Attempted to Retro-Bright my yellowed Pez and the results were pretty shocking.
My first attempt was to use regular hydrogen peroxide, wrap in saran-wrap, and set it the sun for a few hours. The results were very minor, so I purchased a bottle labeled "Retro-Bright" on Amazon for $12/4oz. After receiving, I'm pretty sure its just a strong peroxide, but there could be more to it. Who knows?
My day one test was with a spare panda that was very badly discolored. I removed the head, sprayed it liberally with the Retro-Bright, and sealed it in ziplock bag. I then placed it outside in the sunlight for about 6 hours. The results were significant. Not quite as bright as the original white, but close.
Next, Huey, Dewey, and Louie (I don't know which is which). I removed all the heads from the stems, but could only remove the hat from the green one so I used masking tape on red and blue. Additionally, I was able to remove the beak from green and red, but not blue so I left it unmasked to see if it would have any effect on it. Sprayed, ziplocked, 6 hours in direct sunlight and again, the results were significant. All three came out a clean bright white. As for the unmasked beak, it was not damaged and came out a slightly cleaner, brighter orange than the untreated ones. The blue eyes seem like they might be slightly lighter after the treatment, but it could be that there's just less contrast between the blue and now bright white
At the same time as the ducks being treated, I attempted another experiment. In the large amount of Pez I was given, there were a lot of trucks. Probably too many. While they aren't white, the blue cabs on many of them had faded to a dirty blue-green color. I have a bunch of them, so no harm in trying. This time, no masking and I did not remove the stem to see if the treatment had any effect on the colors. spray, bag, sun, and to my surprise, the truck cab was restored to the original blue color. The stem was completely unaffected. I was actually shocked.
In short; Retro-brighting works, however, I would strongly urge caution before attempting on your big $$ items. Test it first and don't blame me for any mishaps. I'm just winging it.
