Salt Stains??

[hammock]

hmm. My new bogu gets massive salt stains on the men after a good practise and the sweat dries out. Don't remember that happening this badly before, and other people at my dojo don't seem to have this problem. Is this a sign of cheap materials used in the construction of my bogu? Or is there the possibility that the stress of living in a foreign country is triggering a weird chemical imbalance in my sweat glands... :D

(it is only 3 months old btw, but used around 5 times a week, 2 hours a day)

[kendomushi]

just get some kenro spray to clean it up, works wonders.
I doubt korea is affecting your sweat glands in some odd way, though the intensity of practice and climate change might be causing you to sweat more. Don't worry about it until your sweat starts to smell like kimchee, when and if that happens you have been there too long.

[hammock]

yeah, i can get the salt out fine with some alcohol and a toothbrush.. but it just seems that there is way more of it compared to before. And the more i spray and scrub it out, the more blue die is coming off my fairly new Men... That is already looks 1-2 years old, not 3 months.

So the question is, is the amount of salt residue in a Men shown on the material a sign of the quality of the materials used in the bogu?

[Simon Chien]

Hi hammock,

I use wet towel to rub the men ( inside and outside ). It work fine so that salt stains can be wiped but only take little dye out.

[alexpollijr]

Originally posted by hammock
So the question is, is the amount of salt residue in a Men shown on the material a sign of the quality of the materials used in the bogu?


I think so. A thicker futon part would be capable of absorbing much more salt from sweat before lettting it cluster outside. The so-called 'korean' bogu is in fact sourced from China. Although the overall construction of the bogu is fine, they use a very thin futon part made of either low-weight cotton or some other fabric, while the japanese sets usually have some kind of buffer between the cotton layers, and depending on the maker you might get even sorbothane padding inside the futon or anti-microbial fabric outside.

You can get one of those sweat absorbing chin pads that extend up to cover part of the face.

Alexandre

[Hai_hai]

Can you submerge the entire men in water or is that not good to do?

[kendoka_ca]

What's wrong with salt stains?

[iwatekenshi]

Drink more water and take in less salt. Perhaps it is your diet that has changed?

[Hyaku]

Eventualy it will start to smell foul and rot. I have the perfect answer what to do at that time......Throw it away:wink:

Practice 7 days a week and do more Kakari geiko. After a few years even your tenegui will be dry after keiko.

Hyaku

[Karaken]

If you're in Seoul, it's humid there and I remember Westerners sweat much more than Asians for some reason. ( Not me, I sweat as much as anyone ). Anyway, salt stain can easily be wiped out by wet towel. The smell is a problem ( usually caused by organisms not by sweat ). You can spray Clorox ( or any fabric bleach ) diluted 20 times with water. It does wonders in getting rid of foul smell and prevent anything growing there..

Hope it helps.. I still use this after all these years.

Center - only

[nodachi]

Does this technique work on old club bogu? Does it bring it back to tolerable health and odor conditions, or does it only work on bogu that has been looked after and not forgotten on a club rack?

[slidercrank]

For disinfection, rather than playing with dilution of clorox, I just spray the men and kote with isopropyl alcohol. Every pharmacy store has it. It's stronger than rubbing alcohol. Oh, I cover the men gane before spraying. The isopropyl alcohol forms white spots on men gane's red paint.

For wiping off salt stains, I use a wet hand towel, like other people here.

[Hai_hai]

Send it to a desalination plant. Just kidding.

[Kiki]

Originally posted by Simon Chien
Hi hammock,

I use wet towel to rub the men ( inside and outside ). It work fine so that salt stains can be wiped but only take little dye out.

If you roll or blot the warm, damp cloth using moderate pressure on the men it will lift the salt off and do the least amount of damage to the fabric/dye. This also works well on the hakama and tare. I think this works best if done soon after keiko and in your case maybe at least once a week.

Regarding smell...do you air out your men or leave it in the bogu bag between keiko? Cleaning the inside and wearing a chin cloth will help some. Wash your men towel and chin cloth between keiko if you can.

I’d be too scared to use bleach even at 20:1. Some companies sell a deodorant aerosol spray for kendo bogu. Is this the “kenro” Kendomushi was talking about?

Hope you’re drinking a lot of water everyday. Good luck!

[Hai_hai]

As usual, I will admit that I am a lowly non-bogu wearing beginner, but I do know about the human body and sweating.

What I believe is happening is that you are losing a lot of fluid from sweating. Whether you new bogu is made with cheaper materials than your old bogu can be answered by someone else. Regardless of whether you are in Korea or in the US, when your body loses a lot of water, it needs to keep the sodium level balanced. So, it excretes salt via your sweat when that happens.

At marathons, you can see some non-professional marathon runners at the finish line with dried clumps of salt caked on the edges of their mouth, nose and eyes; it's quite a strange sight and you have to see it to believe it. Those who take in enough fluid throughout the race won't appear that way.

[Karaken]

Originally posted by nodachi
Does this technique work on old club bogu? Does it bring it back to tolerable health and odor conditions, or does it only work on bogu that has been looked after and not forgotten on a club rack?

Nodachi, if your question was meant for my Clorox solution, yes it'll work on OLD and New. It basically does two things. 1. Get rid or anything living in your bogu ( Germs, fungus etc.. ) 2. Get rid of foul smell caused by them or otherwise. Can't think of any reasons why old bogu would be any different than new one except it might have more hidden corners to seek out and spray.

Try it, as long as the solution is not too strong, it won't hurt anything. ( I use about 15 to 1 but start with 20 or 30 to be safe )

Center