Questions on the men

[Caleb]

Every since I got my personal bogu, and I cant remember if It happened on the club bogu, my chin kept on sliping out of the cup type thing that you put your chin in and it always feels that the men is fallin off me. No matter how tight I tie it, my chin always slips. Could this be that my men is the wrong size? I dont think thats the case, because again, every time I put on my men, 20 minutes in, my ears- physically (not from noise, but actually being pushed into my skull) hurt. Is this everyone goes through, or did I just get off on the wrong foot with men size? Any help much appreciated

[Ralutin]

Every since I got my personal bogu, and I cant remember if It happened on the club bogu, my chin kept on sliping out of the cup type thing that you put your chin in and it always feels that the men is fallin off me. No matter how tight I tie it, my chin always slips. Could this be that my men is the wrong size? I dont think thats the case, because again, every time I put on my men, 20 minutes in, my ears- physically (not from noise, but actually being pushed into my skull) hurt. Is this everyone goes through, or did I just get off on the wrong foot with men size? Any help much appreciated
Hi "Caleb,"

Yes, it's quite possible your men is the wrong size if you're tying it properly and tight enough. Aside from buying a new men, you can purchase a men chin support which will occupy that space between your chin and men quite nicely. Here's an example of a chin support from E-bogu.com:

http://www.e-bogu.com/noname3.html

[Craig Jones]

this is a pretty good chin support. it also help minimize the wear and tear on the fabric of the chin rest to a minimum.

[Caleb]

Thank you for your input

[xvikingx]

Hope you don't mind if I add a little something...
I had the same problem with my men. I found the e-bogu chin cup was a little to thin, so I just folded up an extra tenugui and placed it in the chin area. Also my ears used to kill me after practice until one of my dojo mates pointed out that my himo was over my ears, after I had mentioned that my ears hurt. Since my men is kind of large I tie it extra tight. :ouch: Up until that point I thought I had my men tied properly. Hope this is helpful.

[Caleb]

I tried your tenegui trick and that works pretty well. I dont know about the ears thing yet. Thanks a buch. None of my sempai know, and My sensei is always busy. thanks again

[tango]

after you tie the men on, you're supposed to reach up inside there and .. umm.. don't know quite how to describe it.. you kinda pull the flaps out, kinda pop out the region near your ears. somebody can maybe describe it better.

it's dangerous to have your ears so bunched up against the side of the men.. if you get hit just right, you CAN bust your eardrum(s)...

on another note, when i had a brand new men, my ears hurt for a bit until the men got broken in.. and true, you could try and tie the thing such that the men himo are not right on top of your ears. if your himo are attached at the bottom of the mengane, you could try attaching them to the top of mengane and that might make it such that the himo are not right on your ears when you tie it on.. hope that made sense.. i'm kinda tired right now.

[hyuna]

When you tie your men, the himo cross over at the back of your head, in an X. After you tie your men, you should reach into the left and right sides of the X and pull the men outwards. It may be difficult to get your fingers into the gaps there.The himo will run above and below to the crossover in back. The idea is to create a little pocket over your ear. This will (a) help protect the ear from a direct hit, and (b) make it easier to hear. If you do not create this space over the ear, and the men lies flat covering the ear, there is a risk of a burst eardrum if you take a hit there.

HOWEVER you must be CAREFUL when making this little airspace. There is supposed to be a similar small airspace over the top of your head. When you pull out the sides of the men, be careful not to flatten out the top of the men. Rather, pull "upwards" when making the ear pockets so that the material comes from the shoulder flaps.

After pulling out the sides, the sides of the X may become too broad and the men may loosen up. So after you do this, you may need to pull the shoulder flaps up and forward to bring the bottom men himo back up into position, and check the positioning of the upper himo to make sure they have not ridden up too high (as well as making sure there are no twists and the himo are together).

[Caleb]

I never knew puting on the men was such a complicated process. Thanks for the advice. Glad I found out about this stuff early on- saved my self some pain. Thanks again

[Halcyon]

as a rule of thumb, the rear knot of your men himo should be at the height of your eyes. many beginners make the mistake of tying the knot too low, leading to that situation with the cramped ears.

[Caleb]

Thanks a buch for helping me solve this problem. I put on my men today and pushed the sides to make the "bubble and it worked perfectly. Totally solved my ear problem. The otherthing that solved the chin problem was I had my himo crossed way too closely. I just have to manually pull my ties to the side of the mengane so the himo wont be loose. Thanks once again for your advice.