Older hard heads vs newer soft heads

There was a discussion in my house recently about the older style DD heads that have the hard head caps versus the newer heads that have the soft head caps. I haven't really seen the newer soft heads enough to judge which one I prefer. What do all of you prefer?

 

Here's how I see it:

 

Old hard head caps

- takes more effort to remove the head cap

 

New soft head caps

- seems easier to stain due to softer vinyl

- can potentially have problems with smaller wigs fitting due to head cap making head slightly larger

I vote for newer soft head caps as I've managed to get a cut once removing old harder cap. It's almost impossible to get those of the first time and it's lot of work to shave/cut the rim to get it back. I like to change eyes and with hard caps it takes 15 minutes with new ones non at all...

I vote for newer soft head caps as I've managed to get a cut once removing old harder cap. It's almost impossible to get those of the first time and it's lot of work to shave/cut the rim to get it back. I like to change eyes and with hard caps it takes 15 minutes with new ones non at all...

 

 

Also

I vote for newer soft head caps as I've managed to get a cut once removing old harder cap. It's almost impossible to get those of the first time and it's lot of work to shave/cut the rim to get it back. I like to change eyes and with hard caps it takes 15 minutes with new ones non at all...

 

Here here, I go with this one too.

 

Yes the softer ones stain easier... but... it causes me physical pain to try to remove Alna's head cap... so I'll take the softer, stainier head cap over the hard crippling one any day!

Definitively prefer the soft ones !

Soft cap! I don't care about the staining, I never take photos of my girls bald.

Soft cap! I don't care about the staining, I never take photos of my girls bald.

 

Neither do I, but it's kind of annoying to take off your doll's wig and see heavy staining. Like is the case for my Rin, since I haven't cleaned her up yet. She's a hard cap and took a long time to get those stains. Makes me wonder how quick it would've been with the soft heads?

 

For the hard caps, they do take a lot of work. I need to use a hair dryer on them for maybe 5 minutes to soften the vinyl. Last time I tried to remove a hard head cap I was lucky and the thing popped off easily for me. Of course, I lost grip on it and the head cap went flying across the room.

 

Here's how I see it:

 

Old hard head caps

- takes more effort to remove the head cap when you use a normal bread-knief and use the leverage than there arent any problems ^^ But be patience.

 

New soft head caps

- seems easier to stain due to softer vinyl cancel these point ..Use a head-cap and everything is fine

- can potentially have problems with smaller wigs fitting due to head cap making head slightly larger Also a very small minus ^^ ...because many pages have a lot more selection of 9-10sizes wigs (crobidoll)

I agree with you Anouc, but I do want to point out some wigs are stain monsters. I've said it in other threads, but I've always had cloth caps on Rin under her wig. But it stained the cap and stained right through to her head. I think some wigs you need to do cloth AND silicone caps.

 

And the wig sizes only matters if you have a style of one that you really like and it's hard to find it in a different size.

I agree with you Anouc, but I do want to point out some wigs are stain monsters. I've said it in other threads, but I've always had cloth caps on Rin under her wig. But it stained the cap and stained right through to her head. I think some wigs you need to do cloth AND silicone caps.

 

And the wig sizes only matters if you have a style of one that you really like and it's hard to find it in a different size.

 

 

But is it needable to use a soft cap? I dont like them really much, because they never stay like i want them >-< ...I like silicone caps only... is it wrong to use them only?

I think I actually prefer the older vinyl - but it depends on the head.

 

My Médée is a HDD-01 head that is a rock - even with notches cut in the headcap and patience it's extremely difficult to open. When I had her visiting PlasticFantastic and we wanted to change her eyes, PF actually cut herself (with her nails, not any butterknives!) trying to open the head. It's THAT hard. I believe that this head is from a 2009 production batch since the previous owner sold me all of her MDD stuff including an outfit from 2009.

 

My DD Shino dates back to 2007 and it's actually a breeze to open her head. She's hard vinyl, with no notches in the headcap but gives me no trouble.

 

Saber Lily's head is somewhere in between those in my opinion.

 

Airy & Neris were the first DD's to have the soft heads, but I think Volks was still tweaking the formula because her head isn't quite as soft as Akira (who was released a few months later) or the newly released Saber Alter & Saber Extra.

 

I find the soft vinyl extremely quick to stain, which is a nuisance. At the same time, the soft vinyl is also easier to treat because it "let's go" of the stains more easily with RZ or zit cream treatments. However, only time will tell if the new vinyl will react in an weird way to these treatments over time (yellowing?)

 

I'm really careful about using cloth wig caps under all my dark wigs and almost all of my girls wear silicone wig caps since I like that they prevent wigs from slipping around.

I wonder if it's just me imagining things, but it feels like the soft heads may have a new vinyl composition throughout both halves, not just the cap part. The new face is still harder versus the new cap of course, but the new face feels softer than faces did before, maybe... (?) This is based on handling Neris versus Rin. Again, I could be completely imagining it though.

 

So far I find myself preferring the solid feel of the old heads. Stain resistance and better feel are more important to me than ease of opening, since I don't need to open doll heads often. In fact for some like AlterII I will probably never swap out her eyes at all, so I'm considering trying to trade somebody an Alter II head for an Alter I head whenever my Sabers do finally eventually get here. That could benefit both people if they like the soft heads better - which it sounds like many of us forum folks do.

I wonder if it's just me imagining things, but it feels like the soft heads may have a new vinyl composition throughout both halves, not just the cap part. The new face is still harder versus the new cap of course, but the new face feels softer than faces did before, maybe... (?) This is based on handling Neris versus Rin. Again, I could be completely imagining it though.

 

You might be onto something there. The newer bodies overall feel a tiiiny bit softer too (this is from poking at DDII, DDIII and MDD)

Old style never gave me much problems because I cut notches in them.

 

Nero first soft head type so only time will tell what I will think about it.

Anyone thought about vinyl losing some of its initial elasticity over time?

Because many plastics are getting harder and more brittle when they're getting older.

 

And new heads are - well, new

So it may be only natural for them to be slightly softer than old, hardened ones.

Different wall thickness also may contribute to this difference.

The one small issue I've experienced with the new head caps is they sometimes like to pop off when I'm trying to get a tight wig on. Maybe they come off a little too easy. I also agree that at least some of the newer heads feel squishier then the old ones, which may also play a roll in this.