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
Understanding Chlorine Use in a Float Tank – DSP 174
This is another one of those questions that seems simple but as soon as Graham and Ashkahn start explaining a few things, you realize that there’s a lot of complicated information in the background. A “SSBASAGAASEAFTYRTTALOCIITB”, if you will.
The guys take this opportunity to deep dive on the complex conversation of chlorine and why it’s problematic for the float industry, along with several caveats of the benefits and usefulness of it as a disinfectant.
Should I Offer a Three Float Intro Pack? – DSP 173
Every float center has their own tricks to pricing, appealing to first time customers, and encouraging repeat business. One of the most common is using a three float intro pack that usually offers three floats at a 3 for the price of 2 package. Given how prevalent these are, do they work really well? Is this something that will soon become industry standard? What else needs to be considered before offering a package like this?
Graham and Ashkahn provide their thoughts on this pricing trend and how Float On does pricing (admittedly very differently than a three float intro pack) and what to consider for each float center that looks at this option.
What do You Love About Running a Float Center? – DSP 172
It’s easy to listen to this podcast, day in and day out, and think to yourself “why would ANYONE put up with all these issues?” Graham and Ashkahn describe what keeps them, and probably everybody in the industry, in the difficult business of putting strangers in salty boxes and the wonderful life changing experiences that come with it.
How is the Float Industry Different? – DSP 171
It’s possible that everyone in the float industry intuitively knows that it’s a different sort of business, but what are the tangible ways in which it’s different? As Ashkahn says at the start of the episode, every question in this podcast is kind of a long form answer to this question.
Graham and Ashkahn tackle this problem together, and answer everything from the practical to the philosophical, ranging from lack of expertise in the industry, to the sense of camaraderie that doesn’t seem to exist anywhere else.
When Should a Float Center be Profitable? – DSP 170
“When should I start making money?” is a deceptively simple and anxiety inducing question that every business owner has to face. Sometimes the answer is straightforward. There are lots of franchises that have near endless amounts of market research and profitability trends that point to a sensible timeline of when and how much you can expect versus a given investment.
Float centers aren’t like that, unfortunately. There’s simply not enough data out there to create predictability in a market. The good news is that given the relatively low overhead excluding opening costs, float centers have the potential to be profitable almost immediately. Graham and Ashkahn break down this question and provide some tips on the issue.
Latest Blog Posts
The Creation of the Beginner’s Guide to Floating
Our Beginner's Guide to Floating was first created four years ago, and we've gone through over 40,000 of them just out of our own center in Portland. Since making it publicly available, our Beginner's Guide has been downloaded over 1,400 times. Dozens of float centers...
Transducers: Turning Your Float Tank into a Giant Speaker
All good floats must come to an end... As a float center owner, you’ll have the ability to offer periods of intense isolation and quiet to your customers. That being said, we’ve received many questions about the best (and least disruptive) way of bringing your...
Programming and Metaprogramming in the Human Biocomputer
“In the realm of the mind, there are no limits” - Dr. John C. Lilly As some of you may know, we’ve been working closely with the estate of Dr. Lilly, to ensure that his writings and ideas become more accessible to the public. We’ve started by reprinting his...
Alternative Wellness and Floatation Therapy
Over the past few decades people have come to practice many alternative wellness regimens from outside of the realm of standard Western medicine. Instead of medication and surgery, people have turned to regular bodily maintenance and more natural remedies for their...
