Restoration Time... 1961 Flocked Hair Ken Doll

     Hello doll lovers!! I did a few more restorations last week on some vintage dolls. I am almost done with the vintage dolls then I will move onto the newer dolls (by newer I mean 80s and 90s) and some more bratz. I will be sad to have all my estate sale sad dolls clean but also happy cause they are in way better condition than they were. This restoration was on a 1961 flocked hair ken doll. Like the other dolls I only paid $1 for him.
     This guy was like all the other dolls I got that day he was pretty dirty and in bad shape (mainly his hair). First thing I did was take his homemade clothes off or I should say cut them off cause they were sewn onto him. Then I washed him like I do all the dolls (the way I clean them will be at the bottom of the post) I washed him 3 times (he had a lot of grime in his fingers, toes and face). When it came to his flocked hair I decided to remove it, cause it was bald in spots and when I tried to wash it, it came off more. I think it was so easy to come off because of the way he was stored, I have talked about the conditions these dolls were in before. His hair came right off with a little scrubbing. He has a very light blond paint under the flocking so it looks like he is bald but I think it is better than what he had before. I have toyed around with maybe using permanent marker to fill in his hair but I am not brave enough to attempt that yet.
     Other than his hair being taken off and looking a bit bald he turned out good. He cleaned up really nicely his face paint is good and he only had a red spot on his shoulder. I do not have a lot of clothes for Ken dolls especially vintage ones but I found him some red shorts (I would say from the late 70s early 80s) and a shirt almost like what he would have been bought in but it is marked Allan but it fit him fine. I think he looks a lot better than when we started of course it would have been nice to save his hair but I am not that talented working on dolls yet but I do think I did good with what I had. **It always amazes me with how much darker they look when you first start to clean them, not sure if it is the lighting or they have that much grime on them**

(If you are wondering how I clean my dolls I use dish soap first then do a wash with some baking soda, I use a tooth brush for both of these steps. I clean their hair with dish soap too and use conditioner that I let set for about 10 min then comb through. For really damaged hair I use a boil wash, which is just some boiling water and you dunk their hair in or can let them set for a bit. All of my cleaning tips came from a YouTube channel called "a thousand splendid dolls" I love their channel and she has so many helpful tutorials. This is how I clean all the dolls and ponies I do restorations on.)