Do you wear gloves when handling your dolls?

I have never wore gloves to handle my dolls, not even to make face-ups. I'm very handy like Nayuko, like to perceive things with my hands as much as with my eyes, I like to feel the weight, form and texture. I'm sorry I might accelerate their decay, but I just want to enjoy them however I like (that sounded dirty, not my intention :P ). I just feel I try to take care of my dolls, but don't really want to preserve them for eons, I think I'm made to the idea they are like all things, decomposing gradually, so I just want to enjoy them
P.S. Also my respect for good collectors that wear gloves

 

I use thin cotton gloves when I'm doing faceups, but otherwise I just handle them carefully. I don't handle them very often (not touching the bare resin, anyways) so I'm not too worried about it.

I think I would be tempted to if I ever got ahold of a $1000+ doll (which I hopefully never will) just to avoid ruining an expensive, likely rare piece. But my dolls are all relatively inexpensive, pre-damaged or pre-owned, so I don't feel too bad about enjoying them sort of recklessly.

 

Nope.. but then i'm one of those "i'm gonna lick this doll to get the dirt off" sort of grotbags so...

 

I do sometimes, usually if I need to handle a head or uncovered body with a faceup. My hands tend to be oily and even washing them before doesn't feel sufficient. Some of my dolls have limited company face-ups so i'm always extra careful with them.
I don't wear gloves the rest of the time because my hand are very cold and I often drop things due to not being able to feel how strongly i'm gripping. Having the extra thickness of the gloves makes that worse so i'm more likely to fumble or drop the doll.
It doesn't help that I have small hands so most gloves are too big and baggy which adds to the problem.
But I do feel that wearing gloves can help preserve the doll so worth having a pair on hand if only for the rare moment of needing to touch the face-up.

 

Honestly...? I only wear gloves when I’m doing a faceup. And I try very hard to avoid touching that doll’s face, because I know I didn’t use a very robust sealant. I have noticed that made a difference to the faceup quality.

Otherwise, my dolls don’t have body blushing, they have quite smooth resin (okay, they’re kind of shiny) and there’s not that much I can do to mess them up. I’m careful, but not excessively so. They travel to meets or out to take photos in a canvas bag with fairly stiff and crush-proof sides, or I just carry them if I don’t want to mess up a delicate wig.

 

No. I do my own faceups just so I don't have to worry so much about them getting dirty/scratched/etc. And I only wash my hands to touch them if I just ate. I guess I am not the most careful.

 

I am so not surprised they made you wear them, I had to wear a pair to check over figures at akihabara and even boyband merch, still fully sealed, at a small specialised store.
But yeah, I'm sure they don't grime up immediately, but I felt a bit silly and alone putting mine on, even though I know it's best this way.

I've never seen a magic eraser irl so I did not know this at all! Very grateful for the information!!!! especially because I'm mostly looking at tan dolls, even though they're all fully tanned resin.

The thin cotton "curator" gloves or it would be an absolute nightmare. Latex and vinyl aren't breathable and the build up of moisture and heat is almost as bad for my hands as frequent hand washing . A pair of cotton gloves once a month is thankfully not a hassle at all.

I can't stop laughing omg

Oh that's a real problem too, having hands that cold

 

I always wear gloves when handling my dolls! I would never touch my dolls with dirty hands, but I prefer to avoid possible transfer of skin oil. My nails are usually painted as well, so gloves also help prevent any possible nail polish marks.

 

What kind of gloves do you have and where did you get them? I'm pretty curious.

 

I don’t think I would go as far as to wear gloves to handle my dolls, but I definitely make sure to wash my hands before handling them! Don’t want any kind of foreign substance to mess them up!

 

I'm new to the hobby but I don't and don't plan on it. Seems so impersonal and extra work. My dolls are my friends who I handle, not just for display. Hard to explain lol..

 

I use cotton inspection gloves. I purchased them at a local store, but there are several options available online.

 

I never wear gloves. I'm a very hands on type of collector, and I don't think I would enjoy my dolls if I couldn't handle them casually. I'll wash my hands first if they're dirty or oily, but normally, I keep my hands clean enough that I don't feel like touching my dolls will harm them. I do take them out of the house to meets, conventions and outdoor photoshoots, and it's never been a problem. I....honestly don't care if they get dirty when we go out. I have no problem taking them apart for a good bath later if needed.

So far, I've never had any sort of damage caused by letting them get dirty. My oldest doll will be 12 years old this summer, he's got yellowing and a few minor scratches, but nothing caused by dirt or natural hand oils. He's been in a cave, in a creek, to the beach, on hikes through the woods, cuddled by the dog, gone for a ride on the DC Metro outside of a doll bag, mailed to a friend and probably a lot more places I'm not remembering at the moment. I think maybe if I were the type of collector to have extremely rare fullset dolls worth $1000+, I'd probably be a lot more careful, but I tend to favor dolls below the $500 mark, not limited, and I do faceups and blushing myself most of the time so it's no big deal if they need to be redone.

 

I understand why people wear gloves, but I personally only use them during face ups so as not to transfer colors everywhere. I don’t really care if I get my dolls dirty since I redo their face ups so often and find cleaning them to be kind of fun.

 

Thanks!!

 

I don't wear gloves for general handling, but I do when changing eyes, face-ups, or other activities that would necessitate handling their heads for longer periods of time. I usually wear white cotton or white nitrile gloves. I try to avoid using colored gloves of any material since I'm slightly phobic about color transfer.

 

I wear them a lot but not always. I wear a lot of perfume and I use hand lotion like...constantly, but I'm also constantly washing my hands (probably why my hands are dry enough for me to constantly be putting hand lotion on...) so it's not a big deal if I forget. My doll gets washed once every week or two anyway. Anyone else think it's super relaxing to just take dolls apart and clean them? I usually handle my doll with hands on clothes anyway, and I move hair out of the way using a few different sizes of makeup brushes I purchased specifically for that purpose. It's really not often that my hands are directly touching my doll to begin with.

If I'm touching someone else's doll, the gloves are so on.

I use white cotton gloves purchased from...Daiso! They're actually meant to protect your hands from sunlight when you're in the car, and they come in packs of 2 for $1.50.

 

I'll wear gloves when I'm painting faceups, but otherwise I just make sure my hands are clean before touching my dolls. It just seems like a lot of extra fussing otherwise.

 

I am probably going to take them outside or put them in places more dirty then my hands, so I don't see a point of being too cautious. They are dolls, I can wash them if they get dirty.