Touching your own doll's face

I do everything I can to avoid touching my own dolls' faces cause I can't restore them. But there are 2 exceptions. My default Volks face ups. There have been marks on them from I don't know what and they have held up pretty well with some spot surface cleaning. Those are the ONLY face ups I trust in touching with my own and even then it's only every so often when fixing hair that just won't stay back or taking the head off, etc.

 

I do touch her face sometimes, but never harshly, and I always wash my hands before touching her.
her faceup is ok until now.

 

I'm careful, but not obsessive. Usually I don't *need* to touch the face, I tend to hold her around the ears and chin if posing her head. I've had her a few months and no probs!

 

I touch my mini's faceup, mainly because it's just a crappy one I did. But my 70 cm boy does NOT get his face touched. Ever. ...He still has the factory faceup, and I plan on keeping it that way for as long as possible.

 

My first doll, I touched his face a lot. I was just getting in to the feel of resin and pretty much thoroughly enjoyed the aspect of touching and posing, and I also brought him everywhere for awhile. Now his company-done face-up has worn in several places which confirmed to me they aren't indestructible. Since getting many more dolls since then, I try as much as possible to avoid direct face touching myself. I don't do my own face-ups at this time, and do intend to get new ones for several of my dolls, but that can get pretty pricey! The oils in your hands do break down the paints, so it's worth having some care.

 

The most I've done is poke my doll on the nose.
Nobody other than me has held him, soooo.... Other people touching his face really isn't an issue. I am trying to make his faceup last as long as possible (since I paid for it, heh.)

 

GRAH I try SO hard not to touch the face!! but sometimes, the sheen of the gloss on the lip makes me want to touch the lips! Call me strange, but I also like the feel of that powdery surface....Even though I make sure my hands are as clean and sweat/oil-free as possible...Reika's face-up is rubbing off on edges... :

 

Lol. I feel that my boy has been molested due to the copious amount of light touching I did on his default faceup. And it doesn't end there! When I bring him to meet-ups or whenever I travel, I put him on his pink foam bag without any face mask. Bad owner, I know.

The faceup is more than a year now and although it is not as vibrant as before, it hasn't chipped off (yet).

 

I do my own faceups, so I might have a more liberal view on things just because I am able to redo them at any time. But even so, I tend not to touch my dolls' faces. To pose them I grip them by their ears, but that's not a huge problem because there's nothing to be damaged there. When my hands are clean and I see a speck of dust or something on their faces, I have no problem with gently brushing it off. But otherwise I try to keep contact to a minimum, even though in my experience their faceups are pretty durable. A boy spewed strawberry juice all over Alfie's face and there's no damage. I have no doubt that the faceup is weaker for it, but I do have the assurance of being able to paint him myself. : D

 

As a new owner I tend to be quite careful and try to reduce contact with his face, coz if something happens to his faceup I won't be able to redo it (at least until I learn how to do simple faceups lol).

 

I touch their faces as little as possible, and only when my hands are completely clean. Usually I only have to do it when re-positioning their eyes.

 

Now I understand. It's not good to touch your dolls' face way too often, the faceup can be smudged.

 

My hands are always ultra-clean before I take my boys out to begin with.
And I do all my face ups myself, so no point in worrying about some mild rubbing off (which has never happened by the way ...) and yeah, I do touch the boys' faces from time to time. Never harshly of course, but what am I supposed to do while posing them, for example ?_? it's too easy to mess up especially Zowie's hair and so hard to style it again. That's why I rather avoid touching his hair than his face.

 

These kind of post make me nervous. Between the face-up and yellowing, I think I should get an air-tight sealed case and put it in a vault...

 

That depends on how much sealant is used. The amount of layers used will help prevent it. Also its not about rubbing off the faceup from the brush/touch of hands, its about the oils and sweat from hands. What ends up happening is that dirt will reside on the faceup/sealant and make the face dirty, or it can also erode the top layer of MSC in time which makes the faceup a lot more vulnerable to the touch and hence would rub off a lot easier than before. Rubbing wouldn't rub the faceup off by default but it contributes to the wear and tear of it over time. Also it could leave 'shiny spots' on the faceup if the sealant has been eroded away. Of course someone who wants to touch their faces all the time could give them a spray of MSC now and then to keep the faceup preserved.

You can actually scrub off a faceup with magic eraser, once again it is how much sealant is used for the faceup. If only one thin layer is used if you scrub hard enough the faceup will come off or wear down. If it is sealed multiple times then more force is needed.

I paint most my dolls faceups and have two by the company, I don't touch their faces as much as possible (and wash my hands prior handling them) in case the faceup gets worn or get dirty. The most I do is touch the underchin to tilt up their heads, some I tap on the nose, maybe one or two I trace their faceshape (underside) with my finger and brush the hair out of their eyes. I find it much easier to grab them by the ears or the side of the heads to position the head so I don't see the need to actually touch the face itself personally.

 

I touch my doll's faces all the time. I actually wore the face-up off Cass' nose from snuggling him too much, and was hard pressed to fix the spot. I do the face-ups myself, so it doesn't matter if I touch them (just got two new cans of MSC! woot!) but I'd be a bit uncomfortable with other people touching them- which is a bit odd... Still, it really doesn't bother me. My gang very rarely spends time on a shelf. They're usually all over the place, on the floor, the bed, the desk, wherever I need them to be at the moment. I treat them like any other stuffed toy or doll that I've had. The only time I wouldn't touch them is when I've eaten something and it's on my hands- then I won't touch them at all whatsoever just in case of staining. Otherwise, it's hands on. ^__^

 

I do touch their faces from time to time when my hands are clean. And even when I do, I'm not smearing my fingers all over everything.
After taking a good hour or two of scrubbing a company face-up off a friend's doll, I'm not too worried about my dolls' face-ups coming off any time soon. The only time I've ever had something happen to one of my dolls was while removing eyelashes. Some of the eyeliner chipped. It was an easy fix.
I try not to mess with their faces too often unless I'm fixing eyelashes or handling the ears and chin for posing. In my opinion, doll face-ups, especially company work is a lot more durable than we think.

 

I don't have a beef with touching their faces - I'm not purposely trying to rub them off with my finger, but if I have to move their head or put a wig on, I don't feel bad touching their cheeks, ears or chin.
Sometimes I do like to touch their faces though, only because I'm weird and touchy-feely and glossed lips feel so smoooth and shiny~

Don't worry though, I'm super paranoid about touching other people's doll's faces XD