Lysol Wipes for the insides of tails

[AniaR]

So, cleaning our tails has long been a bit of an issue in the community. You can baby a tail and still end up with gross insides. I have been testing loads of different methods for cleaning tails over the years and some I've documented before (like using isopropyl alcohol on dragonskin as per smoothons recommendation)

Rapidash gets a bit of a mold infestation from time to time. Sometimes it's because I wear her so much I have zero time for thorough cleanings in between, and I think she's more susceptible because of how she is on the inside (due to multiple layers of silicone and power mesh there are lots of hard to reach places that mold likes to grow.)

When I am cleaning mold in real life, I have my less abrasive methods like the above mentioned alcohol, or vinegar etc. But at some point when I'm cleaning I know bleach is the only thing that's going to get a stubborn bit of mold.

Bleach is typically a big nono for tails. It's super corrosive and MOST people do NOT mix it properly with water so that it's effective. (people always think more is better. Not the case as any health inspector will tell you)

So I started researching what could I use instead that would sanitize my tail but not destroy it?

After loads of time on the internet checking out what other people do to keep costumes clean I came to using disinfecting wipes. The ones I tested were Lysol wipes.

Wipes are great because they have a balanced amount of chemicals. If you buy the all purpose ones they are intended to be used on a variety of surfaces without harming the surface. I patch tested a piece of my tail and not only did it kill the mold, it didn't destroy any silicone. So now, as part of my cleaning routine I've taken to wiping my tail out with the wipes and letting them sit in the foot pockets and hard to reach places, or any place with mold for about 15 minutes.

(my foot pockets are moldy and keep giving me rashes and nothing I tried previously would get all the water out or get rid of mold)

I've used this now on both my tails and it helps a lot. And it's great and quick for in between gigs if you don't have the time to do a full on tail wash. You can at least quickly wipe the inside down so that nothing festers and creates mold.

When you do it you'll see just how dirty your tail is. I was shocked after a dry gig when I cleaned my tail, the white cloths came out brown. Ick. All that sweat and lube lol.

Just this week I gave my tail a whole work over. cleaned it as best I could in the tub, alcohol, the whole nine yards I got in the shower with that thing and a scrub brush so I could get right up inside it and clean it out. Then I rolled it down and picked at it with alcohol on q-tips to try and get mold out of seams etc. After all that when I went to use the wipes, they took off waaaay more grossness.

The wipes dont bleach and I believe they'd work inside hybrid tails too. Just a quick wipe out to prevent mold.

Anyway when my new tail comes I am going to do up a whole video of how to wash a tail and dry it and repair them!

edit: here's my first video about cleaning with lysol wipes


http://youtu.be/mn7rkcuds7c

[Anahita]

It doesn't surprise me that Lysol wipes worked so well. I love them, because living with a service dog can be a bit messy, but thankfully the wipes make it easy to clean up.

Random ridiculous fact: It's kind of funny how much sex-stuff doubles for tail care (Lysol used to be used as a slightly horrifying douching contraceptive way back in the early-mid 20th century.... Thankfully no more though. But part of the reason was that it was used was that it is a disinfectant that's effective but "mild")

[Meilyn]

Thank you! This was very informative to say the least. Looking forward to your tail care video

[AniaR]

yeah Anahita I knew that haha could you imagine? ouch lol

[Anahita]

Akh! The burrrrrrrn! *shudder* As much as I love history, some of it is just cringe worthy!

[Chrissy]

I would love to see a repair video!!! That would be a good one, but good to know about the Lysol wipes. I will keep that in the tail cleaning kit

[Mermaid Melanie]

Sounds good to me I swear by disinfectant wipes when attending any festivals lol will now add it to the fish aid kit !


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[Lorelei]

As someone who is getting their first silicone tail soon, this was VERY helpful, thank Q! Definitely adding it to my silicone tail kit. :)

[Merman Arion]

Thank you Raina. That was very informative.

I will do that when I get home the day after tomorrow :)

[PearlieMae]

Oh noes!
23763

[AniaR]

hahahah but also.. eww

[Anahita]

Hahahaa omg! Hilarious find Pearlie! :highfive:

[Mermaid Galene]

I use 7% hydrogen peroxide to disinfect and kill algae and mold on aquarium decor, and I plan to use it to disinfect my silicone tail. The nice thing about H2O2 is that it is easily removed with water and leaves no chemical residue behind. I have a spray bottle full of it in my fish room, and I dilute it with water when I want to soak something. Great stuff.

[AniaR]

I just haven't found alcohol to be effective with foot pockets or bad mold. And I always rinse when I'm done anyway ;)

[Capt Nemo]

Backstage, we use vodka for cleaning costumes. There's at least one wardrobe gondola on every broadway touring show that has a case of vodka in it. The cheap stuff is fine. The good drinkin stuff is expensive overkill!

Oh no! Now we're gonna have a bunch of drunken mermaids!

[Anahita]

Backstage, we use vodka for cleaning costumes. There's at least one wardrobe gondola on every broadway touring show that has a case of vodka in it. The cheap stuff is fine. The good drinkin stuff is expensive overkill!

Oh no! Now we're gonna have a bunch of drunken mermaids!

Cheap vodka is an awesome cleaner. I use it on some historical garments to get rid of that "musty" smell by giving them a light spritz.

[AniaR]

Hmmm I wonder.... :D

[Mermaid Galene]

I was talking to my acupuncturist about this the other day, and she suggested rubbing your feet with a little tea tree oil, slightly diluted in water, before putting on the tail. Tea tree oil has antibacterial and antifungal properties.

[Mermaid Crystal Shimmer]

Okay, just to be clear (I'll be receiving my first silicone tail soon) You wash your tail with water (asap after swimming), then use the disinfectant wipes, then dry the tail?

[Winged Mermaid]

I was talking to my acupuncturist about this the other day, and she suggested rubbing your feet with a little tea tree oil, slightly diluted in water, before putting on the tail. Tea tree oil has antibacterial and antifungal properties.

Tea tree/melaleuca is great for that- essential oils are naturally disinfecting, and that oil in particular is antifungal. HOWEVER, one thing I've learned about essential oil is that they eat away at plastic. (This also means that sometimes the smell will NEVER come out of plastic at times, or the taste won't ever come out of plastic cups no matter how much you wash them.) Honestly I'm not sure I'd chance it on rubbers - with the monofin foot pockets are made of, and obviously if you have a silicone or neoprene tail that's a type of rubber. It's personal preference but I just wanted to let you guys know that there's a chance that EOs can be damaging to rubber/tails.

[AniaR]

Okay, just to be clear (I'll be receiving my first silicone tail soon) You wash your tail with water (asap after swimming), then use the disinfectant wipes, then dry the tail?

For me personally, this is what I've been doing:

fill up the tub with warm water (not hot enough to ruin glue or silicone, depending on what your tail is made of tail makers can tell you how hot. but smoothon told me my tail could be in HOT water to help disinfect without worry) put some form of soap in. I use an all natural all purpose lavender soap. Sometimes I also mix in some isopropyl alcohol, or vinegar. It's the right amount of acidity to help kill prevent mold, but not enough to harm tail. (the alcohol was suggested to me by smoothon)

I let it sit for a while, maybe 30 minutes to an hour, and sometimes if it's dirty dirty from like the beach or something, I will scrub the inside with a body bath brush.

Then I empty the tub, spray the tail down on the outside and inside. We empty out as much water as we can and then lay it out on towels.

After that I dry it down as much as I can on the outside and inside. You wont be able to physically get all of the inside but there are tricks like shoving dish cloths up into the foot pockets that can help.

After it's mostly dry, then I wipe down with the lysol wipes on the inside, and I pay close attention to the foot pockets. You'd be surprised even after everything I've done, how brown those wipes come out.

Then I either let it air dry, or If I feel like the tail isn't dry enough to prevent mold I will prop it open (usually with the pool noodles that have the hole through the center) and aim a fan through it.

Now that is a LOT of work and it's worth it to do it as much as you can BUT IF YOU ARE STUCK a quick wipe down on the inside with lysol wipes will still help/delay the growing of mold.

[PearlieMae]

This subject interests me a lot, and now that I've had to thoroughly clean my tail a couple of times, I can tel you it is a labor of love!

I've been researching the care of silicone medical prosthetics, same stuff as dragonskin, and truth be told, you can do a LOT to silicone rubber. They actually recommend BOILING devices when they get dirty, so I think a tail can take some hot water. When you are curing silicone, they suggest using heat guns on it to speed the process. The main reason silicone is used in medial devices is its durability! Heat, acids, alcohols, peroxides, disinfectants, oils... silicone laughs at them all. SOLVENTS, however, like acetone (nail polish remover), are a NO NO! They will eat through/degrade the rubber.

Raina, your process sounds very thorough and effective! I used a bath poof and body wash for the initial wash and hot water rinse before your disinfecting routine and it's fresh as a daisy! I'm reconsidering all those old Lysol "feminine hygiene" ads from the early 1900s now as being far ahead of their times, as far as mermaids are concerned! :lol:

[Mermaid Viktoria]

Super informative, thank you!
I'll definitely be keeping these in my cleaning arsenal when my tail comes in!

[Raayvhen]

They actually recommend BOILING devices when they get dirty, so I think a tail can take some hot water.
Obviously it's not a tail, but I definitely boil my silicone menstrual cup pre and post cycle.

[AniaR]

yup. A lot of the fear over tails came from information passed around about TIN cure tails which can't take nearly as much as dragonskin. Now, it's not invincible by any means. But it can take a lot :)

I have to baby my tail because I got a bad mold infest I never quite got rid of :( if I dont clean it like this I get rashes. My next tail I will be super woman with lol

[Mermaid Crystal Shimmer]

Thank you so much Raina for the explanation, sadly I don't own a bath tub so I can't let it soak... Once I've received the tail I'll know how big it actually is and I'll try to find a big portable tub or something... I'm still searching for hollow pool noodles.. somehow I can't seem to find them here in the Netherlands... (I did find pool noodles on eBay, but no hollow ones)

[AniaR]

if letting it sit in the shower and filling up the inside with soap and water is a good start. Have a shower with your tail, I do it all the time lol

[Mermaid Crystal Shimmer]

And for dry use? (like photoshoots on land) same cleaning? (sorry for the many questions, but I want the best care for my tail <3

[AniaR]

Yes because you get sweaty and gross inside

[Mermaid Viktoria]

I have to baby my tail because I got a bad mold infest I never quite got rid of :( if I dont clean it like this I get rashes. My next tail I will be super woman with lol

I'm going to be a clean freak on my tail haha, I get a reaction to common mold if it makes contact with my face. Lips swell up, get bumpy and they feel like sandpaper and itch before feeling ridiculously rubbery and swelling goes down to nothing. Haha, sounds horrible! At least it's somewhat tolerable...

[MermaidBrandie]

Good to know. I think there needs to be a comprehensive list of what products you can and can't use on silicone. As someone who works with adult toys, a lot of which are made with silicone, I've learned a lot about it. I'm going to be getting toy cleaner for my tail.

I'm actually going to be doing an experiment where I take a bunch of products, cut up one of my OWN silicone toys and wash the bits with the different products (leaving on part along as a control sample). My bf has access to a microscope and will then take pictures of the results. If you'd like I can post the results to here as well as my forum at work since all the tails are made with the same silicone. It'd be good to know (for example) that using vinigar causes X to happen, or using dawn causes this...so on so forth. :)

[AniaR]

Good to know. I think there needs to be a comprehensive list of what products you can and can't use on silicone. As someone who works with adult toys, a lot of which are made with silicone, I've learned a lot about it. I'm going to be getting toy cleaner for my tail.

It's pretty simple: dont use anything silicone based on a silicone tail :D but anything beyond that it's best to directly ask the people who make the silicone. Silicone and latex and tin cure are all different. I never found toy cleaner was enough for my tail though I tried it. Most ideas have been formally listed in my book :) and on my videos too.

[MermaidBrandie]

It's pretty simple: dont use anything silicone based on a silicone tail :D but anything beyond that it's best to directly ask the people who make the silicone. Silicone and latex and tin cure are all different. I never found toy cleaner was enough for my tail though I tried it. Most ideas have been formally listed in my book :) and on my videos too.

True, true. I can't use latex anything (allergy) so I know zero about it. lol

As someone who doesn't have an interest in being a professional mermaid, it might be good to have the list on the forum or in easy reach for people who are like me and aren't interested in that aspect of it.

NOT THAT I'M DISSING YOUR BOOK. I greatly respect you and all you have to share about mermaiding, I just figured since I was doing this experiment anyways, ya'll might be interested and it would be good to know in general for people. I've noticed a lot of tail makers advise using soap to clean silicone with and all of my current info says soap and silicone is a bad idea (makes the silicone porous). We shall see after my experiment has run it's course, but wouldn't it be good to know for sure? I know when I get a silicone tail I wouldn't want it becoming porous and absorbing pool pee. O.o *shivers*

PS.

I added bleach, as well as lysol wipes to my list of experimental "see what it does to silicone" products. :) Just for you guys.

[Mermaid Wesley]

If she keeps posting the info from the book, what incentive is there to buy the book? ;)


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[Mermaid Zandarra]

Ok' so I have heard adult toy cleaner is effective. With so many toys being made from latex/silicone materials(I do those parties ;)) this actually seems very logical to me. So what has been your results and feed back on those types of products? I am going to be making my own silicone tail over the winter but have yet to actually see one in person. I was planning to use the toy cleaner since I can buy it wholesale and in bulk LOL(Already do).

[AniaR]

like I said, I used it, didnt find it was enough in the long run. I do list it in my book. And honestly, a hell of a lot of research went into everything that's in my book. I give a lot away for free on the internet. Some things I ask people to pay for. My book is intended for all version of mermaid, recreational or professional.

[Anahita]

Toy cleaner is good for things that aren't as complicated as tails. Tails have too many nooks and crannies and places where the toy cleaner just can't get its best work done. Toys, for instance, don't have powermesh. Power mesh seems to be a bit of a dirt culprit, if I've heard right. Like, a tail is like a P.P. I mean, toy cleaner can only do so much for those babies on its own just because of how it's shaped. I used to always recommend the guys who bought P.P.s to do a three-part cleaning with them. And then I reminded them that even after all that, the p.p. was going to eventually have something go wrong with it.

[MermaidBrandie]

Well, for sake of knowledge, when I get all the results back I'll post them up on their own thread.

[AniaR]

Power mesh seems to be a bit of a dirt culprit, if I've heard right

yup! powermesh is so helpful and yet so annoying to try and clean lol


Well, for sake of knowledge, when I get all the results back I'll post them up on their own thread.

I am already in the process of making a vlog on the issue (as I posted several times in the past few weeks) I get monetization for my vlogs as well which helps reimburse me for my time, efforts, and knowledge. I mean honestly, this entire thread is me giving a tip away for free.

[Ayla of Duluth]

My tail grew green mold on the inside even though I did my best to rinse with freshwater after every gig and dry it out as best as possible. Raina, when you talk about killing the mold in your tail, does it make the green patches go away, or does it just mean you killed it so the patches won't spread? I have been looking for ways to deep clean my tail to get the green out, especially when I was getting ready to ship it to its new owner. I mostly focused on using vinegar and baking soda, as that was all I had in the apartment aside from harsh cleaners.

[Mermaid Galene]

7% hydrogen peroxide. Tea tree oil. Colloidal silver. All are antifungal and antibacterial without chemical residues left by chlorine or Lysol.

[AniaR]

My tail grew green mold on the inside even though I did my best to rinse with freshwater after every gig and dry it out as best as possible. Raina, when you talk about killing the mold in your tail, does it make the green patches go away, or does it just mean you killed it so the patches won't spread? I have been looking for ways to deep clean my tail to get the green out, especially when I was getting ready to ship it to its new owner. I mostly focused on using vinegar and baking soda, as that was all I had in the apartment aside from harsh cleaners.

For new mold I can kill it and scrub it off. Old mold all I could do was keep killijng it and prevent it from spreading.


7% hydrogen peroxide. Tea tree oil. Colloidal silver. All are antifungal and antibacterial without chemical residues left by chlorine or Lysol.

The lysol wipes don't leave behind a chemical residue. They actively promote that they dont and there's nothing in the MSDS. I have never found for this magnitude of what needs to be disinfected, that tea tree oil or other natural cleaners ever work. Plus like some others on here, I find it irritates my skin. I have never found in my 3 years that peroxide works either.


For anyone interested I have been searching a lot about how to clean medical grade silicone without ruining it. I came across this post on a forum about the silicone diva cups.


I just wanted to share something with everyone, and I hope it helps. Like many people here, I’ve been REALLY curious about gathering some facts on proper care of medical grade silicone. So I decided to turn to someone who works with this material regularly-- and ask them their professional opinion. I have forwarded the below letter to the head of a custom medical grade silicone molding company (they take custom moldings from hospitals for patients, and create artificial body parts of various kinds), and he sent me his reply.

Here is the company I contacted:

“ASC Applied Silicone Corporation” SILICONESALES@APPLIEDSILICONE.COM


Here is the letter I wrote:

Dear Richard,

I was wondering if you could help me. I have a question about medical grade silicone-- Are there any sterilizing/cleaning solutions or lubricants that can damage it? I ask because I’m part of an online support community of people who use “menstrual cups”-- small, flexible cups made of medical grade silicone, that are worn internally, to collect menstrual fluid, rather than absorbing it. The manufacturers recommend that during use, we should wash them daily with mild, perfume-free soap. Then sterilize by boiling for 5 minutes. Some of the companies forbid most sterilizing solutions, claiming they damage the silicone. But many of us aren’t sure what to believe on this matter. Especially when it comes to things like rubbing alcohol, peroxide, oil-based lubricants, etc. We wonder if the company’s recommendations are meant to increase sales of their special “cup wash” or to make our cups discolor faster, so we buy new ones more often. Could you (or someone you are associated with) please help to shed some light on this subject?

Thank you in advance-- Melissa


And here is what he had to say:


Dear Melissa,

My background consists of 30 years as a Research and Development Engineer involved in the development of silicone elastomers and implantable silicone devices. I agree with the manufacturers recommendations for cleaning the silicone cups. Silicone has poor resistance to acids and bases found in sterilizing solutions and hydrogen peroxide. I have personal knowledge of silicone degradation caused by beta dyne solutions commonly used as a micro biocide in surgery. Isopropyl alcohol (IPA) can cause slight temporary swelling of the silicone, but as long as it is allowed to evaporate completely it will not deteriorate silicone. Oil based lubricants can swell/permeate the silicone and may not readily evaporate and can cause a loss in physical properties. My main concern with oil based lubricants would be biocompatibility in such a sensitive tissue environment.

Best Regards,
Richard Dumas
Director of Technical Service
Applied Silicone Corporation
270 Quail Court, Santa Paula, CA 93060 USA



Interesting stuff.

But a lysol wipe IS safe to use to wipe down the inside of your silicone tail. I am making a video to show everyone :)

[Mermaid Galene]

I personally am not comfortable with ammonium chloride compounds and unspecified fragrance, but that's just my preference. I'm simply saying what has worked for me as an aquarist against water borne pathogens, so that we all have options to try. And also to gently and respectfully point out that others have, in fact, contributed ideas to this thread.

http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Chemical.jsp?Rec_Id=PC37016#Toxicity

[AniaR]

And here's my vlog about cleaning tails! Don't mind my awful lisp ;)


http://youtu.be/mn7rkcuds7c

[SeaGlass Siren]

oh how convenient! i was wondering last night if there was a tutorial video for cleaning :D THANKS!

[AniaR]

I've been making it over a few days but with our upload caps it took a whole day to upload ugh >.> I hope to have similar videos as I get time. I tried my best to show the difference the wipes make. You cant see it in the first clip but in the second clip it's glaringly obvious lol

[SeaGlass Siren]

yeah the wipe in the second clip looks pretty atrocious

[AniaR]

So for anyone who might be interested Here's an example folks:

In my video I referenced using an all natural cleaner called "nature clean" it has tea tree oil and lavender and other all natural properties. I use it for most of my cleaning unless I get really sick, that's when I usually have to bring out the non-natural stuff. I use it to clean my tail in the tub in the video as referenced, but while making my video I tried a few other things to show later in this post.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10520785_10154651233770425_7868809415972913296_n.j pg?oh=dd7bf4d2e1d1cce44a8b06aa120df507&oe=548EEC72&__gda__=1419940708_fc854e8b02cee43d5946462225ffe80 b

So in the image above here's how it worked. I put the wipe or the wet industrial paper towel (about the same thickness and texture as the wipe- as close to it as I could find in our home) on the dirty spots and let is sit for a second just to saturate the dirty spot. Then I scrubbed 5 swipes. The wipe on the top is after 5 swipes. The bottom left wad of paper towel is the soap I used in the video + water, the bottom right is just water.

Different texture materials like cloths can get a better result (I didn't bother showing the cloth I used because it was a dark color and I couldnt get anything to come up on the photo it just looked like a clean cloth when it was dirty) and I think one of the reasons why the wipes worked so well is because they have a certain texture. But I still got this much dirt after scrubbing it with the brush I showed in the video.

Personally, I have tried pretty much every cleaning style, and the reason I have shared the wipe trick is because it works, and I see a lot of silicone and latex costume makers talking about using them for cleaning (that's how I got the idea). I have tried alcohols, I have tried all natural cleaners, I've even tried stinky dawn dish detergent that I haaaate. I've tried sex toy cleaner. I've tried vinegar. I've tried practically boiling my tail. None of them clean it well enough, and the wipe shows all the stuff that's been left there after all that plus drying (even drying would remove a lot of surface stuff). And when I look inside the tail or touch it, it doesn't *seem* dirty. Just goes to show how those nasty mold growing bugs work.

I think as I mentioned in an earlier post, the wipes are great for when youre too busy to give a proper cleaning as well. At least you can wipe it out and know it's killing stuff instead of it sitting there. I buy unscented because the fragrance kind gives me headaches.

I prefer to use all natural whenever possible but have found with my immune system that sometimes I have to bring out the big guns or I keep getting sick. In this instance, I kept getting rashes and especially in places like the foot pocket. (I know someone else had a whole thread on that) I would sometimes wear tights under my tail to prevent getting what one of my mermaids calls "swamp bum". I think if you're going to use a silicone tail this much it's important to bring out the big guns every once in a while.

If you haven't watched the video I linked yet you can watch it for more info :)

[MermaidBrandie]

yup! powermesh is so helpful and yet so annoying to try and clean lol



I am already in the process of making a vlog on the issue (as I posted several times in the past few weeks) I get monetization for my vlogs as well which helps reimburse me for my time, efforts, and knowledge. I mean honestly, this entire thread is me giving a tip away for free.

I didn't mean to bother you with it. I'm sorry, I just figured since I was doing the research anyway, and these are silicone tails and I am going to be getting the pictures from the microscope of what these products do to them, people would want to know. :/

[AniaR]

I misunderstood! I think microscope pics would be really cool!!!

[Aziara]

I wonder if the lysol wipes would be as effective if done before soaking? Or perhaps after soaking for a few hours, then returning it to the soapy water after the wipe down. I know lysol says no residue, but I get really squick about traditional cleaners, and I think the smell of lysol in my tail would likely make me sneeze and stuff up. Or does the tail really need the long soak to loosen up the gunk inside?

[AniaR]

Asiara: they do help before, but before soaking I find if you've been to the beach or been in your tail a long time, you end up with so much crap in there I just found it easier to let it soak. I dont think a tail needs a good long soak all the time. A simple spray down inside and out with soap and water is probably fine for most things. But I had been to the beach and had organic matter all through my tail.

it's really up to you and your tail.

And yes Galene and I have been PMing so I'd appreciate if we can publicly move on from that issue. I know some people love to come "late to the party" and stir the pot after everything's been resolved so please dont ;) I love and respect Galene and I am glad she and I are working things out and I see where she is coming from. Big hugs!

[Chrissy]

that is crazy how much yucky stuff came off on the Lysol wipe.......eeeeewwwwww. I have had a good amount of luck so far soaking and hanging my tail on my rack and putting a fan under it blowing up!!! My husband wants to create a fan drying system with pipes and holes and all sorts of crazy ideas for my tail rack.....:clap::clap::sweat drop::sweat drop: but the Lysol wipes are on my grocery list for this week!!!!
Hey Raina can you include in your repair video (maybe) how to properly roll down your tail?? I saw that you said Sean had rolled it down so you could dry it better, for some reason I am not sure how to roll mine down w/o any kind of damage being done??? Just a thought?

[MermaidBrandie]

I misunderstood! I think microscope pics would be really cool!!!
^.^ Sorry I didn't specify better. I'll post them up when I get them. Would you want them on this forum or should I just make a forum for that separate? I still have plenty of the silicone left, if I made my own forum for it, then people could suggest other chemicals that I didn't think of.

[AniaR]

I think you should do a whole thread Lots of pics. Smooth on does say to let things evaporate for best results.

[Sherielle]

Man I wish my tail rolled down like yours does. It's too thick. All in all, I like it that way but it makes getting to the foot pockets damned near impossible.

[AniaR]

yeah mermaid creation tails are so hard to roll down. I can't do it with ours, Sean used to do it for the mermaids I put in it. way too thick.

I am doing videos of putting tails on soon but I'll warn yah it's in a more modest way because no one really feels comfortable over here having everyone see all that unflattering process LOL.

I have sean roll my tail down because I have damaged it in the past by being too aggressive and having long finger nails. So Sean rolls it down carefully for me so it stays strong :)

[Mermaid Leira]

All great ideas, everyone's chemical sensitivity is different :) I had a thought that maybe low grade uv light, heat and air flow
Would be a good idea, like a snow boot / gear drying rack you find in ski lodges but with light as well to kill fungi without alcohol or chem? Anyone made one? Also last dragon skin scale I made I put power mesh between a thick first outer layer then a thinner internal dragon skin one, silky smooth inside but stronger, that I think maybe could stop greenery hidy holes?

[AniaR]

yeah I think a lot of tail makers have started sandwiching the powermesh for that very reason. It's the best, but it makes mold hard. I feel like if I had used Lysol wipes from the start though i'd have never gotten mold. I think it came because we live in such a damp environment already, and I was experimenting with too many things that didn't work. I'm excited for my next tail because I know the best way to keep it clean for me now :)

As far as UV light I think it be fine inside, but long term UV exposure does dull the pigments.

[Mermaid Leira]

I haven't seen Lysol wipes in aus, I'm assuming they're like our Dettol wipes?? Antibacterial like you would clean a graze or for disinfecting a surface?

[Mermaid Wesley]

That's right :)


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[Mermaid Leira]

Good idea, good to know thanks girls :) I checked and I think in the UK it's called Dettol too if any British Mers are looking for Lysol

[AniaR]

Yes

[mermaidsammi]

I use baby whipes my self