Meet Fiona

This doll was an eBay gamble that worked out in the end. I knew she had white stringing in her arms and flecked in her legs, so she was a fairly early doll. The seller described her as having no bangs (which I doubted), and thought there might be a groove under her nose but wasn't sure (the pictures weren't clear enough for me to tell). It wasn't until she arrived that I knew for sure that she had both bangs and a philtrum.

I forgot to take a "before" picture of her tangled hair, but I washed it and uncovered her fine fringe. This picture was taken to show the seller ...

... because while she had beautiful hair now, she smelled awful!

I showed the seller that the doll had bangs, and also complained about her very smoky odor. She replied that the doll came from an estate sale and she hadn't noticed the smell due to a cold. After checking with her doll resources/friends, she concurred that the smell would be very hard to remove, if not impossible. She had a return policy, but instead we agreed on a nice discounted price.

I then set about trying to remove the smell from Fiona, my first 1968 Redhead Dungarees. First I aired her on my screen porch for several months, then I made a leap of faith. Instead of trying traditional odor removers -- baking soda, activated charcoal, kitty litter, coffee grounds -- I decided to use Biocide. We have a camper that was also in need of de-stinking, so I took Fiona apart and placed her inside it while the Chlorine Dioxide did it's thing. I consider the treatment to be a success; it does not appear to have damaged her in any way, and even to my sensitive nose she is nearly odorless!

Here are a few pictures of her in her original outfit, which cleaned up nicely with Perk. Now I just need to see if I can repair the straps on one of her sandals.

Comparison photos with some of my 1969 Dungarees will follow shortly.