The importance of clean

I generally wash my hands before I handle my guy (I don’t if I know my hands are already clean). My guy doesn’t have any body blushing and plain resin is fairly resilient.

 

I always wash my hands prior to handling my dolls whether they’re clothed or not, it’s just common sense as you never know how something you’ve touched is going to impact a particular material or even yourself. I grew up in the countryside around farm animals so washing your hands before and after doing anything was something I grew up with.

I do that for pretty much anything not just dolls, it’s a habit and it was an especially important one when I worked in the aquatics trade as you did not want to introduce anything harmful into the fish tanks.
I even have to be careful what I use to wash my hands and avoid ‘moisturising’ soaps or ones with essential oils not only because I have my own fish and pets but also because I have what’s known as ‘Balsam of Peru’ or BoP allergy. This means I’m allergic to or can react to the chemical compounds found in many plants that produce fragrant oils, resins (as in sap), waxes or are used as spices among other things. I also react badly to the oils found in citrus peel especially when combined with sunlight.
It made me realise even more just how much what we touch can affect other things so I pretty much have to wash my hands constantly with eco-friendly soaps made with minimal ingredients.

Also my hands tend to sweat a lot so I have to be extra vigilant when handling things and doll wise I tend to use cotton gloves a lot of the time for anything delicate or when doing faceups.

 

I haven't used gloves, ever, but I always wash my hands too. Not only for dolls but for everything: figures, comics, books... Everything you can think of can degrade when in contact with the oils in human skin (and other dirt that you might carry with you), and it's a very simple gesture than can help preserve your stuff for a lot longer.
I sometimes touch my dolls' faces, with care but I do, and their face-up lasts years untouched (plus I like to send them to artists for a refresh once in a while). Only one of my crew has a body blushing, but either way I touch their bodies all the time while I'm dressing them and nothing bad has ever happened to the resin.
Still, I don't think it is an issue that you need to stress about. This is something I was scared a lot about when I was a newbie, but now, 14 years later, I think as long as you do handle them with love and care, everything will be fine.

 

Clean enough is good enough in my book.
I just keep my hands clean and if a doll gets a little bit grubby over time, I just clean it. Same thing with doll clothes, although it's rarely necessary. The only things I've washed more than once are a few basic garments that I handle a lot.
Not a big deal.

 

I've always been kinda obsessive with the hand cleaning so I wash my hands thoroughly before handling my boys. I used to use gloves but it feels too cold, I feel like I'm not bonding at all with them.

 

I have a few pairs of white cotton gloves I keep in my doll bag for when I'm handling other people's dolls, but I don't bother for my own. I'm constantly washing my hands, and I try to avoid touching my dolls' faces whenever possible on top of that. I think the biggest thing is that I can smell my perfume on my dolls from when my wrists touch their wigs, but I'm super careful to avoid that when touching other people's dolls. I don't mind my dolls smelling like my perfume, though.

 

I never wear gloves, but if I had eaten something oily (e.g. some pancakes) or sugary-sticky (e.g. fruit), I'll go and wash my hands befone handling my dolls. Also, they mostly wear my own faceups that I'm confident won't get damaged easily.

And when I apply faceups, I wash and remove any possible residue of oiliness from the head and from my hands, but I cannot imagine painting with cotton gloves on.

 

I'm germ paranoid because of all the viral illnesses floating around. I wash my hands and use hand sanitizer all the time. I just can't afford to be sick on top of having autoimmune disease. I go get the mail, go shopping I wash and sanitize my hands. Bathroom trip, same deal.

So my hands get washed a lot.

That being said I have a cat and I pet her and wouldn't hesitate to touch a doll after petting her. I'm not into wearing gloves just to play with my dolls. My dolls are not rare antique books. They're TOYS albeit some of them are expensive toys.

I don't leave my dolls in the box. My toys are meant to be played with. That is their purpose for being here. Dolls are a kind of therapy for me. Most of the dolls I have are used anyway. I do keep them clean as possible but I touch my dolls bare handed all the time and they are not worse off for it.

There are ways to clean them. Mister Clean Super sponges help if you've got stains from clothes. Otherwise a damp wash cloth with a little gentle soap and water is all I use to wipe off grime and I just use a dry wash cloth for dust.

I don't go out of my way to keep my dolls pristine. They're here to be loved and played with.

 

As a collector I am not trying to keep my dolls in prestine conditions so I am definitely not wearing any gloves. I will maintain clean hands though. My house and car cost more than all these dolls. Blushing, faceups, etc. can be repaired its not that serious.

 

I handle my dolls with wild abandon. I'm not reckless, but I don't go out of my way to be careful. I have a "Velveteen rabbit" mindset with them..

 

I wash my hands before handling my dolls. I do use cotton gloves if I have to deal with face-ups. Any doll I buy second hand gets a spa treatment when I have time. I like restoring and styling older dolls, that's part of the fun. I store mine in boxes for practical reasons. I wish I could display them but the cats are too curious!

 

I usually wash my hands. But, less so if trying to craft for them because I'll wipe them with alcohol before re-clothing them or boxing them. There's only ONE bjd I have with weird resin. Like wash your hands and you'll see a water mark from your hands, handling him. You'll see the humidity on the resin before you even touch him. So, I'm ALWAYS wiping him. I am considering wearing gloves. I have to make him a stain suit, since he has no clothes and he's heavy.

 

I wash my hands before I handle my dolls but most of them are quite old and yellow already so I am not overly careful in that regard. I only put on some latex gloves when I'm painting faceups, although that's more to protect my own skin.

I briefly owned a couple of bodies that had a very soft-feeling finish that would make fingerprints etc very obvious - it annoyed me to no end because I like touching my dolls a lot so I ended up parting with them. It's important to me that my dolls can be handled the way I like to handle them

 

I wish I could handle my dolls without gloves my hands sweat so badly that even if I wash and dry them immediately before touching my dolls, the doll will still end up grimy and wet after a few minutes of handling. It grosses me out, even with other things like using a keyboard and mouse or game controllers, so I have some thin cotton gloves dedicated for doll handling and pc/console use.

Ironically, I actually really like how resin feels on skin, but I hardly ever get to feel it due to glove use. It has such a unique smooth feel that other materials don't really compare to.

I tend to be paranoid about dirt and dust on my dolls too, but that's easily solved with a display case that has a closeable glass/clear door.

I'm not concerned about pristine condition or keeping my dolls "mint" really, but I don't like when things look or feel dirty, it stresses me out, so I try to keep my dolls as clean as I can since I know pretty much anything I touch will inevitably get dirty very fast. I know the gloves thing is a me-problem and not common so I definitely don't expect others to be that insistent about cleanliness.

 

I wash and dry my hands thoroughly before I handle my dolls. If they get a little grubby from outside photo shoots I gently wipe them clean with a damp wash cloth. I’d love to display my dolls but for practical reasons at this point in my life they live in their boxes.

 

If I’m planning on doing actual work on them, I’ll usually trim my nails and clean under them. If I’m just doing a photoshoot or dressing, I’ll just make sure I haven’t touched anything gross or stain-y recently.

 

The only time I wear cotton gloves is when I do faceups or body blushing, and then only on the hand that hold the head or bodypart.
Otherwise I am like most people in this thread, I just make sure that my hands are clean and dry, getting to feel my dolls is a part of the enjoyment for me, I handle them often, be it for changing clothes, taking pictures, or just switching up how they are displayed and to keep them around. i make sure they are not getting dirty, but I don't hold myself back from playing with them either.

 

I never use gloves even though both my face-up artist recommended it.
I always wash my hands with dawn dish detergent before handling to minimize the oils getting on the dolls or the clothes/wigs.
When changing eyes or opening new/used dolls or items I wash multiple times.

I was worried about hand oils and damage before I got my first BJD but a fellow collector advised me to enjoy them and I can't quite do that with gloves on.
I worry about it much less now that I have a large collection of secondhand dolls and they seem just fine.

 

I caved in and bought cotton gloves to handle a new doll with full body blushing. Gotta say I feel so much more relaxed with gloves and I wish I started using them before. For how much I worry about ruining the makeup, that peace of mind is worth sacrificing a bit of that tactile enjoyment for. I'm probably getting another pair tomorrow.

 

I have OCD and wash my hands more than I should have, so I wash them before handling dolls but I don't want to escalate to gloves or get too paranoid about it cause it will make me starting wanting to wear gloves everywhere and overdo it in every situation so it will make my OCD worse in general. I actively and through thought and effort I try to hold back myself and be moderate in anything that involves washing disinfecting wearing gloves etc