1. I currently have 8 TPE gals which are WM/YL and OR but will have all come from the same Jinsan factory. You may well have seen the posts that explain how TPE batches vary in terms of quality and therefore durability which is even more reason to go through a TDF-approved vendor. There are lots of other variables that can impact the TPE itself, including climate and usage. I was given a taste of what a prolonged period of very hot weather can do this summer when we had daytime temperatures in excess of 35c and I found that a couple of my gals were developing minor splits at their wrists and elbows (easily fixed with hot air). At the time I was mortified but it was down to my leaving their limbs in a slightly flexed position thus leaving the TPE doll in a state of tension, when heat is applied the TPE can begin to separate. I soon learned to go around checking all my dolls and ensuring they were in a neutral/relaxed state!
However, would this have still happened if the dolls affected had recently been oiled?
One of them that was over a year old, hadn’t been oiled for about 2 months and I now think that if I had been more diligent and increased the frequency of oiling and put Vaseline on her wrists and elbows then the splits wouldn’t have happened. But this is where it gets confusing as I have a WM158D that I got last December and she had oiling in January then I forgot to do her again until July and she was absolutely fine and she had been out in the sun on a photoshoot, got a little dirty and was put through the rigors of being carried about on a location photoshoot. As for what I would recommend, well certainly I always wash any doll upon arrival as there may well be factory residue on her, you can see it in the bath sometimes when I rinse her off. I can’t see why anyone would then apply baby oil to a new doll, aside from the fact that it’s a pleasure to do it just isn’t necessary for a new doll, so for example, I have a YL148D that arrived on the 16th July and I haven’t baby oiled her yet but will do by the end of this month. Now the winter is approaching I will be relaxing my maintenance schedule, particularly with my newer dolls although with the older ones I will probably stick to doing the wash and oiling every 2 months as their TPE seems to need ‘feeding’ more. I currently have my YL155D laying on the bed having had a wash the other day and then an application of baby oil. Today I will give her a very light dusting of powder and then get her dressed again. Now, she looks and feels as good as when she arrived and that was in July 2017.
Even in the same location with the same environmental conditions, I have to have a slightly different approach to the gals I have. Now the other variable is the usage, most of my gals are lucky in that they mostly only have to model for my photography. Like most folk I made several mistakes when starting out with Sarah, including having her sit in a bath of water after we had sex as she was a built-in. Sitting a TPE doll in water frequently is not recommended and after a couple of months, I began to notice some minor changes that would have gotten worse in time. As I had now relaxed into having Sarah we were being quite active in the bedroom and I began to worry that I would wear her out! So I then did the research that I should have done at the beginning! I stopped sitting her in the bath, I got a bath stool and sat her on that instead, I washed her with diluted hand soap and gave her a quick rinse with water. Most importantly, I started to use femidoms, this then meant that I didn’t need to wash her out internally and meant that she only needed to be cleaned and oiled every 2 or 3 months. So after 2 years the minor damage she has on that 148 body is all down to me, there is a loose elbow joint that occurred after a fall and I think there are 3 fingers wires that have come away from the palm plate. There were some very minor splits beginning to form on her knees where I had left the knee slightly bent in the summer but I sealed them back up with my hot air station. Her lady parts have widened slightly over 2 years which actually made things quite nice and although I love Sarah with her new body, I’m already missing her original one so once I fix that elbow joint she will be using it again I’m sure! The TPE of the 148 still looks good, especially after oiling and after learning what I have over the past couple of years I hope to keep all my gals looking good. So to sum up, do wash a new doll on arrival but don’t oil straight away. Don’t leave any TPEdoll in a stressed position over a prolonged period, so make sure that the legs and arms are in a neutral position. Don’t sit your gal in a bath of water rather sit her on a bath stool and use a hand shower to rinse her sparingly. Check your gal regularly and get a feel for what is right, so that if she feels tacky then that would suggest she has enough oil, if she feels dry then maybe it’s time to get the baby oil. A good quality new doll can probably go for 3 or 4 months or more before any oiling is necessary! Go for the standing feet option as they just make life a lot easier and if you put your gal in some good supportive flat shoes she can happily stand while leaning slightly against a wall (with a piece of sponge in-between). Don’t apply any baby oil unless you have washed her first otherwise, you will get bits of fluff and dust, etc mixed in with the oil, and bits of residue will appear all over, saying that, an alternative to washing can be using baby oil and a credit card to scrape the oil off and lift any dirt. Personally, I prefer to wash and then oil, then let the oil soak in over several hours, and finally use a little powder if necessary, this will take away any tackiness and makes dressing her easier. I would imagine that someone will chime in and say that silicone dolls require less maintenance and are more durable and whilst I’m not going to dispute that (I haven’t got a silicone gal myself yet) I would say that TPE is fine as long as you do your research and work out a suitable care regime that is appropriate for your particular doll and one thing that IS indisputable is that Sarah’s new WM155DD body looks and feels great, it’s so soft and not tacky at all and it’s currently driving me bananas!
2. Most likely when you first get your doll it’s going to stink up the place, so you’re going to want to give her a shower or sponge bath. You only need to wash and rinse several times if you’re using the sponge bath method, otherwise, 1 shower with a gentle scrubbing will take all the factory residue off.
I don’t know who it is that’s claiming mineral oil or vaseline (which is 90% mineral oil) could dry out TPE. That’s a prime example of a severe lack of common sense. You can apply mineral oil as much as you want, there is nothing in there that’s going to damage a doll, Vaseline may have some additives that may slightly damage TPE if used excessively, but I haven’t seen any visible damage when using a mix of vaseline and mineral oil for lube. The powder can dry out a doll’s skin if she hasn’t been properly oiled, and washing her removes some of that factory oil.
So to clarify once and for all, yes you want to wash her until she smells like TPE, rather than like a tire factory, and yes you do want to apply mineral oil all over her body, at least once before applying powder. Vaseline has the benefit of being easier to apply to the doll, and making less of a mess of your furniture, but it takes far longer to soak in than mineral oil, and probably isn’t quite as effective at hydrating TPE as pure mineral oil. The way I see it, the mineral oil soaks in, then you can apply vaseline to create a thicker coating, trapping more of the mineral oil inside. Vaseline and mineral blended is the best lube on the planet.
