Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
Sometimes people wear jewelry. Sometimes people float. What happens when these things overlap? What about piercings?
Graham and Ashkahn concisely explain why it’s a good idea to take that wedding ring off before you float in this episode.
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: Okay.
Ashkahn: Welcome. Hey, everybody.
Graham: Hey there. I’m Graham.
Ashkahn: I’m Ashkahn.
Graham: And today’s question is, “Jewelry/piercings in a float tank?”
Ashkahn: Hm.
Graham: Concise.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: I like it.
Ashkahn: To the point.
Graham: Um. No.
Ashkahn: Period.
Graham: Thanks for the question.
Ashkahn: I mean, so, there’s a couple of factors here. One-
Graham: Jewelry can sometimes be piercings.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: So it’s not just a straight separation there.
Ashkahn: This is really just a one question thing here. Well, there’s a lot of salt in these float tanks. I don’t know if you knew that.
Graham: Have you heard?
Ashkahn: But the salt can be pretty, it’s pretty intense. It can be pretty damaging. It can eat through metals and it’s not good for some things. So, which metals will it destroy and which will it won’t? I mean I’m sure-
Graham: We could go into it. There are definitely metals that won’t really be affected by the salt.
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: Especially not being in there for such a short period of time.
Ashkahn: But, are you really going to be going through that with each person and the jewelry and piercings that they have?
Graham: And sometimes their jewelry is not made out of the metals that they think it’s made out of.
Ashkahn: Yeah, like a crummy boyfriend back in the day.
Graham: That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Or just a confused person who thought they were wearing their titanium necklace when in fact they were wearing their silver necklace, you know?
Ashkahn: I just thought titanium came out of those little things you put quarters in and spin to get the egg out.
Graham: That is true. If they have just plastic jewelry, you can wear plastic jewelry.
Ashkahn: Yeah, I’m sure there’s a couple, like jade or-
Graham: That’s totally fine.
Ashkahn: But here’s the other thing. It can be uncomfortable. When you’re in the float tank, you just feel everything that’s on your body. If you have bracelets or necklaces or things like that on, it might just make for a slightly worse float experience. So it’s a combination of those two things that makes you be like, well, “what’s really the point of keeping things in?” I mean, I guess there’s piercings where you can’t-
Graham: Yeah.
Ashkahn: -just conveniently take things out of your body.
Graham: And fortunately, those ones are actually often very controlled. And in that case, you want to check with the person who did your piercing. Or, yeah, the person who’s in charge of doing your body work is who you want to check in with.
Ashkahn: And it shouldn’t have been done very recently.
Graham: Yeah, definitely. Healed up. Healed up first. I mean, I know that you soak those things in salt water but it’s a different kind of salt water. Yeah.
Ashkahn: But in general, if it’s rings or bracelets or whatever, if it’s easy to take off, earrings, take it off. Why keep it on?
Graham: And for me, it really is that risk of what if they thought they knew what material it was and it wasn’t? Or what if they’re wearing this thing in and the person running the shop was pretty sure that it would be fine and it totally wasn’t fine. Are you now responsible for replacing this person’s jewelry-
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: -and upsetting them? It just feels like another one of those things since there’s the option to remove stuff. When people have dyed hair, you have them contact their person who does their hair, their hairstylist, and see if it’s safe to go in water or soak in something like a float tank and maintain their color and style and it’s the same for piercings if it is permanent. Otherwise, it’s removable and why ever risk it? Pretty much like why-
Ashkahn: Just say no.
Graham: -take these risks.
Ashkahn: Yeah. Just like drugs. Just don’t even risk it. So, yeah, there you go. That’s it.
Graham: Yep. Jewelry and piercings are just like drugs.
So if you have your own float tank problems you want to send our way, go to floattanksolutions.com/podcast.
Ashkahn: There’s a little box in there. There’s a little box. You’ll type stuff into it.
Graham: Yep. And it sends directly to our brain. So, yeah, we had that surgery done. Take advantage of it.
Ashkahn: All right. We’ll talk to you tomorrow.
Graham: Bye, everyone.
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In this post, I’ll discuss individual athletes who float and how to look at this from a marketing perspective. I’ll also discuss past and present research, and share some thoughts on how the relationship between the athletic and floating communities might continue to unfold.
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