How warm water is too warm?
Is 86F to much?
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How warm water is too warm?
Is 86F to much?
"First, the mermaids have to slather their legs with hair conditioner, and then squeeze into the skin tight suits."
Doesn't hair conditioner mess up with the water you're swimming in? :s
86˚F is cooler than body temp. I think 105˚ could be considered warm...that's like a bath. Hot would be anything over 115˚, maybe?
Slathering with hair conditioner sounds dumb, expensive and messy, not to mention dangerous if you're swimming in a tank with fish.
What's something else you can use besides lube? Feels a bit awkward to me to buy that.
If you have a neoprene or neoprene backed tail you can use Suit Slip (linked in original post, 4th bullet down). The makers of Suit Slip say it's fine for silicone tails as well, but I don't know anyone else who has used it for a full silicone tail. Some use hair conditioner, but I personally wouldn't recommend it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yulia
Just so you know people buy water-based lube for all kinds of things other than sex. Especially generic brands like KY Jelly. Paint thinner for acrylics, making fake blood (I've heard of zombie/goul fashion shows buying out every bottle in a store in preparation), removing stuck on o-rings, sewing through rubbery fabrics, unsticking sticky or stuck zippers, getting of price tag residue, and untangling knotted jewelry chains are ones I can think off off the top of my head. But if you're still not convinced, you can always buy it online. Or ask a friend, boyfriend, relative, or whoever buy a bottle for you.
Okay, so... I went to look for lubricant today and they is liquid and jelly... both water based. I'm not sure which get. ><
Get liquid- jelly is harder to spread around and gets sticky faster. :thumbs-up:
Thank you, Iona! ^_^ I shall attempt to get myself to buy it soon. Haha
I was just wondering if anyone had experience with caring for polycarbonate monofins? I recently bought a monofin from Fin Fun, which is polycarbonate, but is super flexible so I am looking to make it stiffer somehow. Are there any suggestions for doing this? I did think about duct tape, but I came across one website that says it degrades polycarbonate, can anyone confirm this either way?
Thanks!
Bumping for added info on drying and repairing silicone tails.
I wonder, could aloe vera gel be used as lubrication to get a silicone tail on? I'm thinking about putting a bit in a spray bottle with some water to dilute it, and spritzing myself down.
I don't see why not! I don't know if mixing them would work well, you might have to water down the gel enough to get it to spray that you'd have to spray a ton of it to be slippery enough. If you do it you should post and let us know how it works out :)
Just make sure you get aloe that doesn't have any additives (listed earlier in the thread I believe?) that could harm the silicone. On the shelf aloe products tend to get a lot of additives these days :/ Personally I order mine from Mountian Rose Herbs because I know it's pure food grade aloe. Good luck!
Thank, Iona! I had no idea where to find additive-free aloe vera gel. I have a aloe vera plant on my back porch, but I think the recent cold snaps have done it in :sad eyes: It's also such a hassle to try to grind it yourself. You always end up with chunks that won't grind up :gah: I may try smearing on the gel, then spritzing it with a little water to make it slicker. Might be awhile until I try this, however, my tail is still in the construction stage.
Actually though Jo has a silicone based lube, they're H20 version that she's talking about is silicone safe. I work as a sex toy store, not only do we recommend it for silicone toys, but a love them come with a packet of it for a free trial.
You could use J-Lube. http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/360476546325?lpid=82 Its a powder you mix yourself. Allergy-free, silicone safe, and you mix it with water. I've got a bottle and I've had it for three years...I don't have a tail...but I do have silicone sex toys and it's never damaged any of them. You'd only need a little bit to ease a tail on, its so slippery.
Thanks for letting us know you've found it to be silicone safe! Someone posted about it months back, and I spent a few hours digging around the net trying to find some place or someone that actually said it was silicone safe, but couldn't find that anywhere. Since it's used for veterinary uses (in vet offices and on farms) they don't really tend to include that kind of information. And I'd hate to make assumptions just becuase It's water based that it's silicone safe- I mean, seems a safe enough assumption, but that could be a $2-8k mistake X_xQuote:
Originally Posted by CoyoteWalker
I will add this to the thread, as a 10oz bottle makes 6-8 GALLONS of lube! That's the holy grail of cheap mermaid tail lube!
I use coconut oil. I use some of it to get my tail on and some for my hair after swimming (swimming makes my hair rather difficult to comb!) and it works great for me. I havent had any problems with it and a nice rinse inside my tail with dawn dish soap once a week gets rid of any oily residue. :)
Ah, thank you so much. I'm so glad this thread is here. I was really worried about taking care of my tail when I finally got it!
This is great my husband and I were just talking about trying to find a stand for my tail!!! The examples you put are are perfect templates for us to work with!!!!
Mirazyme works great for getting any smell out of neoprene/silicone tails, just pour a little in the tub let it sit for 10 mins and hang to dry. Smell gone! Also awesome for wet suits :)
I've searched around a bit on the forum but didn't find a good answer..
How much does latex stretch?
My waist is 26inches, and my butt is 36inches, will there be problems to get it on?
I don't want to rip it...
Full or partial latex? I had similar measurements and my neoprene and [real] latex tail went over my hips/butt just fine.
Full latex. Do you use different lubricants for latex?
Is it easier to put on dry or wet?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Winged Mermaid
I have a full silicone tail and swear by using SuitSlip. The bottles are a bit pricey if you're doing a weekend-long convention because you use up quite a bit of it getting in and out, but so far it's been my favorite thing.
I have a thread about how I have used Lysol wipes with some success listed here with some pics: http://mernetwork.com/index/showthre...sides-of-tails
I also have a video I made about how I clean my tail, with tips on how others can clean tails, showing me doing it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=mn7rkcuds7c
Just checking here first to be safe: I know the thread says that warm water is no good for full silicone tails and that hot tubs are pretty much a no-go. Now that it's winter... are heated pools ok?
Heat is generally fine. Its more an issue with glue less an issue with actual silicone. They boil silicone to disinfect it and dragonskin is medical grade. Don't over think this folks. A warm pool is fine lol. I had my tail in hot tubs loads and never had issues.
Thank you for the advice. I'm just worried about hurting it. I tend to be way over cautious with stuff like this. Thanks for clearing things up :)Quote:
Originally Posted by AniaR
Has anyone ever tried Sliquid H2O lube? I'm kinda thinking it's expensive (it's like $12.99 for a 4.2 fl oz bottle) but it's vegan, more high-grade, and was featured on "Oh Joy, Sex Toy" as a great, simple, no-frills personal lubricant. NOTE: THIS SITE IS NSFW AND NSFC. If you don't know what that means, it means "not safe for work" and "not safe for children/minors." Have any of you used it? Or do you have any other brand recommendations besides the ones already made?
I would recommend J-lube. It's a waterbased lube that you blend yourself from a powder. From a bottle you get 8 gallons of lube. It's very cheap.
I installed j hooks to put up my tail. Here's the thing: because my monofin is huge I had to use 4 so it doesn't fall or bring down the wall. Here's another thing: the fluke is flopping about and not staying still. I need some sort of attachment at the top of my tail so it doesn't move (I want t up against the wall)
any suggestions?
Just to clarify it's a finis competitor
I use Adreno Wetsuit and Swimwear wash, it neutralizes the chlorine and gets rid of the smell. Just one little squirt from the bottle into a full bucket of cold water is enough to wash a fishsuit, wetsuit (in winter I wear a wetsuit), tail, goggles and fin straps. I let it soak for 1 hour before rinsing and hang to dry in shade.
http://www.wetsuitwarehouse.com.au/b...ear-wash-500ml
Hi I need help fixing the hip fins on my tail?? it looks like this
Attachment 33134
and unfortunately while i was doing a gig a kid was a little too rough on one of the hip fins and it ripped about halfway up.. I have just gotten a kit of dragonskin silicone and was just wondering if anyone has any tips for me to make sure I repair it correctly and smoothly.
Thank you!!!
~Mermaid Echo
I hope that child apologized!! I'm furious to read that she damaged that amazing tail from Raven :mad:Quote:
Originally Posted by StephanieVex
Did her parents apologize as well?
If a child ripped a tail while someone was wearing it, would it be mean to scream like you were in pain? Haha I'm totally joking.
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:lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by Imogen Finnly
Why not? I totally act like my tail is ticklish! (nicked that idea from Raina...there's a video of a little boy sneaking a touch at one of her hospital visits, and she twitched and he ran away!)
*cues fake blood*
Haha that's amazing. I suppsose it would also teach kids to be gentle and what not.
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For your future gigs you could maybe include in your contract that it'd be customers duty to pay the repairs if something like this happens? I have on my "terms and conditions" a section which says that(includes all my accessories too). I also had to add there a section which says that I need someone from orderer's party to make sure that kids won't pull me from hair or the fluke, or rip my accessories off or anything... And this was because of my latest experience in a two hours swimming hall gig, it was quite a chaos(there was also this one little sweetheart who kept spitting mouthfulls of water straight to my face). When you add there some numbers (in worst case tail repair being over 1000usd etc.) customers really might give a thought for that.Quote:
Originally Posted by StephanieVex
That would be incredible. If only I could rig that up.... ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Imogen Finnly
I just cried a little inside 'cause I madly love your tail :< this made me SO damn sad! Your tail was one of my sources of inspiration when designing my finfolk tail..Quote:
Originally Posted by StephanieVex
As for repair I have had similar experiences too. My fluke ends (in my pink mertailor) were torn once off by enthusiastic kids and my fins have had their share too :/ i would highly recommend Smooth On's silpoxy! I always have a tube of silpoxy with me, it's the only thing that really works. It creates a very strong bond between parts and I've used it to repair and also resize my old tail, both seams. Tried just using dragon skin as adhensive but it had hard time bonding to parts resulting them falling off when under hard stress. Silpoxy stays and so far all my fins are still attached after multiple beatings and reattaching. Hit me with PM if you want to, I'm more than happy to help!