Do you wear gloves when handling your dolls?

I don't use gloves to handle my own ball-jointed dolls. My hands are usually pretty clean since I wash them frequently and I don't mind giving my dolls a maintenance cleaning every few weeks. It's kind of relaxing to give them 'a bath' every now and then as well.

Nothing a damp magic eraser or a damp cloth can't easily clean either if the owner doesn't feel like restringing them after a bath every few weeks. I really prefer to feel the resin since it helps me interact with them better. I noticed when I used gloves that I'm way more clumsy when handling them as well.

The only time I do use gloves is when the work I'm doing also requires a respirator so face-ups, modifications, dyeing, ... That's more to protect my own health than the dolls I'm handling though.

If another owner requires me to wear gloves to manipulate or work with their dolls then I don't mind at all. Their dolls, their rules.

 

I don't wear gloves. I just wash my hands if I'm going to be touching the resin. I'm probably reducing the longevity of my dolls somewhat, but wearing gloves reminds me too much of being at work and it takes the fun out of playing with them.

 

@Milkweed, tbh, I don't think you're "reducing the longevity" of your dolls by now wearing gloves. It would probably take something along the lines of 200 years of constantly picking them up to pick up a BJD often enough to wear out the resin.

But that's an interesting thought. I wonder if its actually happened? If someone has "worn out" the resin simply by picking them up so often, with or without gloves.

Ryu

 

I don't wear gloves while handling my dolls. I make sure my hands are clean before touching them. I really love the feel of resin.

 

I've never worn gloves when handling my bjd, I think it would be too awkward to handle her in gloves aswell as shes so small I just make sure my hands are clean and washed before holding her etc

 

No, I don't, but I make sure my hands are clean. I'm actually more scared to let my dolls fall by having gloves on, actually, it numbs my touch.

 

Nope. No gloves, no special doll-specific hand washing. I'm very unintimidated by my dolls. For me, they're a fun hobby to play with and enjoy, not a collector's item to be curated. That doesn't vary with price point, either....I view my super cheap dolls, like my Angel of Dream girl or my hybrids with Mirodoll bodies, the same as my ridiculously expensive Iplehouse girl. I do try to keep them out of direct sunlight; that's way more of a concern for me than touching them with my hands.
Gloves would never work for me anyway, even if I wanted to use them. I'm not into cuddling with my dolls or holding them or any of that; my way of interacting with them is primarily making stuff for them and taking pictures. If I'm handling my dolls, it's most often for sewing and wigmaking purposes, and I'd never be able to pick up pins and needles, manipulate fabric, arrange hair, or any of that if my hands were swaddled in gloves.

 

Honestly, I think a lot of people are way too intense about their dolls. It's probably because we spend so much money on them, so it makes people afraid. Dolls made out of resin are not nearly as delicate as some people would have you think. Obviously don't drop them, throw them, sit on them, or bang them against stuff...but they're not made of sugar. They can handle a lot of handling (lol). People often scream about never touching faceups, because you might smear it or the oil in your hands might wear away the sealant and ruin the faceup (hence all the people you see wearing gloves), but I've touched my doll's face countless times to adjust wigs, fix eyes, brush off dust or dirt, or just because she's so cute and I love her little cheeks and nose, and her faceup still looks exactly the same as it did the day I got her (and I have the pictures to prove it) That's the point of sealant; it seals the faceup in. If you need to scrub at something with brush cleaner or nail polish remover to remove it, a bit of touching isn't going to do anything.
So, in case you couldn't tell, no, I don't wear gloves when handling my doll, haha.

 

I don't use gloves when I handle my dolls. I just make sure that I washed my hands before I touch them though.

 

@Ryuichi Sakuma 13

That's good to know, thank you! I suppose I don't mean the resin itself so much as the face-up, which is probably taking a little damage from the oils on my hands. I try to avoid touching it as much as possible, but it inevitably happens anyway when I'm messing around with his eyes or his wig.

 

No gloves for me! I make sure my hands are clean before handling them of course (I'm not going to touch my dolls after eating a bag of hot cheetos or greasy pizza), and I never touch their faces out of fear I'll ruin the face ups.

 

Ugh. They're not museum pieces, they're dolls! Like a zillion other people have said, I wash my hands, and that's it. They wouldn't be nearly as much fun to 'play' with if I treated them like I was a curator, rather than a doll owner.

 

I don't wear gloves when I play with my girls and boys.
I do wash my hands and the surface that I am laying them on before I take them out of their cabinet.
I also have a piece of white fabic on the wood selves they sit on.

 

Not really into wearing gloves, I avoid excessive face touching and it's more for clothes and wig tweaking so it seems alittle pointless to wear gloves for that

 

I was thinking of asking this same question! As a new collector this was really helpful to find, thank you!

 

No, I don't wear gloves. I make sure that my hands are clean and free of scents. I play with my dolls now the way I played with dolls when I was a child. I always took very good care of my dolls.

 

No gloves, just freshly washed hands. I don't really touch faces very often, but I'm also not worried too much about wearing them down since I paint them myself anyway and tend to redo them from time to time anyway.

 

No, I don't use gloves. I wash my hands if I think I need to, but that's it. I'm not like rubbing my hands all over my doll's faces or anything, but I'm also really not worried about it. I'm a tactile person and I like to feel all the things. I'm not someone that is affectionate with their dolls, but I do tend to find myself stroking my suri alpaca and synthetic mohair wigs without even thinking about it. It just feels nice. Gloves would take away from my enjoyment for sure.

 

No I do not But I always wash my hands before touching them. Somehow I feel like wear gloves are too troublesome? Plus I enjoy feeling the resin and the sculpt with my bare hands.

 

Yes, I always wear gloves. Only when it‘s unavoidable, I handle them without gloves and then I try not to touch other parts than the clothes.

For normal handling and changing clothes I use cotton gloves. If I change wigs and need more accuracy I prefer thin nitrile ones.