Lysol Wipes for the insides of tails

**AniaR** · 09-06-2014, 11:19 AM

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** · 09-06-2014, 11:44 AM

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!

**Mermaid Viktoria** · 09-06-2014, 12:06 PM

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

**Raayvhen** · 09-06-2014, 12:29 PM

Originally Posted by PearlieMae

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** · 09-06-2014, 12:33 PM

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** · 09-06-2014, 12:47 PM

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** · 09-06-2014, 01:35 PM

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** · 09-06-2014, 01:43 PM

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** · 09-06-2014, 02:05 PM

Yes because you get sweaty and gross inside

**Mermaid Viktoria** · 09-06-2014, 02:24 PM

Originally Posted by AniaR

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** · 09-08-2014, 02:55 PM

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** · 09-08-2014, 03:00 PM

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

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** · 09-08-2014, 03:28 PM

Originally Posted by AniaR

It's pretty simple: dont use anything silicone based on a silicone tail

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** · 09-08-2014, 05:10 PM

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

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**Mermaid Zandarra** · 09-08-2014, 09:53 PM

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** · 09-08-2014, 10:08 PM

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** · 09-09-2014, 02:38 AM

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** · 09-09-2014, 12:50 PM

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

**AniaR** · 09-09-2014, 01:12 PM

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** · 09-09-2014, 01:31 PM

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.

Thread: Lysol Wipes for the insides of tails

Thread Tools

Display

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions