Cleaning and repairing THE WORST looking DD ever.

So this little project has been in the works for literally years.  It started on Facebook almost 2 years ago when this poor doll was listed for sale.  I don't know if you guys remember her but these photos are from the sales post.

Screenshot_20241005_161218_Instagram by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

Screenshot_20241005_161226_Instagram by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

That Rin is THE MOST damaged doll I have ever seen.  Period.  I cannot even imagine what caused all that.  

Everyone that saw the listing was like nope, no way to save that, she's beyond repair.  That's not possible to clean up.  

Well my good friend Kat in Texas decided to buy her before I could.  😉 Kat planned to give it a go and try to get this poor Rin repaired and cleaned.  She bought her and got her in hand and then.... life happened. Things came up, got in the way and Rin sat in her shipping box for a long while.  Like for over a year and a half.

Every month I would inquire about her with Kat and Kat would say the same thing... that she wanted to try and clean Rin up along with help from her mom and friends.  But after almost 2 years of not having time, Kat finally caved in and let me get Rin.  Rin was STILL in the shipping box from when Kat got her so she just dropped that in the mail for me.  When it arrived, it looked like USPS had played soccer with it as it had a huge hole in one side of it.  Luckily nothing was damaged on the inside.... well... not damaged more than it already was.

So anyway, all of this leads to me going through the processes of cleaning this poor girl up.  Or trying to.  I really wasn't sure if I could or not but I wanted to try because no doll deserves to look like that.  As part of my deal with Kat, I had to fully document my trip with Rin, sharing every step of how I did this and what the results were.  I did it all on Instagram as it happened which was back in January of this year.  It took me an entire month of cleaning in order to fix her back up and this post will show what I did and how so that in case anyone else ever finds a doll in similar condition, they can see that it *IS* possible to fix it!  So come along and see how this goes!

 

When I opened the box, she was in one piece and did have her wig and outfit set.  The wig was actually in good shape, it just needed to be washed.  The body needed to be heavily washed so I took it apart.

20260121_152330 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

Unfortunately for me, as soon as I tried to pull off the top torso piece, it broke.  Seems the original seller had tried to glue the spine back together with super glue and we all know that doesn't work.  Great, more repairs for me to do.   

20260121_151409 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

The outfit didn't look dirty but the underwear was also yellowed and the whole thing had a smell to it.  And the shoes were destroyed too, full of cracks and flaking faux leather.

20260121_145038 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

So everything goes into the wash!  Let's make Rin soup!

20260121_153216 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

20260121_153233 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

I used HOT water and Dawn soap to soak the body and clothing in.  They sat for 30 minutes before I took them out and scrubbed them with a magic eraser.  Here's the body after the wash and scrub.  A lot of dirt came off but the yellowing was really bad.

20260121_155622 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

It seems Rin had never had an eye swap, her eyes were still factory hot glued in.

20260121_152145 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

The rest of the body looked a little better but it would definitely need stain treatments, especially the feet and legs.  That is from her default stockings for sure.

20260121_155635 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

20260121_155646 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

20260121_155656 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

Even the interior frame support piece was yellowed!

20260121_155707 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

The bust actually came out nice and clean, no stains on it.

20260121_155719 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

But her head, ugh.  Even though all the dirt was gone, she had stains and severe yellowing.  I have never seen it this bad before.  

20260121_155736 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

20260121_155742 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

So here is the lower torso and upper torso peg that was broken.  It really sucks to have this busted because it's not easy to repair.  Lucky for me, I've had to do this repair before so I know how to. But I'll show you that later.

20260121_155801 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

20260121_155817 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

So after she was washed and dried, I needed to try and remove that awful yellowing.  The process for doing this is called Retrobrighting and it's not difficult, it just takes time and some odd bits.  Total cost for all the items needed was between $80 and $100.

Here she is ready for the process.

20260121_160115 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

Here is all the stuff you need for doing this.

20260121_160221 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

First you need some type of clear container to put the doll parts in.  I got these 2 acrylic boxes from Amazon.  Then you wrap the lower parts with foil so the light will be reflected onto all surfaces of the vinyl.

20260121_160351 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

Since these boxes weren't big enough to put all of the parts in at once, I had to do it in stages.  So first up was all the small bits and her head.

20260121_160459 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

Once in the boxes, you pour 6% liquid hydrogen peroxide on them and fill the boxes until all vinyl parts are submerged.  You can use a stronger percentage of Hydrogen Peroxide if you want, I just used the 6% because it's all my local hardware store had in stock.  12% is also safe to use.

20260121_160553 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

These are high intensity UV lights which I also got on Amazon.  These jokers are bright and get quite warm so be careful!

20260121_160629 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

I put the lights on top of the boxes and turned them on.  From here all I had to do was let them sit for 12 hours.  I checked on the parts after that and they still had yellow on them so I moved them around inside the boxes and let them sit for another 12 hours.

20260121_160720 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

While Rin was cooking, I decided to try and clean the outfit.  Hoo boy, this was interesting.  I got a large bowl, filled it with hot water, Woolite and Dawn and let everything soak for 15 minutes.

20260121_161105 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

20260121_161301 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

I put the skirt and shirt and undies into one bowl and did the stockings in another because I knew the stockings would release a lot of dye.

20260121_161355 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

20260121_161527 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

After soaking for 15 minutes with no stirring or touching them, this is what the water looked like.  

20260121_162526 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

As for the other clothes. this was their bowl.

20260121_162543 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

I wrung out all of it and redid the water bowls 2 more times.  After that the shirt and skirt were good to go, no more dye released and the water was clean.  But the stockings?  Nope.  Here's the water after FIVE cleaning cycles.

20260121_165552 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

The panties were put into a separate bowl after their first cleaning because they were still yellowish They were soaked for 30 minutes in water and bleach.

20260121_201049 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

They cleaned up but the elastic was worn out and the fabric was so thin that they were unusable.  So I tossed them.   

The stockings finally quit leaving dye after 7 rounds of soaking.  All the clothing was then put into a delicates bag and washed with my regular laundry as a final cleaning.  I air dried them after that for a few hours.  Next up we get to see how the Retrobrighting process worked!

 

 

Billy

 

Holy mother of...

That either was stored in a shed open to the elements or maybe near a chimney.🤯

2 hours ago, Testament said:

Holy mother of...

Yep.  Pretty much my thoughts too.

5 minutes ago, Kemonomimicry said:

That either was stored in a shed open to the elements or maybe near a chimney.🤯

Or in a store window in full sun at the Arctic Circle for 13 years.  😉 

 

 

Billy

Wow. You weren’t kidding when you said worst condition Dollfie you’ve ever seen lol. Good on you for doing your best to give her a new life!

Edited 10 hours ago by caiusdolls
Typo

That poor Rin... she already looks SO much better than she did! I can't wait to see the final results!

Billy, I think even more than my hairdresser, you deserve the title of 'miracle worker.' Good work, holy smokes. 

3 hours ago, caiusdolls said:

Wow. You weren’t kidding when you said worst condition Dollfie you’ve ever seen lol. Good on you for doing your best to give her a new life!

Thank you!  Yeah, I have done some cleanups before but this girl was way beyond all of those previous.  This is a big part of the hobby for me though, I really love getting dolls like this and giving them another chance.  Just wait til you see how she turns out, you won't believe it. 😉 

2 hours ago, thisjaelynn said:

That poor Rin... she already looks SO much better than she did! I can't wait to see the final results!

Thank you very much!  The initial cleanup did make a good difference for her but the Retrobrighting did a truly amazing job.  Wait til you see those pics!  

 

1 hour ago, sunlightandtea said:

Billy, I think even more than my hairdresser, you deserve the title of 'miracle worker.' Good work, holy smokes. 

Hahaha!  That is too funny!  😄  More pics are coming so stay tuned to see her final look!

 

 

Billy

I am invested!!! That is a lot of work, but I am glad the doll has someone who loves and cares enough to put the work in!

I look forward to seeing how this goes I love toy restores.