diff --git a/interface/src/Application.cpp b/interface/src/Application.cpp
index dcece932e5..5d4f031ebb 100644
--- a/interface/src/Application.cpp
+++ b/interface/src/Application.cpp
@@ -5503,6 +5503,8 @@ void Application::clearDomainOctreeDetails() {
     DependencyManager::get<ModelCache>()->clearUnusedResources();
     DependencyManager::get<SoundCache>()->clearUnusedResources();
     DependencyManager::get<TextureCache>()->clearUnusedResources();
+
+    getMyAvatar()->setAvatarEntityDataChanged(true);
 }
 
 void Application::clearDomainAvatars() {
diff --git a/interface/src/avatar/MyAvatar.cpp b/interface/src/avatar/MyAvatar.cpp
index 0dfcf93a65..6b2795fc90 100755
--- a/interface/src/avatar/MyAvatar.cpp
+++ b/interface/src/avatar/MyAvatar.cpp
@@ -951,11 +951,7 @@ void MyAvatar::saveData() {
     }
     settings.endArray();
 
-    if (_avatarEntityData.size() == 0) {
-        // HACK: manually remove empty 'avatarEntityData' else deleted avatarEntityData may show up in settings file
-        settings.remove("avatarEntityData");
-    }
-
+    settings.remove("avatarEntityData");
     settings.beginWriteArray("avatarEntityData");
     int avatarEntityIndex = 0;
     auto hmdInterface = DependencyManager::get<HMDScriptingInterface>();
diff --git a/libraries/avatars-renderer/src/avatars-renderer/Avatar.cpp b/libraries/avatars-renderer/src/avatars-renderer/Avatar.cpp
index 6bf9cc1666..d00af4dd1e 100644
--- a/libraries/avatars-renderer/src/avatars-renderer/Avatar.cpp
+++ b/libraries/avatars-renderer/src/avatars-renderer/Avatar.cpp
@@ -198,6 +198,11 @@ void Avatar::setTargetScale(float targetScale) {
     }
 }
 
+void Avatar::setAvatarEntityDataChanged(bool value) {
+    AvatarData::setAvatarEntityDataChanged(value);
+    _avatarEntityDataHashes.clear();
+}
+
 void Avatar::updateAvatarEntities() {
     PerformanceTimer perfTimer("attachments");
     // - if queueEditEntityMessage sees clientOnly flag it does _myAvatar->updateAvatarEntity()
diff --git a/libraries/avatars-renderer/src/avatars-renderer/Avatar.h b/libraries/avatars-renderer/src/avatars-renderer/Avatar.h
index a5ec307c50..8069c6b604 100644
--- a/libraries/avatars-renderer/src/avatars-renderer/Avatar.h
+++ b/libraries/avatars-renderer/src/avatars-renderer/Avatar.h
@@ -265,6 +265,8 @@ public:
     virtual float getModelScale() const { return _modelScale; }
     virtual void setModelScale(float scale) { _modelScale = scale; }
 
+    virtual void setAvatarEntityDataChanged(bool value) override;
+
 public slots:
 
     // FIXME - these should be migrated to use Pose data instead
diff --git a/libraries/avatars/src/AvatarData.h b/libraries/avatars/src/AvatarData.h
index 4dabbb3ff5..bf3bb20ef9 100644
--- a/libraries/avatars/src/AvatarData.h
+++ b/libraries/avatars/src/AvatarData.h
@@ -603,7 +603,7 @@ public:
 
     Q_INVOKABLE AvatarEntityMap getAvatarEntityData() const;
     Q_INVOKABLE void setAvatarEntityData(const AvatarEntityMap& avatarEntityData);
-    void setAvatarEntityDataChanged(bool value) { _avatarEntityDataChanged = value; }
+    virtual void setAvatarEntityDataChanged(bool value) { _avatarEntityDataChanged = value; }
     void insertDetachedEntityID(const QUuid entityID);
     AvatarEntityIDs getAndClearRecentlyDetachedIDs();