Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
Some float centers include a restriction in their wavers stating that people can’t or shouldn’t float during their menstrual cycles. Is there a valid reason for this?
Graham and Ashkahn clear up the confusion around this situation and why float centers started doing this and what every center should know about policies like this.
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Graham: Alright.
Ashkahn: Welcome everybody.
Graham: I am Graham.
Ashkahn: And I am Ashkahn.
Graham: And today’s question is.
Ashkahn: And today’s question is.
Graham: “Should we have a policy regarding no floating on the day you start your period? I’ve seen other centers that prohibit floating for females on the day they start their periods. Is this necessary?” Well it probably makes more sense than females and males.
Ashkahn: So what’s the concern here? Is it just a sanitation concern for the float tank, right? It’s not like health concern for a woman.
Graham: Well, the only thing that I’ve heard is about the stinging in the nether regions.
Ashkahn: Yeah, but I’ve never-
Graham: Can be influenced by your menstrual cycle as well.
Ashkahn: Can be? I haven’t heard of that correlated with specifically people starting their period or anything.
Graham: Well, yeah, maybe. I don’t know about that. I don’t know. I know that the period cycle in general can be related to some more PH discomfort related to the water.
Ashkahn: Alright. Maybe there’s some murky information in there that no one seems to know, like-
Graham: The point is that’s not why the centers are putting this on there.
Ashkahn: They’re putting it on there for sanitation reasons-
Graham: They’re putting it on there for sanitation reasons-
Ashkahn: Yeah.
Graham: They’re afraid about blood getting in their float tank.
Ashkahn: I think it’s silly. I don’t think it’s a necessary requirement.
Graham: And that’s not a necessary requirement for going in a hot tub or a swimming pool.
Ashkahn: And there’s a couple reasons. One, they make waterproof tampons and stuff like that, that people can put in if they were to go swimming or whatever. We just have some in our shop in case people need them. But that’s a good solution, and even if you were to get menstrual blood or whatever in your float tank, it’s not very likely that that’s going to get anyone sick.
Graham: Yeah, in general any bloodborne illness is not going to survive contact with even regular water.
Ashkahn: Yeah-
Graham: Much less float tank water.
Ashkahn: If you look at this, the CDC has a guideline for contamination in pools. And one of the things they mention in there is that if you were to get blood in a pool, they basically require no action. They say nothing needs to be done because they haven’t really found a way of very effectively communicating diseases.
Graham: Basically the stuff that can survive in your blood, bloodborne illness is designed to really survive in your blood. So if it gets mixed with water or anything else, it totally deactivates it and doesn’t make it infectious anymore for those. At least again, that seems to be the case for anything, for any bloodborne illness the CDC is worried about communicating.
Ashkahn: Yeah. And your filter should be able to filter stuff out so it’s not like it’s going to be gross in the float tank for the next person or anything like that.
Graham: So the thinking about it is maybe a little weird or you’re like, “huh is that just blood getting in my water or something?” Ultimately even if it is, it’s not concerning.
Ashkahn: So I think it’s silly. I don’t think it should be something that float centers stop people from doing.
Graham: No, and to trace back how this stuff happens too. We see it all the time. There’s only so many float centers that are out there when you’re new and coming up. Exactly like the person who sent in this question did. They look at other float centers, and what they’re putting on their waivers. And probably this center who put that on their waiver saw it somewhere else that someone else just decided to put on their waiver. And who knows where that came from. And there’s this copycat thing that goes down the line where every time, you’re just like “well I don’t know. I’m not an expert in this, so I guess I’ll take the safe decision and include it because including more items on the waiver is at least safer than potentially not including them and something going wrong.”
So it’s people copying and doing it out of this sense of wanting to feel safe because someone else thought there was a concern there. We don’t think there’s a concern-
Ashkahn: Nor have we had any problems with it over the years.
Graham: Also no one’s going to uphold a case in court if you come and sue us for bad advice, just so you guys know. Just because it’s our opinion. If you try to tell a judge that you took the advice of us, and then you play the intros for them that we do, they’ll be like, this is obviously a comedy show-
Ashkahn: Be dismissed very quickly-
Graham: Yeah, so don’t come back and complain about our bad answers.
Ashkahn: Yeah. Another bad answer for today. We’ve never stopped it. I think it’s silly to put on there. I just think it’s a concern without any actual potential downside that could happen. There’s no reason to stop people from floating.
Graham: Yeah, and usually how we phrase it or I see centers phrase it is if you would feel comfortable going into a hot tub or a swimming pool or something like that, you should feel comfortable getting in the float tank with the same protocols I guess.
Ashkahn: Cool, so that’s it.
Graham: Just a couple of guys-
Ashkahn: A couple guys-
Graham: Talking about the menstrual cycle.
Ashkahn: Yeah. With a lot of confidence and expertise.
Graham: So if you have any other questions, head on over to floattanksolutions.com/podcast.
Ashkahn: Put them in there. We’ll read them, and we’ll answer them, just like we did today.
Graham: Same level of diligence and quality. Alright, thanks everybody.
Ashkahn: Have a good one.
Recent Podcast Episodes
Common Float Tank Issues – DSP 295
Graham and Ashkahn give the skinny on the foibles one my encounter when purchasing a float tank. These aren’t specific to any one manufacturer, but they are useful things to look out for when shopping around for a tank.
What is Float On’s North Star Metric? – DSP 294
Graham and Ashkahn talk about the guiding principles and metrics that dictate how they run Float On and what they measure for success. While they don’t have any float center secrets, they do provide some useful advice in how to look at numbers, when to pay attention to them, and perhaps more importantly, when to ignore them.
What Can you Say About Float Centers Closing? – DSP 293
It happens every once in a while that a center you knew closes down and it can seem like a dark omen for the rest of the industry. The reality is that these are individual circumstances that are brought about not because of a major trend as much as just life events coming up.
Graham and Ashkahn share their take on other float centers closing and what they know about it and how frequently they think it’s occurring.
How to Build a Green Float Center – DSP 292
Graham and Ashkahn talk about the options available for sustainable options when building a float center, or more accurately, the lack thereof. Unfortunately, the materials necessary to make a float room saltproof and waterproof tend to be very unfriendly for the environment.
The guys break down the specific options available and what to consider when adding green technology to your own center.
How We Financed Float On – DSP 291
Graham and Ashkahn are asked about how they financed Float On.
As the guys explain how they started, they go along slight detours to talk about all the mistakes they made along the way and how they’re unsure that Float On could even start today like it did back in 2010. They then go on to explain the pros and cons of the extreme bootstrapping they did to make Float On happen.
Latest Blog Posts
The Heart of Floating – Guest Post by Kevin McCulloch
“When we commit to The Heart of Floating, we form relationships and communities. We share experiences, we connect, we learn, we teach. We care.”
In this guest post, Kevin McCulloch, owner of Float St. Louis and organizer of the Rise: Float Community Gathering, explores the heart of floating and it’s power and potential to connect, heal, and grow individuals, relationships, and communities.
The Most Ambitious Float On Project Yet
We have a new endeavor that we’ve been working on in private for awhile now, and we think that it’s going to make a big splash in our salty little industry. After many years of testing behind closed doors, we’re finally ready to take the plunge and release our secret project to you, the floatation community.
You might want to sit down for this one….
The Start-a-Center Giveaway Returns!
Everyone knows that, when it comes to gifts, it’s much more fun to give than to receive. With this year’s Start-a-Center Giveaway, however, I’m not so sure anymore. With over $13,000 in Float Tank Solutions products going to one lucky duck (plus $4,000 worth of goodies from other float industry homies), we humbly suggest that we may have finally tipped the scales in favor of the recipient.
If you’re Charlie, this Giveaway is the Golden Ticket, which I guess makes the Construction Package a Wonka bar and the Ninja Fans are the Fizzy Lifting Drink. So, what do you have to do for a chance at all the Everlasting Gobstoppers?
It’s been three years since our last Giveaway, and we thought that it was long overdue for another one. So, what’s the dealio? The Giveaway is a chance to give a big ol’ boost to a deserving Float-Center-To-Be. This time around, we’re taking things to a whole new level, with over three times the value of products and services being given away. To you. For free.
Dear Everyone: Please reconsider building your own tanks
Look, we get it. Really. Float tanks are expensive – especially for what can seem, from the outside, like a glorified bathtub with spa parts attached. It doesn’t take long to go from, “Why is this so expensive?” to “I’ll bet I could save money by making my own tank!” After you start mulling it over, you get excited. You could be offering something no one else does right now… because it’d be your own creation! How hard can it possibly be?
As experts in only thinking about half of the consequences of our actions (at best), we’d like to say, “Incredibly hard, actually!”
