Healthy, moisturized skin is necessary for proper grip. A certain amount of moisture will make you grip better. Think of when you first get out of the shower and if your skin is damp and you try to get dressed, your clothing sticks to your skin so that it's difficult to pull on. However it must be the right kind of moisture in order to help on the pole and not result in poor grip.

Start with good skin care practices:

• Drink plenty of fluids - at least 8 - 10 glasses of water per day and more when you work out.
• Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet and take vitamin supplements when you cannot get proper vitamins from your diet
• Don't smoke. Smoking decreases circulation to the fine vessels in the skin, decreasing the flow of oxygen and nutrients and also damages collagen and elastin.
• Protect yourself from damaging sun rays
• Take warm, not hot, baths as hot water dries your skin
• Gently exfoliate your skin to remove dead (dry) skin cells. A loofah sponge is best.
• Choose good hair products...remember that your shampoo washes down your body in the shower.
• Choose proper shave cream...oily shave creams will leave residue on your skin just like oily lotions
• Choose good skin care products and lotions
• Avoid excessive and especially greasy/oily hand lotions...soft hands sweat more - dry hands will have better grip.

Choosing skin care products:

Aside from your hands which require drier skin, the rest of your body needs to be properly moisturized in order to grip well on the pole. Choose your skin lotions carefully by reading the ingredients label.

Here are some tips about choosing the right skin product for yourself:

• Use non-comedogenic products which will not clog your pores and then flush out when you sweat leaving a greasy layer.
  For a list of comedogenic ratings see this page: Comedogenic ratings
  Avoid products with ratings of 3-5
• Avoid lanolin based products - although cosmetic lanolin has a low comedogenic rating and is generally well-absorbed, traces of lanolin left on the skin can be very greasy and not everyone absorbs it well.
• Avoid petroleum based products and Vaseline and cocoa butter which will clog pores and are not absorbed by the skin
• Be very cautious using the popular sugar scrubs and other products like this on the  market...check the ingredients list as most of them do no absorb well into the skin.

What skin care products can you use?:

Keep in mind that everyone is different. Some lotions will work well on some skin types but leave the skin greasy on others.
While this is not a complete list, some of the products we recommend you may try are:

• Cetaphil Moisturizing lotion
• Vaseline Essential Care lotion
• Johnson's Night Time baby lotion (lavender cap) - although this is pretty mild and not very moisturizing it is well-absorbed and not greasy
• CeraVe Moisturizing lotion
• Pole Physics lotion - this product is extremely good for your skin, all natural healthy ingredients but expensive at $25 per 8-oz bottle. (sold online and carried in our studio)

***Be cautious to use only the specific products listed above and not other products by the same company which may contain different ingredients.
 

written by: Mary Ellyn Weissman
Reprint with permission only.