Treating Keyshia's Hyperpigmentation

School Girl Keyshia (the boxed doll shown above) arrived in February 2014 with a few dark spots on her arms and hands, some of which were captured in this image taken shortly after she arrived.  These were discovered after removing her black velour jacket, which I suspected then was the staining culprit.

Keyshia was one of the students in my Dear Miss Conley post (see her in the 2nd photo in back near the chalk board and in the 4th photo in front of Bob in the Conley post).  Before photographs for that post were taken, she had continued to wear her black jacket.  I removed the jacket for the "Dear Miss Conley" photographs because most of the children were dressed in lightweight fabrics, and I didn't want Keyshia to "feel" out of place.  After removing the jacket, I discovered she had what would be diagnosed as hyperpigmentation in humans, which is caused by an increased amount of melanin in the affected areas.  Dark spots were all over the inner and outer areas of Keyshia's arms.  Totally disgusted by this (without taking a photo), I immediately applied a copious amount of extra strength acne cream to these areas after she received her unjust imaginary punishment from Miss Conley.

With acne cream-applied arms and hands, Keyshia stands on the kitchen windowsill facing the outside to expose these areas to indirect sunlight.

Keyshia remained on the kitchen windowsill for approximately two weeks.

As shown in the first windowsill photo, Keyshia patiently stood on the kitchen windowsill to allow the sun (on the days we were blessed with it) to aid the active ingredient in the acne cream to fade the spots.  Because Keyshia's arms are rigid plastic, it took approximately two weeks for the 10% benzoyl peroxide to completely fade the stains.  When treated with the same ointment, it usually only takes a few days to a week for stains to fade from softer vinyl.

After Treatment

"Look, Mom, no more stains!"

As illustrated above.  All except one small spot on her right forearm has faded.  Had I allowed the cream to remain on for perhaps another week or so, that area would have faded as well.

Keyshia and her family

With stain-free arms and hands, Keyshia has now rejoined her sister and father on the cubbyhole of my personal desk where they are usually displayed.  (Special Say Keyshia is elsewhere in the doll room.)

This Keyshia will not be allowed to wear that black velour jacket ever-ever-ever again.

 dbg

Thrift Store Lot Make Ready

Thrift store find 05/20/14

The day before my birthday my husband and I went to the thrift store.  Initially, after first examining all fashion doll baggies, I didn't find anything I felt I needed until my  husband said, "Hey, here's a brother!"  Since I had overlooked something I wanted, I decided to thoroughly examine all baggies and ended up with a total of three because each baggie contained one doll I wanted.  The baggies were $2.99 each. 

The "brother" my husband saw was Barbie Basics Model 17.  I was surprised to see him there.  Even though he had been completely scalped, I still wanted him, but I didn't realize his other flaws until we arrived home.

Bag #1

Model 17 exposes his "underarm hair" that someone gave him using a permanent marker.  "Good grief!" I thought

The first baggie contained the above two.  As noted by the caption, Model 17's former owner was very creative with a permanent marker.  I am not sure what happened to his flocked hair, but even adult collectors have complained about how easy the hair on this particular doll sheds.

Poor guy has unwanted underarm hair and looks as though he is suffering from alopecia.

Model 17 also had a black stain on the side of his right upper thigh as shown in the next photo.

What was done to fix his issues will be shared later in this post.  The GI Joe Delta guy just needs pants.  He and the other dolls that were purchased because they came with the others I wanted are stored away.

Bag #2

Brandy, Nichelle, Christie-with-the-square-face, and Baby-Sitter's Club Claudia Kishi by Kenner

The second bag was purchased because of Brandy.  Even though I recently found another Brandy at this thrift store, I thought this one would be nice to have as well.  After finding out the ID of the Asian doll (who is actually Asian-American), I wanted her, too.  I plan to find Claudia something suitable to wear soon.  It's also nice to have another Nichelle head sculpt.  Nichelle used to be my favorite friend of Barbie during the 1990s.  I never particularly cared for the square Christie face, but in more recent years she has grown on me.

Bag #3

Desiree, Chic Boutique doll, Rapunzel (maybe), and Asha

You'd probably never guess which doll I wanted in the group above.  If you guessed the Chic Boutique doll, you guessed correctly.  She is the third Chic Boutique doll that I have found at this thrift store but differs from the other two.

The Desired Three

"The brother," (Model #17), Brandy, and the Chic Boutique doll.  The girls needed their hair washed and styled.  Brandy also had a tiny ink stain on the front of her left calf and on one finger.  Model 17's issues had to be tackled, too.

What Was Done

Spa Treatment

The ladies had their hair washed and set, or just washed and air dried as shown above.  I wet Model 17's hair and rubbed off the remaining flocking.  The stain on the side of his leg wiped right off.  A thick amount of acne cream containing Oxy-10 (Family Dollar brand) was applied to his underarms as well as to Brandy's finger and leg.    The Oxy-10 was left on Model-17 for a few days without even a hint of the permanent marker fading.  Impatience led me to search Google for ways to remove permanent marker from vinyl.  One website suggested several different ways that I had never heard of.  I decided to try each.

Dry erase marker, tea tree oil, toothpaste, pencil eraser, magic eraser sponge all failed at removing the permanent marker.

Since none of the above methods worked to remove the permanent marker stains, I applied more Oxy-10 and decided to couple that with direct sunlight.  I placed both Model 17 and Brandy in a secure location outside where their Oxy-10-treated areas would receive direct rays from the hot Texas sun.

Brandy and Model 17 had a thick layer of generic brand Oxy-10 applied to stained areas and were placed outside in direct sunlight.

After a couple of days the stains were zapped!

Their stains are gone!  The generic-brand Oxy-10 + direct sunlight worked like a charm in removing the permanent marker and ink.  It is not visible in this picture, but a small area of the vinyl where the stain was on Brandi's leg became a little lighter as a result of the acne cream's bleaching effect.  I will have to be more careful to apply the cream only to the stained areas in the future.

It may be because of his bald head, but Model 17 reminds me now of Boris Kodjoe.  Then after I paired him with Brandy, I could see The Game TV series characters Chardonnay and Jason Pitts (Coby Bell).  Maybe I will name these two Boris and Chardonnay.  Why not Jason?  Because I will remember the name, Boris, and as ridiculous a name as it is for a person, who could forget Chardonnay? 

Boris and Chardonnay have both been dressed.

With hair washed and styled and all stains removed, I redressed the wanted trio and allowed the Chic Boutique doll to mingle with her sisters as shown in the following photos:

The ladies wear Barbie fashions while Boris wears a Ken Fashionistas ensemble.  The straw hat works well to cover his head that will be flocked later.

Chic Boutique ladies illustrate three different complexions

The darker Chic Boutique dolls share the same head sculpt and strong jawline.  The one on the far left was manufactured with pierced ears and earrings.  The most recent acquisition, the doll in the middle, and the one on the far right have unpierced ears.  The doll on the far right has jointed knees.  The others do not.  All three have a swivel waist and copyright year on their heads of 2008.   



It took a while to get the desired three ready for display, but I am pleased with the end results.

dbg

An Even Complexion

Mae Ella with stained nose and chin

Mae Ella was discovered to have a discolored nose and chin when I included her in a Dolls with Books exhibit at a local library in February. She had been stored for several years in a black canvas rolling luggage bag along with the other dolls and books used in the exhibit.  I am not sure if the bag is the staining culprit or exactly how it occurred.  She was the only doll affected.

As a quick fix, I applied concealer to the darkened areas and allowed Mae Ella to remain in the exhibit with her companion doll, Willie Pearl, and the book about the two. The dolls are now back home. All, including Mae Ella, are again stored in the luggage bag in plastic bags for protection. Before returning Mae Ella to the bag, however, I wanted to address her stained face.

Acne cream that contains 10% benzoyl peroxide has been applied to Mae Ella's stains.

Benzoyl peroxide (BP), the active ingredient in most acne preparations, is known to remove ink and other stains from vinyl.  I purchased a tube of acne cream from Family Dollar that contains 10% BP.  After removing the concealer from Mae Ella's face, I applied the acne cream generously to her nose and chin where it remained for a full week before washing off.

As illustrated in the "after" picture above, Mae Ella now has an even complexion without signs that the areas had ever been stained.


dbg

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