Dye Removal Process on Elfdoll Soah

I originally posted this on my LiveJournal ten years ago (10!! omg it’s been 10 years!) when I had the opportunity to purchase an Elfdoll Soah from a friend who had sent her out to be dyed. When he got her back, the dye job was extremely uneven and streaky.

At the time, I had been wanting a Soah for years and the opportunity was just too good to pass up. So I jumped! …. haha, that’s a lie… I grabbed her up so fast it would have made your head spin!

I didn’t know quite what I was getting into, though.

Unfortunately, when it came to record-keeping, I didn’t fully think things through. When I received her, I didn’t have her in my apartment for more than 5 minutes before I started the process of removing the purple dye. That means I only have photos of purple-dyed doll parts rather than the full doll.

Apologies in advance for the size of the photos. Keep in mind, this was originally posted in 2009, and posted images were a lot smaller back then…

Streaky Purple Doll Parts

The dye job was so uneven and streaky over her entire body and face. I only have a couple of pictures of some of the body parts showing just how bad it was – but imagine this over the entire doll!

The Scrubbing Process

A friend of mine came over and we started the dye removal process by soaking her in Windsor & Newton Brush Cleaner and Restorer and using a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to scrub her down. Surprisingly, this (along with elbow grease!) actually took off most of the dye!

Mostly Cleaned Head + Dyed Body Parts

Sanding, Sanding, and More Sanding

Dye Removal Complete!

After much scrubbing and sanding, and even more sanding and scrubbing, she was declared done! There was still purple dye inside her stringing channels that we couldn’t reach, but overall, she came out looking fabulous!