Cleaning Soft Vinyl Toys

If you have ever had tried to clean one of these soft vinyl toys you know what a challenge they can be!

I purchased these Rody Jr. vinyl toys while living in Japan they are made of a soft flexible vinyl very similar to the popular smooth rubber playground balls and they sat on a shelf in my doll collection for the past 10 years and in that time they collected a bit of dirt and household dust.These toys can also feel a bit sticky when they are dirty which makes cleaning them even more of a challenge but I was determined to find a way to get them clean before I listed them in my store. 

First I tried a magic eraser which is normally the clean all miracle worker but it didn't work on these, then I tried spraying them with an all purpose cleaner I think it might have been 409 nope that didn't work either, then I tried some dish detergent on a kitchen scrubber sponge and water and that still didn't work. Hmm! These guys were a challenge! 

Here's what did work: 

I got some vegetable oil and rubbed it all over them and let it sit for a minute to penetrate into the vinyl then I took that kitchen sponge with a scrubby side and put a little bit of dish detergent on it to remove the excess oil, scrubbed and then rinsed. The vegetable oil loosed up all the dirt and conditioned the vinyl so that it felt smooth and clean and no longer sticky. Baby oil or other types of oil like olive would probably also work but vegetable oil was what I had available so that is what I used and it came out smooth, clean and shiny!

I have also found this works well on dolls with soft rubber faces like the large interactive Baby Alive dolls.

Please keep in mind that this method might not work for every soft vinyl toy and that these methods are to be used at your discretion.

Happy toy cleaning adventures! :)