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How to Remove Old Face Paint From Vintage Barbie Dolls

Vintage barbies are somewhat delicate, and removing old face paint badly can damage the doll permanently and do damage to an item that might be worth quite a bit of money. However, this is a good method to learn for someone who wants to work on and restore vintage dolls. The method removes a touch-up paint job that has been badly done or the original paint job so you can repaint the face later down the road.

Things You'll Need

Hair tie
Rubbing alcohol
Cotton balls
Latex or vinyl gloves
Non-acetone paint remover
Baking soda and water solution

Instructions

- 1
  Remove any clothing that might be on your vintage Barbie. If the Barbie's hair is loose, put the hair up with the hair tie. If your Barbie has earrings on, remove those as well.
- 2
  Pour a small amount of rubbing alcohol onto one of your cotton balls, and rub on the face to remove any loose paint. This may pick the whole face off of the Barbie, and it may only pick up flakes of the paint. When you are finished, wipe the doll off with the baking soda and water solution.
- 3
  Put on the gloves. Use a small amount of the non-acetone paint remover on a cotton ball and rub the face paint off of your barbie. Rinse the face again in the baking soda and water solution.

Collecting Vintage Toys