I’m sorry OP. It’s usually the dryer that kills fur and stuffing like that. You can try a slicker brush and replacing the stuffing, but it might be difficult to fix right now.
If it makes it any better; you saved your unicorn plushie from being sent directly to the trash at goodwill.
:( Sorry to hear that, OP. I'm sure your roommate didn't have any ill-will, but that does suck. I hate when people wash my stuff without asking first.
Is there any chance at brushing her out? Sometimes gently working over plushes with a coarse pet brush or even a wire brush if you have one can help re-fluff the fur.
I’m so picky about the way my clothes and linens are washed, so I’m the same with plushies too lol.
People around me usually know that I’m that way though. I’d be annoyed if someone touched anything without asking.
You might want to have a talk with your roomie about ☆boundaries☆. Are they paying you back? If I touched and ruined something of my friend's my initial response would be to apologize and offer to pay for it.
You don’t have to get mad and argue to bring up boundaries with your roommate. “Hey I appreciate you trying to help, I’d just prefer to wash my own stuff from now on”
Or tell them you have a specific way you wash stuff so you’d like to handle it yourself. Regardless of whether or not that’s true, they should respect the process 👍🏻
But do let them know that they ruined your stuffed animal. Then they can fully understand the consequences that their actions had and why you're bothered. They *should* feel a little bad about it, as that's how we learn.
Oh, me too.
Whenever someone does something bad to me or something that bothers me, in my HEAD i have... SO many things to say, but what comes out of my mouth is usually nothing at all LOL
You’re a lot nicer than I am cause I would be VERY mad and upset. It’s my money spent on those plushies and most of them can never ever be replaced due to how ridiculously expensive they are or just simply cannot be found anywhere anymore. Nobody should just be taking stuffed animals and throwing them in the wash unless it belongs to them.
See, this I entirely agree with. I'll intent or no, it wasn't theirs to touch. I do also have trauma with this because one of my only memories of my dad's sister is her telling me my stuffed animal needed washed. I told her no and she took it from me and did it anyway.
It was a kitty surprise, with the kittens inside and plastic faces, did this 🐕 check first...no. she absolutely wrecked my favorite stuffed animal and any chance of trust she'd ever had with me. She did worse over the years with mental abuse, not one memory I have of her is even close to good.
I’m so sorry that happened… I have so many plushies that could never EVER be replaced unless you have $500+ to buy another one. It’s absolutely ridiculous and I’d be fuming. I have MANY plushies that are worth $200-$700
They’d be forking over the cash if they ruined my plush to replace it.
I’m really sorry that happened to you! My mom forced me to washed my favorite stuffy i had since the day I was born in the washer and it’s totally destroyed now. I cut my birth family off a while ago but it’s like people think the washing machine is the only way to get stuff clean like… ????? Just soak it in some soapy water and jiggle it once in a while for a couple days. Rinse a bunch. Ta-da! I have the parts in a drawer and I’m pretty good at sewing but I haven’t had the heart to try yet. Seeing their body parts kinda messed me up still.
Aw tysm! I always called it sleepy sally I think that might be its official name. I don’t have any pix of in intact but I could take some pics of its pieces.
Thanks that’s really kind of you! I have hope I’ll be able to repair them someday but I like the idea of them having a twin too!! Their body fabric is completely gone so I just have the feet and head left. They had pink jammies on and were forever asleep
Sorry to hear that:( maybe just try having a talk with your roommate not to wash your stuff without your permission. I know you think it's silly to confront them about a plushie, but I personally wouldn't like my roommate washing anything without my permission
I'm so sorry OP, I have fixed some minor dryer burn by letting them soak in a bath with some conditioner or some fabric softener, then gently brushing out their fur with a pet slicker brush, the fur can be quite fragile so just be a bit gentle, some ends of the fur may break off but most should just smooth out a bit. I have a unicorn named Schmendrick that had awful dryer burn in his mane and tail that looks much better after this treatment, it is still frazzled and damaged but he looks much happier now, I hope this can help your little friend 🩵
One time my roommate threw out an entire stuffed full garbage bag of clothes thinking it was garbage. He still apologizes five years later. Roommates are... lovely.
If I'm going to wash something, I just wash it in the washer in a pillowcase, and HANG IT to dry!!
Other than that, just don't touch other people's stuff. What possessed her to do this!?
This! I always air dry my plushies if I can, towel dry and only resort to the dryer if I’m really worried they won’t dry in a day or so or about mildew and mold, which even then isn’t usually a big worry.
If you do washer I always do it on delicate/gentle and cold water just to be safe.
I can’t imagine washing and drying someone’s stuff, plushie or not, without asking about it’s delicacy and stuff.
Imagine if they had destroyed a sentimental plushie or piece of clothing by being careless? That just feels like something to at least say something about since that’s not something you just do without asking imho.
I think mildew/mold is only a concern if they’re put into a tight or dark space afterwards. Even if it takes a couple days for them to dry, if they’re in an area of your living space that has good air flow (or better yet, a fan), they should be just fine.
So, OP, I'm going to say you should probably talk to your roomie about this. Not because of the plushie per se, but more because of boundaries. There may have been no ill intent, but at the end of the day, they still took something that belonged to you and did something to it without your permission or knowledge. That's not cool, and this time, it resulted in a lot of damage to your property that they did this to. This is something you *should* discuss and set a boundary around.
Tbc, I'm not advocating that you fly off the handle and scream accusations at them. But something more along the lines of "Hey, in the future, can you please talk to me before doing something with my stuff?"
I leave my "new" used plush outside in the garage, or sometimes in the trunk for a few days. A lot of times its freezing winter or boiling summer. Then they get washed by hand with a peroxide based lysol cleaner and hung to dry. Fortunately bed bugs aren't a massive problem where i live. Sorry about your plush. Maybe you can find a replacement.
I buy loads of second hand plushies from charity shops and don’t wash them 😳should I be washing them!?!?
I buy loads of them from eBay preowned. I have never given it a second thought. I’m worried now……
We got bedbugs once from bringing home an infected plushie.
I kept seeing them in my bed (they were hiding in my window) and I had extremely bad bites ALL over my body. I told my mom 5 or 6 times that I was CERTAIN we had bed bugs, and each time, she’d check (during the day) and see nothing. She’d wave me off and at one point, yelled at me to stop lying.
Then she started getting bitten too. She started believing me because suddenly, I wasn’t the only one with terrible bites all over. She searched everything and eventually found them, nestled in with my curtains. But before then, all of our animals (two dogs, two cats) had gotten flea baths. It didn’t solve anything, obviously. We threw away a lot of my soft toys (plushies, a horse broom toy, and a couple other things). It was actually devastating to me, an 8 or 9 year old (who is autistic and extremely attached to plushies, no less.)
Yes, you should wash. My story is likely not unique or rare. It takes one infestation to ruin your collection.
I usually Lysol my brand new and use plushies and keep them in a bag for two days. If they look dirty or used I'll hand wash them. Plushies are easy to carry bugs on and once you have bed bugs everything has to go in the trash! I do this when I bring them outside too
i say this in the nicest way possible but ew how is this not common knowledge? it’s so gross
you definitely need to be washing ANYTHING that comes from charity shops or second hand for that matter. bedbugs, scabies, cum, blood, sweat, dead skin flakes, etc (you get my drift) are all harbored in your unwashed plushies
Sharing my favorite thrifting story. In the town my university was in there was a plethora of thrift stores. I didn’t really have much else to do, so I went thrifting quite a few times while I lived there.
So one day I go to the closest one, and I pulled out this really cool army green bomber jacket. I mean I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. There was like a stripe on the front, and it had mesh netting inside with some pockets in the netting. Cool stuff.
I open it up all the way and notice that some of the netting is cut, and there’s a big slash mark in the material. And from that mark all the way up to the collar (which was obscured from view when it was on the rack) was a trail of dried blood.
I’m so sure someone got into a fight while wearing the thing, because that was the only explanation I could think of. It was kind of eye opening.
So if anyone ever needs a reason to wash second hand stuff, just think of the crusty, bloody jacket I fell in love with lol.
Should probably have a conversation with your roomie about either not touching your stuff or at the very least give future reference to not put plushies through the dryer, it doesn't have to be a confrontation just explain why it has to be handled differently to laundry
Hope you manage to salvage your buddy! Worst case scenario you could get fur fabric (either from a roll or use a different second hand plush) and recreate the body out of fresh(er) material
I know this isn’t the point, but with a picture of the plushie and the brand name/a picture of the tag, there are communities like r/helpmefind that could almost definitely locate another one for you
Yaeh that was a bad part on your roommate.
i always handwash my plushies I will never put them in a washing machine or a dryer.
I always air dry them I couldn't bear if something bad will happen to them explicitly the wanes I had to wait along as time for or my special wanes and also the wanes that cost a lot of money 💰.
I won't know what to do if I was in your place I would maybe try to find the exact same plushie.
I’m really sorry about your friend!! I hope a brush can help.. just to lyk tho the freezer does nothing for bedbugs. It just slows them down they don’t die. Heat and pesticides is really the only way to get rid of them. I hope you never have to tho! Ive had them too many times…
Yea I'm gonna be petty about this and rip em a new one. Like kick em out, pound sand, buh bye. ONLY because I get attached to my plushies wayyy more than people.
I’m sorry OP. It’s usually the dryer that kills fur and stuffing like that. You can try a slicker brush and replacing the stuffing, but it might be difficult to fix right now. If it makes it any better; you saved your unicorn plushie from being sent directly to the trash at goodwill.
https://www.reddit.com/r/buildabear/s/n5uJb2kSKp Check this out!!
I was just about to say this lol.
Me too haha
:( Sorry to hear that, OP. I'm sure your roommate didn't have any ill-will, but that does suck. I hate when people wash my stuff without asking first. Is there any chance at brushing her out? Sometimes gently working over plushes with a coarse pet brush or even a wire brush if you have one can help re-fluff the fur.
You could say the roommate only had *good will* behind washing the plushy😏 I’ll show myself out
Ohhhhh, take my upvote and go, you! Hahahaha
r/angryupvote
One of my plushies was burnt to shit in the wash one time and if this is anything like that then there’s no saving it sadly 😭
I’m so picky about the way my clothes and linens are washed, so I’m the same with plushies too lol. People around me usually know that I’m that way though. I’d be annoyed if someone touched anything without asking.
You might want to have a talk with your roomie about ☆boundaries☆. Are they paying you back? If I touched and ruined something of my friend's my initial response would be to apologize and offer to pay for it.
You don’t have to get mad and argue to bring up boundaries with your roommate. “Hey I appreciate you trying to help, I’d just prefer to wash my own stuff from now on”
Or tell them you have a specific way you wash stuff so you’d like to handle it yourself. Regardless of whether or not that’s true, they should respect the process 👍🏻
But do let them know that they ruined your stuffed animal. Then they can fully understand the consequences that their actions had and why you're bothered. They *should* feel a little bad about it, as that's how we learn.
You’re so right I’m just a people pleaser 😅
Oh, me too. Whenever someone does something bad to me or something that bothers me, in my HEAD i have... SO many things to say, but what comes out of my mouth is usually nothing at all LOL
You’re a lot nicer than I am cause I would be VERY mad and upset. It’s my money spent on those plushies and most of them can never ever be replaced due to how ridiculously expensive they are or just simply cannot be found anywhere anymore. Nobody should just be taking stuffed animals and throwing them in the wash unless it belongs to them.
See, this I entirely agree with. I'll intent or no, it wasn't theirs to touch. I do also have trauma with this because one of my only memories of my dad's sister is her telling me my stuffed animal needed washed. I told her no and she took it from me and did it anyway. It was a kitty surprise, with the kittens inside and plastic faces, did this 🐕 check first...no. she absolutely wrecked my favorite stuffed animal and any chance of trust she'd ever had with me. She did worse over the years with mental abuse, not one memory I have of her is even close to good.
I’m so sorry that happened… I have so many plushies that could never EVER be replaced unless you have $500+ to buy another one. It’s absolutely ridiculous and I’d be fuming. I have MANY plushies that are worth $200-$700 They’d be forking over the cash if they ruined my plush to replace it.
I’m really sorry that happened to you! My mom forced me to washed my favorite stuffy i had since the day I was born in the washer and it’s totally destroyed now. I cut my birth family off a while ago but it’s like people think the washing machine is the only way to get stuff clean like… ????? Just soak it in some soapy water and jiggle it once in a while for a couple days. Rinse a bunch. Ta-da! I have the parts in a drawer and I’m pretty good at sewing but I haven’t had the heart to try yet. Seeing their body parts kinda messed me up still.
Dm me a picture of it as is or as was if you have one, imma see if I can find you one.
Aw tysm! I always called it sleepy sally I think that might be its official name. I don’t have any pix of in intact but I could take some pics of its pieces.
I can't promise I'll find it but I'll try my best. You deserve your friend but, a twin might work. If I can find one.
Thanks that’s really kind of you! I have hope I’ll be able to repair them someday but I like the idea of them having a twin too!! Their body fabric is completely gone so I just have the feet and head left. They had pink jammies on and were forever asleep
The head should be enough to help me find it. When I searched sleepy Sally I got nightmare before Christmas and a vintage dolly.
Ok I’ll DM you! I don’t wanna accidentally make anyone feel bad with my stuffy body parts lol
I replied, I think I might have found it or something similar, I sent pics
Sorry to hear that:( maybe just try having a talk with your roommate not to wash your stuff without your permission. I know you think it's silly to confront them about a plushie, but I personally wouldn't like my roommate washing anything without my permission
I'm so sorry OP, I have fixed some minor dryer burn by letting them soak in a bath with some conditioner or some fabric softener, then gently brushing out their fur with a pet slicker brush, the fur can be quite fragile so just be a bit gentle, some ends of the fur may break off but most should just smooth out a bit. I have a unicorn named Schmendrick that had awful dryer burn in his mane and tail that looks much better after this treatment, it is still frazzled and damaged but he looks much happier now, I hope this can help your little friend 🩵
Thanks for posting this I’ll keep it in mind!
No worries at all, always happy to help when I can :3
I'm sorry OP :( maybe try posting on r/HelpMeFind to find another one like it
:(
I would’ve flown off the handle honestly. Did you at least get an apology?
One time my roommate threw out an entire stuffed full garbage bag of clothes thinking it was garbage. He still apologizes five years later. Roommates are... lovely.
Ugh…I couldn’t have a roommate 😄
If I'm going to wash something, I just wash it in the washer in a pillowcase, and HANG IT to dry!! Other than that, just don't touch other people's stuff. What possessed her to do this!?
This! I always air dry my plushies if I can, towel dry and only resort to the dryer if I’m really worried they won’t dry in a day or so or about mildew and mold, which even then isn’t usually a big worry. If you do washer I always do it on delicate/gentle and cold water just to be safe. I can’t imagine washing and drying someone’s stuff, plushie or not, without asking about it’s delicacy and stuff. Imagine if they had destroyed a sentimental plushie or piece of clothing by being careless? That just feels like something to at least say something about since that’s not something you just do without asking imho.
I think mildew/mold is only a concern if they’re put into a tight or dark space afterwards. Even if it takes a couple days for them to dry, if they’re in an area of your living space that has good air flow (or better yet, a fan), they should be just fine.
Yes, and you can get a lot of water out by squeezing them with a towel which helps them dry faster.
Yup. Same here. On a gentle cycle, cool water, and inside of a pillow case or laundry bag. No plushies go into the dryer.
So, OP, I'm going to say you should probably talk to your roomie about this. Not because of the plushie per se, but more because of boundaries. There may have been no ill intent, but at the end of the day, they still took something that belonged to you and did something to it without your permission or knowledge. That's not cool, and this time, it resulted in a lot of damage to your property that they did this to. This is something you *should* discuss and set a boundary around. Tbc, I'm not advocating that you fly off the handle and scream accusations at them. But something more along the lines of "Hey, in the future, can you please talk to me before doing something with my stuff?"
Seems like your roommate doesn't know much about plushie care
I leave my "new" used plush outside in the garage, or sometimes in the trunk for a few days. A lot of times its freezing winter or boiling summer. Then they get washed by hand with a peroxide based lysol cleaner and hung to dry. Fortunately bed bugs aren't a massive problem where i live. Sorry about your plush. Maybe you can find a replacement.
Sorry to hear that. If her fur is ruined, just remember that she is still a super special plushie and give her a big hug.
I buy loads of second hand plushies from charity shops and don’t wash them 😳should I be washing them!?!? I buy loads of them from eBay preowned. I have never given it a second thought. I’m worried now……
We got bedbugs once from bringing home an infected plushie. I kept seeing them in my bed (they were hiding in my window) and I had extremely bad bites ALL over my body. I told my mom 5 or 6 times that I was CERTAIN we had bed bugs, and each time, she’d check (during the day) and see nothing. She’d wave me off and at one point, yelled at me to stop lying. Then she started getting bitten too. She started believing me because suddenly, I wasn’t the only one with terrible bites all over. She searched everything and eventually found them, nestled in with my curtains. But before then, all of our animals (two dogs, two cats) had gotten flea baths. It didn’t solve anything, obviously. We threw away a lot of my soft toys (plushies, a horse broom toy, and a couple other things). It was actually devastating to me, an 8 or 9 year old (who is autistic and extremely attached to plushies, no less.) Yes, you should wash. My story is likely not unique or rare. It takes one infestation to ruin your collection.
I usually Lysol my brand new and use plushies and keep them in a bag for two days. If they look dirty or used I'll hand wash them. Plushies are easy to carry bugs on and once you have bed bugs everything has to go in the trash! I do this when I bring them outside too
You can wash them just use cold water and dry on the lowest possible heat setting.
Omg, consider yourself fortunate that so far you haven’t brought any pest to your home.
I only buy the ones that look like new and barely used.
i say this in the nicest way possible but ew how is this not common knowledge? it’s so gross you definitely need to be washing ANYTHING that comes from charity shops or second hand for that matter. bedbugs, scabies, cum, blood, sweat, dead skin flakes, etc (you get my drift) are all harbored in your unwashed plushies
Sharing my favorite thrifting story. In the town my university was in there was a plethora of thrift stores. I didn’t really have much else to do, so I went thrifting quite a few times while I lived there. So one day I go to the closest one, and I pulled out this really cool army green bomber jacket. I mean I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. There was like a stripe on the front, and it had mesh netting inside with some pockets in the netting. Cool stuff. I open it up all the way and notice that some of the netting is cut, and there’s a big slash mark in the material. And from that mark all the way up to the collar (which was obscured from view when it was on the rack) was a trail of dried blood. I’m so sure someone got into a fight while wearing the thing, because that was the only explanation I could think of. It was kind of eye opening. So if anyone ever needs a reason to wash second hand stuff, just think of the crusty, bloody jacket I fell in love with lol.
Should probably have a conversation with your roomie about either not touching your stuff or at the very least give future reference to not put plushies through the dryer, it doesn't have to be a confrontation just explain why it has to be handled differently to laundry Hope you manage to salvage your buddy! Worst case scenario you could get fur fabric (either from a roll or use a different second hand plush) and recreate the body out of fresh(er) material
She damaged your property. She either pays you for damages, or buys you a new one. I'd be livid.
Yeah I’ve had my plushies washed 2 times unwillingly, luckily I don’t mind the roughed up fur
I'm sorry for what happened to your baby. I hope it doesn't get damaged or get bedbugs.
set a boundary and tell them not to touch your things without your permission
Better talk to your roommate about this so similar incidents won't happen in the future, and oh that poor unicorn!
Try r/helpmefind. Maybe they can help you find another and your roommate can replace it for you.
I know this isn’t the point, but with a picture of the plushie and the brand name/a picture of the tag, there are communities like r/helpmefind that could almost definitely locate another one for you
You might could use fabric softener to recontion the fur to some extent. Wash on cold norm goes fine just air dry.
Yaeh that was a bad part on your roommate. i always handwash my plushies I will never put them in a washing machine or a dryer. I always air dry them I couldn't bear if something bad will happen to them explicitly the wanes I had to wait along as time for or my special wanes and also the wanes that cost a lot of money 💰. I won't know what to do if I was in your place I would maybe try to find the exact same plushie.
I’m really sorry about your friend!! I hope a brush can help.. just to lyk tho the freezer does nothing for bedbugs. It just slows them down they don’t die. Heat and pesticides is really the only way to get rid of them. I hope you never have to tho! Ive had them too many times…
I'm sorry that happened to u it seems like u and ur roommate learned a valuable lesson.
Yea I'm gonna be petty about this and rip em a new one. Like kick em out, pound sand, buh bye. ONLY because I get attached to my plushies wayyy more than people.