who DOESN'T baby oil their TPE? how's it working for you?

Post by **Larry427** » Tue May 14, 2019 9:01 pm

So, how do you know when the TPE is drying out? I got my first oil bath after being home for 4 weeks and now I seem to be leaving more oil stains on my clothes. I think my lovely wife has decided to not give me another oil bath for a while.

abcguyxyz · Post by **abcguyxyz** » Tue May 14, 2019 9:11 pm

RGC_0767 wrote:
mandos wrote:Yeah I do not oil my dolls much, I use it for stain and make-up removal though, it is excellent for this. Never seen any evidence of drying out, even on the 5 year old TPE´s that has been washed several times with soap - although I have now recently given away those dolls so I can no longer say how they look. For some of the newer and very soft TPE dolls they seem to be already dripping with oil, it feels very wrong to add even more oil to such a doll IMHO, but I know my view on this matter is not very popular around these parts so I usually keep my mouth shut as I have no scientific evidence to back this up.
Here is the scientific proof for the most part Mandos. A fair size read, but I can confirm it to be the case by my own small experiments with TPE raw pellets. And get the material really really soft.

Super-soft thermoplastic elastomers : https://patents.google.com/patent/EP2566920A2/en

Sheds clearer light on things anyway.

Is that long patent read's conclusion is that oil is needed occasionally to retain elasticity? or does it say extra oil, is not needed?

yougivelove · Post by **yougivelove** » Wed May 15, 2019 7:49 am

My 2 cents- My first doll was a wm100 that I had for two years. Never oiled it and over it's time with me the TPE got stiffer and stiffer. When I replaced her with a WM118 it was remarkable to compare the TPE of the soft new 118 to the older, harder 100. The difference was like night and day. Fast forward about a year and the 118 wasn't anywhere near as soft as she was when she was new, so I tried oiling her. I used butcher block oil (food grade mineral oil), laid her out on a plastic sheet on the floor, oiled her up from head to toe and let her dry overnight. The next morning she felt almost brand new again. This was a few months ago and she still feels really nice. So I do feel that it's an important bit of maintenance, but it probably only needs to be done every 6 months or so in my experience.

abcguyxyz · Post by **abcguyxyz** » Wed May 15, 2019 7:24 pm

great input. thanks!

esquisseallure · Post by **esquisseallure** » Wed May 15, 2019 11:42 pm

My piper miyuki has been in hibernation for about 4 months now. I should wake her up and see how she doing as I've never oiled her before. This might be a good test on whether to oil or not.

Boobman · Post by **Boobman** » Thu May 16, 2019 12:46 am

Both of my dolls received light oiling for surface cleaning on a few occasions. Vaseline that was put on them for oil replacement here in Las Vegas usually dry air & very hot long summers been over 95 here already. They have been in a inside controlled storage unit since Aug 2017. I have not checked out how they are doing i packed them with sheet plastic i had, bought pillows & comforters for padding boxed them with plastic between limbs & body to prevent static TPE welding like the arms to body, thighs etc. At this point i hope i they are ok, i packed them as well as i could.

Stewie studmuffin · Post by **Stewie studmuffin** » Thu May 16, 2019 5:06 am

Larry427 wrote:So, how do you know when the TPE is drying out?

Well besides the material becoming noticeably harder, I would say when it begins to feel dry to the touch. Healthy TPE is supposed to feel a LITTLE oily. (Perhaps "silky" would be a better description as it shouldn't feel like a grease rag either) So if it's dry as a bone with no powder having been applied, then it's time for an oil treatment.
Although this should be a rare occurrence for a doll kept in a normal environment.
The only time that I have noticed this with my lady has been when she was left sitting on a bed sheet for a long period of time and her entire back side had become dry due to the TPE oils being extracted by the sheet. (There is a scientific name for this process but it escapes me at the moment)
But at any rate, I just applied the baby oil and she was good as new.

RGC_0767 · Post by **RGC_0767** » Thu May 16, 2019 2:25 pm

abcguyxyz wrote:
RGC_0767 wrote:
mandos wrote:Yeah I do not oil my dolls much, I use it for stain and make-up removal though, it is excellent for this. Never seen any evidence of drying out, even on the 5 year old TPE´s that has been washed several times with soap - although I have now recently given away those dolls so I can no longer say how they look. For some of the newer and very soft TPE dolls they seem to be already dripping with oil, it feels very wrong to add even more oil to such a doll IMHO, but I know my view on this matter is not very popular around these parts so I usually keep my mouth shut as I have no scientific evidence to back this up.
Here is the scientific proof for the most part Mandos. A fair size read, but I can confirm it to be the case by my own small experiments with TPE raw pellets. And get the material really really soft.

Super-soft thermoplastic elastomers : https://patents.google.com/patent/EP2566920A2/en

Sheds clearer light on things anyway.
Is that long patent read's conclusion is that oil is needed occasionally to retain elasticity? or does it say extra oil, is not needed?

It just shows in a processing way how much oil they add to get super soft elastomers.
It really does not conclude of post production. But a small bit of oil every few months on surface will do no ill.
Again, I did try experimenting with a firm raw pellet and using some of what this article says does make the material softer by way of mineral oil. Copy and paste...

Styrenic block co-polymers (SBCs) and paraffinic / white mineral plasticizer oils are of great interest to make very soft TPE compounds. SBCs are compatible with such oils, and compositions with greater than 85% oil are now possible , yielding gels with Shore OO hardness of 25 Shore OO or less, which do not bleed oil in end-use applications in a temperature range of from 45°F to 110°F.

So this provides a bit of insight. There may be very slight absorption from blankets and clothes over time, but nothing a little wipe of mineral oil will replenish every few months.
I've found when dolly had a bit more oil than she needed she gets stains easier. Since backing off on oil, she's not getting any stains.
Lots of hidden gems on polymer websites, etc..

ShadowCat · Post by **ShadowCat** » Sun May 26, 2019 11:59 am

Stewie studmuffin wrote:
Larry427 wrote:So, how do you know when the TPE is drying out?
Well besides the material becoming noticeably harder, I would say when it begins to feel dry to the touch. Healthy TPE is supposed to feel a LITTLE oily. (Perhaps "silky" would be a better description as it shouldn't feel like a grease rag either) So if it's dry as a bone with no powder having been applied, then it's time for an oil treatment.
Although this should be a rare occurrence for a doll kept in a normal environment.
The only time that I have noticed this with my lady has been when she was left sitting on a bed sheet for a long period of time and her entire back side had become dry due to the TPE oils being extracted by the sheet. (There is a scientific name for this process but it escapes me at the moment)
But at any rate, I just applied the baby oil and she was good as new.

I have had my WM160 about 1.5 months now. I have given him two baths with the tpe safe cleaner from RLSD (one powder when I first got him). No oil yet as he is still leaving oil spots on the sheets. I took that to mean he doesn’t need any.

My question was also how to know when it’s dry. I suppose this will be a bit trial and error. Maybe test a patch and see how quickly the oil absorbs? I have read the threads about overdoing the oil and he is still new, so I guess I will see how it goes.

forty · Post by **forty** » Sun May 26, 2019 4:35 pm

My WM166C had some smell upon arrival. Leaving her there for a few days didn't do it. Then oiling did the trick.

Dolllover2019 · Post by **Dolllover2019** » Sun May 26, 2019 7:11 pm

All I know is I bought way too much oil beforehand, I got a whole case of the stuff.....

cptchris · Post by **cptchris** » Sun May 26, 2019 7:25 pm

In 2 years I only oiled Gemma, my WM157b, once. I think I'll do it again though as she looks grubby and I believe oil plus a light wipe with an edge (like a credit card) will lift the dirt out.

DexterQuest · Post by **DexterQuest** » Sun May 26, 2019 7:27 pm

Out of my dozen starting in 2016, haven't oiled any.
Except one from a certain brand (2018) feels like a shark and will probably oil her soon. I agree that unless the tpe feels like it could benefit from oil, I would not oil.

Stewie studmuffin · Post by **Stewie studmuffin** » Sun May 26, 2019 7:43 pm

ShadowCat wrote: I have had my WM160 about 1.5 months now. I have given him two baths with the tpe safe cleaner from RLSD (one powder when I first got him). No oil yet as he is still leaving oil spots on the sheets. I took that to mean he doesn’t need any.

My question was also how to know when it’s dry. I suppose this will be a bit trial and error. Maybe test a patch and see how quickly the oil absorbs? I have read the threads about overdoing the oil and he is still new, so I guess I will see how it goes.

Knowing when TPE is dry and needs to be oiled is a difficult question to answer. I don't know if anyone can say for sure as it can depend on the TPE blend, the age of the doll, and the conditions in which the doll is stored. Particularly the heat and humidity levels.
In the case of my doll, I was told to give her an mineral oil treatment every once in a while. But how often "every once in a while" is is anyone's guess!

But if your doll is still leaving oil spots, then I wouldn't worry about adding any oil. Once you don't notice any more oil spots, I would begin thinking about doing an oil treatment.
And if the material is beginning to feel dry to the touch then I would definitely add some oil.
Although in my experience this will take a while to manifest. I actually had my lady for over four years before I gave her an oil treatment and there have been no problems with the material breaking down. That's not to say that she couldn't have used a good oiling before then, but I haven't seen any ill affects from waiting that long.
As for how long it takes the oil to absorb, it will depend on how much oil is still retained in the material. If a doll was beginning to get a little dry like mine was, then the oil will be absorbed more quickly. On the other hand, applying oil when not needed will just result in the doll staying oily longer. So yeah, applying a little oil to a small spot and seeing how quickly it is absorbed may be a good test.

On another note I have also seen some dolls with cracks in the material that has been attributed to over-dryness. Although I would think that the doll would have to be stored for an extended period of time in a pretty extreme environment for that to happen. Such as an airtight metal storage container like they use on ships. (They could get as hot as an oven in direct sunlight)
But if a doll wasn't stored in that manner and was beginning to show cracks after just a few months (especially if not in high stress areas such as the crotch and armpits) then I would say that a bad batch of material is to blame rather than simply needing an oil treatment.

Jimmy_71 · Post by **Jimmy_71** » Sat Jul 06, 2019 2:30 pm

I'm glad I found this thread as I was asking myself if I should oil my 7 month old WM this weekend. Seems like the answer is no.

A questions for those of you who don't oil. How often are you cleaning and powdering them? I imagine that must effect the rate of the tpe drying out.