1. It has come to the attention of forum staff that Dollshe Craft has ceased communications with dealers and customers, has failed to provide promised refunds for the excessive waits, and now has wait times surpassing 5 years in some cases. Forum staff are also concerned as there are claims being put forth that Dollshe plans to close down their doll making company. Due to the instability of the company, the lack of communication, the lack of promised refunds, and the wait times now surpassing 5 years, we strongly urge members to research the current state of this company very carefully and thoroughly before deciding to place an order. For more information please see the Dollshe waiting room. Do not assume this cannot happen to you or that your order will be different.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. Dollshe Craft and all dolls created by Dollshe, including any dolls created under his new or future companies, including Club Coco BJD are now banned from Den of Angels. Dollshe and the sculptor may not advertise his products on this forum. Sales may not be discussed, no news threads may be posted regarding new releases. This ban does not impact any dolls by Dollshe ordered by November 8, 2023. Any dolls ordered after November 8, 2023, regardless of the date the sculpt was released, are banned from this forum as are any dolls released under his new or future companies including but not limited to Club Coco BJD. This ban does not apply to other company dolls cast by Dollshe as part of a casting agreement between him and the actual sculpt or company and those dolls may still be discussed on the forum. Please come to Ask the Moderators if you have any questions.
    Dismiss Notice

The importance of clean

Oct 21, 2016

    1. So, I thought I would seek everyone's opinion on how important it is to have clean hands or gloves when handling your dolls.

      There is a specific story that goes with this: Earlier today, I thought I would get my dolls out and do a quick couple of photos, as ones head had just come back from getting her face-up. I put my son down for his nap, then went straight and got my dolls. He woke up 1 and a half hours later and by then ONE of my dolls had 4 marks to her face-up, 5 minor chips to various places and 1 slightly more major. One damaged wig and one broken shoe. And no, she was still not even dressed.
      Most of the damage is fairly minor, but still very aggravating.
      The reason that most of this happened is that I was wearing cotton gloves. I rely A LOT on my sense of touch and find things almost impossible without it. The wig was the worst part. I never even got it on, and managed to get so much hair out of it that I had to vacuum (my son is afraid of the noise, so I don't like doing it around him without someone here to mind him...)
      I currently can't wash my hands either, as water is making me break out in blisters all down my fingers, and yes, my hands do get fairly dirty due to my working with sculpey and paint. And a child. Nothing clean about those.

      So, the question stands, where do you draw the line between the need to be clean around your dolls, and the risk of hurting them.
       
    2. I'm somewhere in the middle. I am a very hands on collector, and I handle my dolls almost daily. I've never worn gloves and find it highly unnecessary overall. My hands stay mostly clean, so I don't go scrub before touching my dolls, unless I feel dirty, like if I have food, makeup, paint or chemicals on me. However, I am also pretty careful to keep a clean house. I vacuum, do laundry, dust, clean the kitchen/bathroom and organize weekly. Any spills or messes are cleaned up immediately. I have no kids, just a Rat Terrier, and aside from shedding, she's very clean and doesn't bother the dolls, neither does my husband. I keep my dolls either in a bedroom designated "the doll room" or in my sewing room--both places where food and drink or anything messy does not go, and it's extremely rare that anyone besides me goes in there. So I guess for me the "line" falls between regular handling with relatively clean hands is fine, but anything that would put dirt, grime, oil or anything else messy on the dolls that can't easily be removed with a magic eraser is not okay. I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but mostly I do my own faceups/blushing, so if one does get chipped, it's not really a huge deal to fix it.
       
      • x 2
    3. Even though I'm a total "neat freak", and pretty protective of my crew, I absolutely refuse to wear gloves while I'm handling my dolls... Like you OP, I depend a lot on being able to actually feel what I'm handling. I need that tactile feedback or I turn into a hopeless klutz. (It's exactly the same reason why I don't wear gloves when I'm gardening. I end up being scratched and stabbed by my rose bushes and berry canes a lot less often if I'm *not* wearing protective gear, odd as that may sound.) Gloves just seems to wreck my manual dexterity.

      That said, I DO wash my hands before I take anyone out of the cabinets to tinker with... That's just a common sense precaution given how many different things we all handle in the course of the day and how much gunk we can end up carting around on our hands as a result..
       
      • x 1
    4. I garden without gloves as well. Never get anything done if I have them on, except maybe play with the grass..
      Usually I would just wash my hands as well, but if I did now I wouldn't be able to bend my fingers within a few hours..
       
    5. I tend not to wear gloves unless I'll be touching the faceup, or any other heavily painted area. I do however wash my hands before, though. After ten years in this hobby I have learnt that touching them isn't the end of the world. But, I take extra care with faceups because the oil on our skin can effect it.

      I also wear one glove if I'm fixing wig, eyes, etc. That way the gloved hand can touch the face (if need be) and the ungloved hand can do whatever needs to be done. XD
       
      • x 2
    6. That's actually not too bad an idea! One hand is more heavily affected then the other, so I should be able to get away with washing one. I was thinking latex gloves at one point, but I vaguely recall something about them and resin..
       
    7. Glad to help. ^.^ About the hands (though I know this is offtopic, apologies)...are you sure it is the water giving you blisters? I have rather bad eczema and will get them all down my fingers/palms of my hands. Some lotion meant for eczema may help with that. If it is that, it probably isn't the water rather the soap.
       
      • x 1
    8. Actually, you're pretty close! I'm allergic to soap, which gives me severe eczema, and after having to wash my hands a good 20 times a day for a few weeks (medical things to do with the kid, needed clean hands) my skin became so sensitive that the trace metals in the water are blistering them. Usually I would use a cortisone cream or something, but once they get this bad they don't respond to treatment very well, so I just have to wait for it to blow over, then do a month or two of physio to stretch the scaring.
      This has happened before, but thankfully not too often. Still, nice to know that I'm not the only one with sensitive skin!
       
    9. Eesh, that sounds horrid! Soap is the worst for that I find. Mine always gets much worse if I have to constantly wash mine so I feel your pain. :< And yes, we are everywhere...unfortunately.

      But, yes. Try the one glove trick, it works wonders for me! :3
       
      • x 1
    10. I always thought using gloves were unnecessary. These dolls are stronger than we give them credit for and as long as your hands aren't greasy, it should be fine. While hand oils do damage resin, it's more-so over time as the oils accumulate.

      This is a little off-topic but have you tried using Goat's Milk Soap? I've heard it actually does wonders for people with eczema. Here's a link to some of the soaps that may help. If you happen to try it and it works, hopefully you won't have to wear gloves anymore.
       
      • x 2

    11. It's more the paint and chemicals that I tend to get everywhere that worries me (my fingertips are yellow right now!)
      Those do look pretty good, but they don't seem to ship internationally! If I find something similar here I will see if it works.
       
    12. I have excessively sweaty hands, so much so that it can be detrimental if I'm not careful while doing any artwork or crafting with paper as it will warp in mere seconds if I'm not paying attention to where my hands are and what they are doing at all times.

      While I've considered the possibility of only touching my dolls with gloves on, I find it's just too much of a hassle. I'll handle my dolls without fear when it comes to touching parts that are covered by their clothes, or if they have no body blushing. However, one of my dolls has all-over body blushing, and I plan to give the others in the crew the same treatment (eventually.) I've thus resorted to either A using my knuckles to touch spots or move parts that are painted/blushed/sealed, or B using the fabric of their clothes or the hair on their wigs to put a material in between my skin and the resin when moving various painted/blushed/sealed parts. Both of these methods seem to work pretty well. :v

      When it comes to faceups I've learned that I HAVE to wear gloves, as even holding their faces with my fingertips for 5 seconds will smear everything that I came into contact with. It's a hassle, but it's livable. :sigh
       
      • x 1
    13. I newer wear gloves but washed my hands before touching them. Even they are not dirty , the skin reduces oil to keep the skin well moistoired.
      I only use handcream when i go to bed not during the day because then i need to wash them even more to get the cream off ^^
       
    14. I don't wear gloves ever, but I also hardly handle my dolls and when I do I'm usually touching the clothed parts or when moving the head, I grab them near the ears over the wig. I don't touch the face and I don't go around with dirty hands anyway. If the gloves are causing this much drama, definitely ditch them.
       
    15. I don't wear gloves-- gloves in general drive me crazy, so unless I absolutely need them for some reason, I don't use 'em. I've only had a couple of pairs of winter gloves that didn't irritate me too much to wear when dealing with weather.

      I do like to have clean hands when I'm handling a doll, but then, I like to have clean hands in general. If I just have to move a doll from one spot to another, I hold them where they're dressed anyway, but if I'm going to be seriously working with (or seriously cuddling with, if it's that kind of a day) any doll, I wash up first, make sure nothing's gotten on my shirt if I'm going to be holding a doll against my body, just generally ensure that I'm not a greasy/oily mess for any reason.
       
    16. I wear gloves only when I'm handling other people's dolls and when I'm doing face-ups. I spray coat all my dolls so the resin won't be in direct touch with anything bad, and when the coating gets dirty it can be just cleaned off and re-applied. Though, I have a bad habit I got from drawing a lot: I wash my hands all the time. So my hands are clean but my skin doesn't like me. : /
       
    17. I always wash my hands before touching my dolls or their stuff, as I am an obsessive hand-washer in general, being obsessed by germs as I am *sigh* But I have very delicate, dry skin, so I always slather on a GOOD moisture cream (many of them are totally useless!) I end up washing off the moisture cream 5 mins later when I 'need' to wash my hands again, so I get through a ton of both soap and moisture cream (and now I'm on a water meter, I am dreading my water bill too!) But I would not skip the moisture cream - my hands would be cracked and bleeding in no time.

      If like you I had eczema, I would put plenty of cream on EVERY time you wash your hands, even if it has to be washed off a minute later, and wear silicone gloves rather than cotton ones to handle your dolls - they type they use in hospital as disposables. I am guessing you are allergic to latex too? If you google 'hospital grade disposable gloves' there's a lot of different types - some containing powder, some vinyl, some powder free, etc. so have a look for some which suit you and if they are tight fitting you should be able to feel things even with them on
       
    18. I tend to wash my hands before handling my dolls if there's oils or traces of moisturiser on them, or if they're sweaty. Oil (including the oils in moisturiser) and sweat can discolour or even damage resin, so I try to not get those on my dolls. I don't like wearing gloves, though, so I only do that to protect my skin when working with epoxy or glue or the like. Not for handling dolls.
       
    19. Surprisingly, I'm actually not allergic to latex! Though I thought I remembered reading somewhere that they weren't good to use with doll resin? (I could be completely wrong here..)
       
      • x 1
    20. I never wear gloves handling my dolls. I totally understand why people do it, but it would suck all the joy out of handling them for me if I had to take precautions each time I picked one up. As long as your hands are washed regularly, you should be good, and honestly my biggest worry when touching them is the moisturizer I use after washing my own hands to prevent dry skin!
       
      • x 1