We just recently started a whitening process for yellowed figures so we thought we'd document our process that's worked for us and hopefully help some folks out that have yellowed/discolored figures. Here's our method and a big thank you to our test subject, Balrog for being so cooperative.
- Remove any parts that don't need whitening. For this we only needed the front of his torso and his arms. This process will mess up stickers so remove them from whatever you're whitening if possible. This also has some effect on non-white colors too, most notably red paint. So careful when you're doing this with an original Storm Shadow figure. That Cobra symbol may change to pink or possibly could come off altogether.
- The product we use is Salon Care 40 Volume Creme Developer and can be purchased fairly cheap (I believe it was under $5 for the 4oz bottle) and in different sizes depending on how many things you plan on attempting to whiten. We bought this at Sally's Beauty Supply.
- Be sure to wear gloves when working with the creme, it gets everywhere and can dye skin (though temporarily). I had my fingers dyed a couple times before I realized I should be wearing gloves. Washing them doesn't really help and it usually goes away in a few hours though. Protect all surfaces too, this stuff ain't messin around.
- So with the parts we needed whitened ready, we use a toothbrush to really slab the developer onto them. Once they are coated we place those parts into a baggie and seal it.
- Then we set the baggie in the sun for a few hours. Try not to forget it's out there and check on it from time to time to see how the process is going. This may take a couple hours up to the better part of a day depending on how badly yellowed your piece is.
- This particular set of parts sat in the sun for three hours and wasn't fully whitened by the time the sun went away. We kept the parts in the baggie overnight (by accident) but in the morning when we returned to the shop the parts had whitened enough overnight just sitting in the baggie with no sunlight that another stint in the sun wasn't necessary.
- We cleaned the developer off and gave Balrog his crisp new white shirt.
So try this with a figure you don't care too much about first so you can get the hang of it and of course we take full responsibility for anything that goes wrong. Feel free to complain or sue us if you don't get the results you were looking for.
- Remove any parts that don't need whitening. For this we only needed the front of his torso and his arms. This process will mess up stickers so remove them from whatever you're whitening if possible. This also has some effect on non-white colors too, most notably red paint. So careful when you're doing this with an original Storm Shadow figure. That Cobra symbol may change to pink or possibly could come off altogether.
- The product we use is Salon Care 40 Volume Creme Developer and can be purchased fairly cheap (I believe it was under $5 for the 4oz bottle) and in different sizes depending on how many things you plan on attempting to whiten. We bought this at Sally's Beauty Supply.
- Be sure to wear gloves when working with the creme, it gets everywhere and can dye skin (though temporarily). I had my fingers dyed a couple times before I realized I should be wearing gloves. Washing them doesn't really help and it usually goes away in a few hours though. Protect all surfaces too, this stuff ain't messin around.
- So with the parts we needed whitened ready, we use a toothbrush to really slab the developer onto them. Once they are coated we place those parts into a baggie and seal it.
- Then we set the baggie in the sun for a few hours. Try not to forget it's out there and check on it from time to time to see how the process is going. This may take a couple hours up to the better part of a day depending on how badly yellowed your piece is.
- This particular set of parts sat in the sun for three hours and wasn't fully whitened by the time the sun went away. We kept the parts in the baggie overnight (by accident) but in the morning when we returned to the shop the parts had whitened enough overnight just sitting in the baggie with no sunlight that another stint in the sun wasn't necessary.
- We cleaned the developer off and gave Balrog his crisp new white shirt.
So try this with a figure you don't care too much about first so you can get the hang of it and of course we take full responsibility for anything that goes wrong. Feel free to complain or sue us if you don't get the results you were looking for.
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