Learn best practices for starting and running a float center:
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Something in the world of floating have you stumped?

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

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.

Recent Podcast Episodes

Customers Who Overstay Their Welcome (Rise) – DSP 149

Graham and Ashkahn sat down with Mark and Jennifer Gurley at Rise to talk about an issue that can seem scary for float center owners, especially those who haven’t worked in customer service. What do you do about the customer who takes advantage of your generosity and overstays their welcome? How far is too far? And what are the appropriate steps to take when you have someone who won’t respect your boundaries? 

Graham and Ashkahn share their experiences from the handful of times it has happened at Float On over the years and how it’s worked out and compare notes with the Gurleys and their float center.

Should I Filter Tap Water When Filling My Tanks (Rise) – DSP 148

Graham and Ashkahn got cornered at Rise with a question from one of the attendees, a float center owner named Gina. And even though the event is over, it’d be a shame to not share this episode. They answer all her questions and concerns about municipal water systems and the levels of filtration that should be done when using water straight from the tap (which probably almost everybody does), they also talk about what you really need to worry about in your tap water. 

How do you do All the Things? (Rise) – DSP 147

This episode from Rise comes at you recorded live with another very special guest, Rick from Float St. Louis. Not only does he work in a float center, he’s also releasing a float themed quarterly magazine called Third Wave Magazine. While he was a bit tight lipped about the magazine, his choice of question may speak to just how demanding it has been on him lately. 

Listen to him chat with Graham and Ashkahn about how to do all the things and when doing too many things is too much. 

Live at Rise Float Gathering! – DSP 146

Graham and Ashkahn are coming at you LIVE (well, recorded live) from the Rise Float Gathering! They managed to wrangle Jake and Kevin, the organizers of Rise and the founders of Float STL in St. Louis. Check out this episode where they talk about bath robes, hosting events, and just how amazing this industry is. 

Book Recommendations for Float Center Retail – DSP 145

Lots of float centers sell different books, usually about floating. Float On even publishes a few of them (through our Coincidence Control publishing company). 

Graham and Ashkahn give their recommendations for books to sell and provide a list of the ones we have available at Float On. They also discuss how well they sell as well as the tertiary benefit to having them around as resources for your floaters on coffee tables and as conversation starters. 

Latest Blog Posts

Back to the Basics

Back to the Basics

I arrived in Paris a few days ago for a little workcation. Naturally the first thing I did was hunt down a float tank center and book an appointment. Surprisingly, floating seems to be almost entirely missing in France: noticeably more obscure than in Germany, Spain,...

The Profitability of a Float Tank Center

The Profitability of a Float Tank Center

This post is kept for historical purposes, but our current knowledge of float center finances is best found in our Industry Reports. Download them free for real data on float center profits, or ask us about how our Business Plan can help you understand your own float...

Let’s Go Make a Better World at the Float Conference

Let’s Go Make a Better World at the Float Conference

For those of you who didn't make it out to the Float Conference this year, I'm posting up the introduction to our program. Although Iwrote this for the conference, I think it will be obvious that the sentiment is industry wide. -- Welcome to the 2nd annual Float...