 |
| Smelly. |
Sometimes I open up my gear bag and am overwhelmed by the stink. Yuck! We work hard during practice, and some of us sweat a lot. I'll be honest: for a while, I didn't really bother washing my pads. I actually just left my gear bag in the car because I was too lazy to bring it inside. Once in a while I'd wash them, but not regularly.
I've turned over a new leaf.
I'm sick of smelly pads! I try to make it a habit to always bring my pads inside and at least open up the bag to let them air out. That's a good start. I now also try to wash them once a week.
Washing your pads can be as simple as throwing them in your bathtub and letting them soak in hot water and color safe bleach. I prefer to just throw them in the
washing machine.
Make sure when you wash your pads in the machine that you pre-velcro everything so the pads don't stick together and get stretched out.
Next, I put my pads in a zippered mesh bag so they don't get tossed and tumbled around too much.
Washing machine settings
+ Hot water;
+ Not too much detergent. I use the same stuff I wash my clothes with, but you can also use color safe bleach;
+ Gentle cycle;
+ Soak option, if available.
Drying instructions
Hang to dry! Don't put 'em in the dryer (at least according to all the internet research I've done.) A word of caution:
pads can take 1 - 2 days to dry completely...so don't wash them the night before you have practice! When it's nice outside, you can also hang them outside to dry.
I hang my pads up to dry in our laundry room, which is pretty warm so they do dry rather fast.
 |
| So fresh and clean! |
 |
My custom mouthguard...the case has small holes
in it to allow it to dry. But I still need to wash it! |
OK, so...
what about your mouthguard? Again, I've been guilty of just tossing it in my derby bag and letting it sit. Then I upgraded to a
mouthguard case with air holes, so it wasn't exposed and could
properly dry out. A quick
google search of "bacteria mouth guards" yields some scary results, including
this article.
There are a few
options for washing your mouthguard (note, these are just recommended methods, but not anything approved by medical professionals or whatever):
+ pure lemon juice soak
+ listerine before and after use
+ solution of water/ bleach
+ a scotch/ whiskey bath
+ brushing your mouthguard with a toothbrush and toothpaste... which is what I do!
 |
| Brusha brusha brusha. Kinda messy, but getting it clean! |
How do you wash your gear? How often do you wash it?
