Do You Believe In Magic?

My youngest daughter is really into American Girl dolls. She started out with a Bitty Baby when she was around 4 years old.

The catalog listed the dolls in order of the alphabet: A, B, C, D, etc. She made sure to let us know that she wanted C. That is how she got her name, Baby CeeCee.

Bitty Baby has been very loved. Although my daughter has tried to take good care of her, she has been played with a little too rough at times, and accidentally bumped into things. As anyone whose daughter has one of these dolls knows, their little heads will show wear and tear rather quickly.

When the doll is bumped, white streaks or marks can appear on the paint on their head (their hair) or on their face and body. Over time, the doll can start to look old and tired. Kind of like the mother of the girl who owns the doll. Not that I would know anything about THAT though.

My daughter came to me and asked me to "fix" her. Now, you can send the doll to the American Girl "hospital" and get her professionally cleaned. For a small fee.

Knowing how very special this doll was to my daughter, I was a little leery about trying out any home remedies. But, as I try to be frugal with money, I thought I could at least try.

Google to the rescue!

Someone suggested using a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.


For those of you who are not familiar with the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, it is a great multi-purpose cleaning tool. It comes with two "erasers" in the box, and for the original one, it cost me $1.96 at Wal-Mart. Inside, was a coupon for 50 cents off my next purchase. What a bargain!

It is very simple to use. You just wet, and use. It can be used over and over again.

Now, I regularly use this for marks on the wall. I use it to erase black fingerprints on doors. It took off Sharpie marker on my tile floor. This thing is a miracle worker in many ways.

So...I tried it on a very small spot on the back of the doll's head, just in case it took the paint off.

With a slightly shaking hand, I started to clean it. Gulp.

At first, I thought it was removing the paint. It was looking lighter! Uh oh.

Then, I realized that it wasn't removing the paint, it was removing the years of dirt that had accumulated from years of love. It was starting to look semi-new again!

After I was sure that it wouldn't do any harm, I proceeded to clean the entire doll's head and face. All of the white marks were magically removed. The tiny pen (or marker?) smears remain, but they are hardly noticeable.

Did it do a perfect job? No. But, it is good enough, and since she will most likely just get white marks and scrapes again in the future, it is a great way to save money, and keep the doll looking relatively clean.

If only the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser could be used to "magically" erase these little lines and wrinkles that are somehow appearing on my own face. Sigh.

I handed Baby CeeCee back to my very excited daughter, who told me how thankful she was, and how now, she didn't always have to wear a hat on her to cover up all the scrapes.

Don't worry, American Girl. You will still be getting our money. Just in other ways. There are some items from your catalog that are on a certain little red-head's Christmas list...

* I was not provided with a free Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, nor did I receive any compensation for this positive review. I just discovered that it works, and thought I would pass this information along to all of you :) For more ways to use the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, and for other available products, go to www.mrclean.com