smelled my dolls at all until I put them behind glass, but now I open the cabinet to fiddle around with something and get hit with a whiff of parfum de hobby.

I don’t think it’s dangerous, but who knows? I find it kind of comforting because of the association with something that makes me happy.

 

Mmm I keep my dolls closed in my wardrobe, inside their boxes but when I check on them there isn't any smell.

On the other hand I have some figures out of their boxes but inside a cabinet and -good lord- the smell they produce! Just them thou. The other figures I own are odorless.

 

i've started keeping my dolls in a closed cabinet with glass doors and...yeah, yeah they started doing that too. I think since resin doesn't stop making fumes keeping them in a closed space just allows the smell to build up over time resulting in a strong smell when you go to open it. Hell i unboxed some dolls because I moved recently and just taking them out of the box they had that smell too. IDK if its bad but maybe try airing them out a bt, or keeping the door to your cabinet cracked?

 

Perhaps you could also try using charcoal bags and/or silica dehumidifiers in the cabinet? I can't think of a method that would stop the scent from the resin itself, but perhaps the amount of fumes that just gather and sit in the cabinet can be absorbed by charcoal/silica?

Unfortunately I can't speak from experience, but I usually use these to keep clothes smelling 'fresher' in closets so I thought perhaps it could be worth a try.

 

I've thought about using potpourri before because yes, I have this problem too! I may use @SoapBubbles suggestion of silica packets because the smell in that glass-door cabinet is otherworldly. For context, I currently keep twelve BJDs and eight antique teddy bears in an enclosed case; the bears (many of whom are 100+ years old) have their own unique aroma that really, really does not mix well with resin! I don't really want to keep the doors open because cats, but I will likely separate the dolls from the bears to save my sniffer if I can't find a better solution. I'm going to buy some desiccant off Amazon now!

 

Interesting. I went and sniffed my doll vitrines, but didn't smell anything (except, in one vitrine has a scented pony, so I have apricot smell in that one). I really think it has to do something with weather conditions in each country. I live in Finland, so we don't have that many heat waves. Also my vitrine is in dark and coldest corner in my hobby room, so when we heat the house during a winter it still stays pretty cold.

 

I definitely think having them locked up makes the smell stronger. When my dolls are out and free I don't smell them at all. We moved recently and I had to box up all my dolls for about a month, and when I opened the boxed to get them out, every single one of them was like opening them when brand new.
I am also in a humid and hot climate this time of year so that could definitely have something to do with it. My dolls are out in an open room, it is very humid and I cannot smell that smell anymore. I am sure if I enclosed them it would be strong though.

 

I keep all of my dolls in their boxes for their safety. Only one of them has a strong resin stink. I've had him for a year and a half and his smell hasn't faded. When he's in his box I can't smell it anymore.

 

As others have already said, resin off gasses constantly to varying degrees, but heat and enclosed spaces make you more aware of the smell. Generally speaking, to keep resin in optimum conditions, you really need a total lack of UV light, constant, low level airflow, and an even temperature. This not only assists with the off gassing, but also helps slow and even out the yellowing effect somewhat, so it's a win/win for you and the dolls!

For all those who keep your dolls in their boxes, please make sure to air them out at least once every couple of weeks, move the doll in the box and make sure they're not touching anything that can stain over time. A lot of beautiful dolls have been damaged by people dumping them in their boxes in the back of a wardrobe and not touching them for years, only to discover when they open them that colours have leached in, and yellowing has been uneven from an unknown heat source and no airflow. Resin is a plastic and that requires care, it's tough, but it's not indestructible and it's kryptonite is a heat/light/airflow combo.

 

In my decade of this hobby, all the new doll’s I’ve received smelled very faintly of resin, except my recent MYouDoll Sandra. When she arrived you could smell the resin through the shipping box! I hadn’t even opened her box and it was strong. I had to leave her in another room for a few days once I had the box open as the resin smell was so strong it made my eyes water and was giving me a headache. I couldn’t have her near until the she finished out gassing. She is fine now, with just a tiny smell like my other dolls.

 

I don't keep my dolls behind glass. They are sitting on an open shelf. I only notice the smell for a few days at the most after I've taken them out of the box. Most of them have lost their smell after a few hours of being out of the box.
I live in a warm climate, and even in summer, I don't discern any odor. I wonder if it depends on the company of manufature? Most of my dolls came from either 5 Star Doll, Resinsoul or Bobobie. The ones from 5 Star are over 10 years old. I don't remember them having any resin smell when I got them. The others have had a faint resin smell which dissipated quickly.

 

I received a a new doll head recently and upon opening it, it was so...

p u n g e n t .

I expected a smell, since I heard from someone who got theirs before me. They mentioned that it was quite strong, but I wasn't expecting this blow to my senses.

I'm not unused to new resin smells, since I have a few, but they were barely noticeable.The only one that has a comparable scent was one of the more budget-friendly ones that I no longer own. (Not knocking on the head's quality, mind! The sculpting is quite handsome!)

I'm airing it out near a window (out of direct sunlight), but the smell was so strong it gave my sister a headache. Has anyone else encountered strong smelling resins from new dolls? How long did it take for the scent to dissipate?

 

Sometimes I still get a whiff of it when opening headcaps after a long while, so make sure you pull the headcap off and set it aside for airing too.

Honestly I can't recall if it was my order of a doll + 2 more heads or my Ringdoll order, but one of mine absolutely reeked too. I kept walking in and out of the room and turned on the kitchen hoodvent as well. I also turned on my air purifier but IDK if one of those really help, I've yet to see it in action during allergy season.

 

I’m no chemist but I presume it’s something to do with new resin oxidizing for the first time after being cast...? I’m assuming if you were to be handed a doll right after it was cast (well, right after it was made up ready to be shipped) you probably wouldn’t get such a strong, concentrated smell. My guess is that when the new doll gets put in a box, all the off-gassing (probably not the correct use for that word) gets trapped in the box until it gets opened, like a Dutch oven

If the doll is in the box for a long time (like on a slow boat from China) it’ll have had more time to build up fumes. Also, of course, not all resin is chemically the same. I’ve had some dolls where there was next to no new resin smell- actually, my newest doll had no smell whatsoever! (Or maybe I’m just used to it at this point?) I remember my first doll, Dollmore Kid Sona, definitely had a strong resin smell, but not to the degree that it irritated anyone. He actually smelled for quite a long time if I remember correctly- maybe a few months? Obviously it wasn’t strong the entire time, but I could smell it faintly when I restrung him, sueded him, etc. It also lingered in his box way longer than it did on him.

If it’s really irritating you or your sister, you could possibly put in a box/bin with some baking soda. Baking soda is good for soaking up odors.