Since there are two people working on this site, we have two totally different ways of cleaning our ponies. First off is the Silverdawn Method

First, I take a powder laundry detergent like Tide and use a toothbrush and warm water to clean the ponies body (non so-soft ponies only!) Detergent is powerful enough to remove body dirt without damaging symbols (unless they're glittery ones! Listen to Odin!) or using a lot of elbow grease. And I'm lazy so what can I say? Tide all the way! It's impossible to keep all water out of ponies but try to do the best you can. Don't submerge ponies in water unless you absolutely have to. The water gets inside and can cause mold, tail rusting, and gross smells.

Then, clean off minor marks that tide won't remove. For example, crayon, etc. Mr. Clean magic erasers with take off most marks. But be careful, because they'll take of symbols and blush paint as well. You can also use Sally Hanson nailpolish remover. I use the green kind with vitamin E and aloe. Be very careful when using other nail polish removers as they have been known to discolor light blue ponies. This Sally Hanson brand is the only one I can say almost positively won't damage vinyl color. The best way to use this is with a cue tip so you can get the most control possible. And why do you need control? Because nail polish remover, no matter what brand you buy, will take off, smudge or smear symbols, eye paint, and blush. Use with extreme caution in these areas to avoid any damage to your ponies.

Since I'm a sucker for ponies with beautiful hair, I want my own babies' to be a lovely as possible. Before you start, gently comb out your ponies hair to prevent it from breaking as you comb it when it's wet. This next step may seem really small and trivial, but check the teeth of the comb you're using! If the ends have little plastic bumps or peices hanging out, it can damage hair! I recommend using a comb that went to the original ponies for best results.

For cleaning the hair, I use a product called Frizz-ease which can be bought at Wal-Mart. First, I shampoo the hair with frizz-ease shampoo and let it sit for about 5 minutes. I then rinse it out and let the hair sit in downy fabric softener for anywhere from 5 minutes to half an hour. (This step can also be skipped if you're short on time) I then rinse the hair again. Next, I use my Frizz-ease hydrating conditioner cream and gently comb it through the hair. Again I let it sit anywhere from 5 minutes to half and hour. This next part is very important; make sure in the last rinse you get everything out of the hair so that no residue is left over!

If you can't find Frizz-ease, think it's too expensive, or don't want to be bothered, just substitute your regular shampoo and conditioner. They'll still work but I've found I had much better results with Frizz-ease.

If you'd like to give the the tail a little flip, while it's still wet, wrap it around the ponies back leg and then wrap and kleenex around the hair and press it in place. Leave it in place overnight and then in the morning when you remove the kleenex, the hair will have a cute little curl or bob in the end. For manes, wrap it around the neck while it's still wet, hold it in place with a kleenex and do the same thing as for the tail. This will help keep the hair neatly in place and it greatly increases the final sale of a pony!

Please remember to let ponies dry at least 2 weeks before you ship them anywhere. It may seem unneccessary but believe me, mold can grow faster than you'd think in an airtight bubble envelope! Let any ponies you've washed dry kind of sitting on their rumps. That way any excess water in the pony can drain out from the tail and save you trouble with molding later on.

Before you try this method out, please go to Dizzy Dava's Dismantling the Pony for the best guide to popping off a ponies head, which may be needed when cleaning your seaponies!

Seaponies pose another cleaning problem. There are many people who don't like removing the heads of seaponies but sometimes it can't be avoided. If you have a seapony you'd like to clean, first make an assessment of it: is there mold from the inside showing through? Is the hair really frizzy and gross (this translates into lots of bathtime and probably lots of mold hidden inside). You need to make the call on whether or not to pop the head. If you can tell it's moldy, gently remove the head follwing the info from Dizzy Dava's page aboe.

Once inside, you have to make another judgement call. All adult seaponies have an iron weight in the bottom of their tails that keeps them upright. If this weight is rusted all to hell and back, the best thing you can do for your pony is to remove it. This can be done pushing upward from the bottom of the tail on the outside to gently ease the weight upwards. This has to be done because even if your seapony is 100% clean and dry afterward, the rust will still continue to form from contact with the air. You can always keep the weight outside and unrusted if you'd like.

Chances are if you had to pop off the head, the weight in the bottom is past saving, but once again, it's a judgement call.

After that step, or if you're just cleaning a baby seapony, use a toothbrush or something with a bristled end to remove as much mold and mildew as possible.

Be careful around the rooted hair in the top of the head as too much scrubbing there can pull it out from the inside. Then I let the ponies sit in warm, soapy, water solution with a little bit of bleach in it to kill any remaining bacteria for about half and hour. Next I take the pony out of the water and rinse her of with plain warm water. Finally, let the pony dry out completely before you reattach the head to the body.

Streamlined from years and years of doing tons of ponies...

• spray on liquid laundry stain remover, the pretreat kind, any brand
  
• a soft brush, a toothbrush or natural bristle vegie brush is good
  
• any mild liquid detergent, dish, laundry, whatever
  
• conditioner: my absolute favorite is the one that comes in the 'feria' hair color boxes. It is available at sally's in a bulk bottle and is called 'Loreal Feria Professional Color Moisturizing Treatment'. The stuff is legend with synthetic hair people, swear! You will not find a better conditioner.
  
• brush, reg handle hair brush
  
  

1-wet pony in warmest water possible

2-spray on pretreat and let sit for a few minutes

3-scrub with brush, be careful around blush, eyes, symbols, especially the glittery ones. a soft brush will not remove eyes and blush but may remove glitter with enough scrubbing, so be mindful.

4-rinse with warmest water possible, re-treat and scrub again if necessary. i have wonderful luck with the pretreat spray, usually one attempt is all that is needed, but some dirt is stubborn.

5-wash hair with mild detergent, rinse.

6-hold pony upside down and squeeze (along the tummy/flank) all the excess water and soapy bubbles that have seeped into the pony, it will exit the tail hole and possible the neck. get out all the excess water you can.

7-generously apply conditioner to both the mane and tail. I do my ponies in the kitchen sink, so I just apply conditioner and allow the ponies to lay around the edge of the sink for at least five minutes, longer for really rough shape hair. After a few minutes, I run a brush thru the hair while the conditioner is still in it, starting at the ends and working up towards the body. I continue brushing until tangle free and hopefully frizz and coarse free.

8-rinse hair with warm water and brush again, repeat the entire conditioning process again, if the first application did not get the hair silky enough

9-squeeze out any excess water again, let pony air dry. This can take up to a week on some ponies, but usually three days is good for inside and outside drying...remember if shipping a pony, NEVER, ship within two weeks of cleaning!

Basically the same as above, but I use my fingers instead of any sort of brush and gently, very gently attempt to scrub the grime away, no brush!

This is just for the body only and you should have some experience with handling ponies and working around symbols, blush and eyes first, but a once over with fingernail polish remover on any unpainted part of the body, will get off all surface dirt. Apply by tissue or soft cloth, keep away from all painted areas. Go over with a water dampened cloth and dry...

• colorsafe liquid bleach any brand
• bowl big enough to submerge your pony (i have found the disposable square storage containers now available at all grocery stores the perfect size) DO NOT REUSE THIS FOR FOOD!
• toothbrush

To remove rust from the inside of a seapony, (or any pony) you will be restoring or customizing, first behead the poor beastie follwing the instructions from Dizzy Dava's Page. For seaponies, if you are keeping the original hair, leave the mane intact with head. Remove the weight you will find in the tail if possible. For regular ponies, remove the tail but leave the mane intact. Soak it, by completely submerging the two pieces of the pony, head and body in colorsafe bleach. Leave the pony submerged for at least 30 mins. Use a toothbrush to scrub the inside of the pony to remove all rust. Pay special attention to the end of the tail, or around the tail hole on regular ponies, the inside of the head along the 'mane' line and the eye and nose areas. Colorsafe bleaching works like a charm on rust and will not harm the symbols/blush/eyes in any way, nor does it alter the color of the pony or the hair. When clean, rinse, rinse, rinse! Let air dry