Hi there,

I am seriously contemplating ordering from 4Woods and possibly soon.

I found your preliminary review of your Lily very informative. However, there are a few questions not answered in your review, and some others that have been raised in various posts that I am curious about? So if you would be so kind too answer a few questions.

-you mentioned Lily was having a problem with her skin 'flaking' what is that all about? And how did you correct it? This question concerns me more than the others.
-do you still have to powder Lily regularly, and have any of the painted areas faded?
-you mentioned experiencing problems with finger pokes early on? How did these occur? Did you get the hand skeleton feature or not? If you regularly sleep with your doll would it be better not to get the hand skeleton/wires?
-has Lily's skeleton loosened-up over time, making maneuvering easier?

Thanks for any information you can provide.

I must tell you I chuckled to myself a bit when you described Lily's weight and flexibility compared to your TeddieBabies. My current gal is nearly twenty pounds heavier than your Lily, and lovely though she, has shoulders like a linebacker. And she is roughly the same height as your girl too.

Cheers.

Hi Jgato, a topic with questions for me! I do feel flattered But to all other 4Woods owners, feel free to comment too

Let me try to give some answers.

Yes, this is the most important problem I have with my doll. Quite soon after her arrival some areas of skin became rough. By now she has several areas of rough skin. I think this is a pity, as for the rest she's such a pretty doll.
I don't know how to describe (in English) this roughness best. Earlier I called it 'flaking'. I'll try to make a clear picture of it and post it into this thread later-on.
Last year, I mentioned this problem to Doll Story (I purchased Lily from 4Woods Europe). They said they discussed the pictures I provided while being with 4Woods in Japan and they thought it was mainly powder residue (which it isn't, but by powdering it becomes more visible, especially on pictures). They sent me some hexane to clear those areas. For areas where there is only some initial roughness, wiping hard with a lot of hexane does work. But you'll need A LOT OF hexane. I have chosen not to repair these areas.
I searched TDF for other posts about this problem and found a few. So it seems I'm not the only one with this problem, although I don't know if it is this severe with others. Me, I'm curious too to hear if other 4Woods owners (having dolls with the new soft skin silicone) are having this problem too.


After washing Lily's skin feels sticky. So after washing I do powder her. That makes her skin feel soft and smoothly again. I guess this holds for all silicone dolls. But IMO her skin doesn't become that sticky, so she's not washed and powdered too often.
First I used the powder that she brought with her on arrival. Now I do use pure corn starch. I'm careful not to powder painted areas too much, but lips and nipples sometimes get powdered a little and still there is no single sign that paint fades.


Lily has the hand skeleton option. And I guess sometimes I'm not careful enough when playing or dressing. Hand wires are useful to make nice hand poses on pictures. But you must be very careful. Best is to put something protective on her hands while moving or dressing; but I'm too lazy for that.
At night, when she is in bed with me, her hands are quite save. Finger pokes occurred during dressing or moving (mostly during moving while dressing).
I'm thinking of buying another doll, and I'm not sure yet, but I guess it'll be without hand skeleton.


The skeleton has loosened-up just a little. But, after you've learned how to pose her, you'll learn it is loose enough from the start. She's not that stiff and you don't want her to become too loose.


According to 4Woods a NEOim doll is 29kg and 159cm. My Lily is a few kilogram more. I have to put her on diet

What I've learned is that a high-end silicone doll is a real piece of art. It's beautiful and delicate.
Despite some problems, I'm still very happy with Lily. But this doll is not something I judge fully objective, I guess she's got me emotionally biased.
I hope to be helpful and to contribute to real expectations. Good luck & cheers!

Here's the picture. Taken less than an hour ago. It shows Lily in her 'current state'. Photoshop was only used to crop and reduce the size of the picture to fit the maximum for TDF. No adjustments.
Click on the picture to get a full size view. On her left shoulder (right for the viewer) and on her right breast (left for the viewer) you see 'rough' skin. This time there is not much powder residue, as last time she was powdered was about four days ago. Actually the skin on her shoulder is much more rough than the skin on her breast, although on this picture it almost shows the same. Also, you see the colour of her lips and areolas is not faded.

great Nescio, I will consider all of this if I make a future purchase with 4woods.

Thanks so much Nescio,

You answered my questions in great detail, and I appreciate that very much!

Wow! Lily is so beautiful, that 'flaking' must be very upsetting to you. They almost look like stress/shear patterns or women's stretch marks. It is almost as if the silicon is pulling away from itself under the surface.

Does it feel rough when you pass your hand over top of it? If they are tiny fractures in the silicon at the surface, that might explain why they become more noticable when you powder. My doll has a few tiny holes around her body caused by airbubbles in the silicon, and when I powder her they become much more noticable.

This is a serious problem. I don't think I feel comfortble ordering until 4Woods addresses this and offers an explaination/solution. I wonder if this is an artifact of the softer silicon?

Thanks again.

Hello Jgato-san

could i ask a quick question?

like many people I am very interested in buying these 4woods dolls. And have finally saved enough to allow me to purchase (via dollstory.eu). But after reading on the problem of doll skin "flaking" I was very shocked since I considered 4woods to be best quality dolls in the world, and expedted their dolls to last for years if treated right.

In the previous post you stated that you wouldn't feel comfortable odering until 4woods addresses this issue and offer explanation/solution. And in another post in this forum [under Feature comparison] you stated that you just ordered from 4woods.

Does this mean that the 4woods have provided a solution for the skin "flaking" problem?
I (and many others, I presume) would love to know that this issue has been resolved and that the doll will not start flaking off after such great (maybe be not so great for rich folks out there) financial commitment has been made by the buyers, expecting a beuatiful doll that will last for years.

Even though the post initially addressed Jgato-san, if anyone else also has an answer for the current status of the skin problem the new soft skin 4woods doll is having (or is no longer having), please let us know.

Thank you in advance.

Hello CharlesFrancisII,

I did order from 4Woods Japan. I ordered a Neo IM white skin with Sarina head make-up 3 and a Neo-J/IM white skin with Nonoca head make-up 5. I just could not wait any longer.

As to the 'flaking' problem I have to admit I really did not ask Hiroo about it, I probably should have. However, there are two reasons I am less concerned about it on my dolls: first, apparently 4Woods has recently changed the skin formulation it now features soft skin all over the body. Second, as you can see both of my dolls will have white skin tone so even if the problem occurs it hopefully will be less noticable than on middle skin (like Nescio's Lily) or tanned skin tones.

I know that is probably not the answer you would have liked to hear, but may I suggest that you contact Hiroo (4Woods owner) and address this question to him. He is a great guy and very helpful. Just give him some time to get back to you.

Also, you could ask Zarnon if he sees any 'flaking' on his new Neo IM.

Good luck.

I'm in contact with Doll Story and they will come with a solution for my doll Great after sales service
And as you can see in the picture I posted in this thread, Lily is still looking very pretty

Hello Nescio50-san

Thank you for letting us know that Doll story is coming up with the solution for the skin problem.
Hopefully, it will be better than rubbing harder with more hexane (just joking)
Will you let us know when Doll story comes up with the answer?

Lily-chan is very pretty, I have to say. Don't make her too jealous with Sarina head though (I guess you will be buying another 4woods doll since Lily-chan isn't willing to share her body?)

Also, thank you for your posts and your review of Lily-chan; they were very informative.

Hello Jgato-san



wow. Two dolls directly from the great country of Japan itself. (and one with Sarina head!) I would order with 4Woods Japan, if I could afford it...
But then again, Lily-chan is from Doll story and she is as stunning as other girls displayed in the 4Woods Japan website.



hmm. From what I understand, both dolls from Nescio50-san and Zarnon-san have the new soft skin. And Lily-chan developed skin "flaking" and Zarnon-san's review mentioned his doll developing peeling in the left hip area.
I'm also thinking of fair skin tone, hopefully this will make the peeling/flaking less visible as you mentioned.

Nescio50-san stated that Doll story is coming up with the solution for this (and Doll story will share this with 4Woods Japan for sure). Perhaps the issue will be resolved by the time your dolls arrive.

Thank you Jgato-san for answering my post.

Hello CharlesFrancisII,

Just a quick word of clarification. It is my firm understanding that 4Woods Japan and 4Woods Europe are one in the same company, both run by Hiroo Okawa. So I would assume all of their production procedures and materials are the same in Japan or Europe.

The reason my dolls are coming from Japan is 4woods Europe was not yet producing the Neo-J/IM body when I placed my order, although that may have changed by now.

I am sure Nescio's doll and Zarnon's doll have the breast and belly softness, but as far as I know the all-over-softness is a relatively new development that only appeared around the time of the introduction of the new Neo-J body about a month ago. I could of course be mistaken.

You might ask Zarnon to be sure, but I am not certain the 'peeling' problem he reported is the same as the 'flaking' problem Nescio has encountered.

Oh, and you might also ask Midiman if he has had any problems of this type with his new Neo IM
(which you probably already know has the Sarina head, and is this months coverdoll.)

I am glad to hear that 4Woods Europe is on the case for Nescio, great customer support.

Best Regards

Hello Jgato-san.



That's what I thought so, too.
When I wrote my previous post, I just thought you ordered from Japan with extra cost because you also liked the great country of Japan itself.
(Nippon Banzai!) Now I know that you ordered from Jappan for Neo-J.



I thought the "soft skin" was introduced into dolls since August of 2011 and that both Lily-chan and Zarnon-san's doll have this feature. Maybe a new kind of all-over-softness feature was added as you mentioned. That would be great.

Thank you again and may you have long years of peace and prosperity with Sarina and Nonoca.

Well it says: 4Woods' "Soft Skin which has been available since the summer of 2011, has evolved even further.
So yeah, I guess this is new.

Hey David,

I think your right, it is a new development. In any case I will find out soon I trust.

Cheers.

Hi CharlesFrancisII,

I don't know if you can wait that long, but I will probably post-up a review of some sort after my dolls arrive sometime midsummer.

Good luck to you in your own quest.

Best Regards.