Clothing vs Naked?

OK, I thought about something the other day and have spent a good few hours doing a Durbs and checking through previous threads.
I noticed alot of people worry about what clothing they wear and how fire proof it is etc...
I've always worn 2 things when I perform. Either a nice cotton hoody with hood up to protect my hair, or go for a dip in my pool (or the very least wet my hair to keep it under controll) then spin with as little clothing on as I can (mostly just a pair of shorts).
I guess I was thinking about it because for the first time ever I managed to mess up a wrap while doing fire without clothing on. I didn't get burned at all, but I made a nicely sized cut in my arm. I doubt it would have been as bad if I had been wearing a hoody, maybe just a small cut and a torn arm in the shirt.
I read in another thread that Pele also does arm wraps with out sleeves (correct me if I'm wrong...), and so do a number of other people.

I think the possibility for steam burns while wearing less clothing would be greatly reduced, but please don't take my word on that. Perhaps someone would correct me if I'm wrong in my thinking.

I know some people perform with costumes etc... inwhich case there is no real option for clothing except for choice of material, but I have seen some 'traditional' Samoan fire knife dancers wearing only a banana leaf skirt, anklets etc...dancing away (pretty good actually, it was at the Polynesian resort's Luao in Disney World) with out problems.

I guess I was wondering what the rest of the poi world thought of not using clothing?

just spinned wearing 2 (pretty tight) tshirts and a normal trouser... if i would go naked with this weather i'd get even sicker than i am now (i caught a fewer)... it's damn cold outside, my hands were purple and red with white dots! :/

and i've hit myself 3 times with my poi this night... on my red tshirt and there's nothing to see, not a SINGLE spot of oil of whatever... lucky me

Ooooh you remind me of a very old thread
Durbs = http://www.homeofpoi.com/ubbthreads/show...ll/fpart/1/vc/1

Historically one of my favorite threads, thank you for reminding me

i do to many wraps to even consider doing this naked......

Forget the question!...

You have a pool???

UCOF, it's a fairly small above ground one, and is only usable 2 months out of the year It's ice most of the time, or too cold the rest of the time :P
Although I always manage to at least take a dip so long as it's liquid if I'm backyard spinning.

I don't know if I answered my own question yet or not, but if I did I think I may have forgot to mention, practicing with fire, especially in the winter (especially in Canadian winters :P) I wear full clothing, but only because it can get down to like, the -20s and -30s here...or as low as -50 with the windchill.

okay ladies, I don´t spin in the nude, but more or less half-way.... as I spin with fire only from april to October and once or twice in december, it´s not too cold to do so The rest of the year (every day for about one hour!!) I spin without fire and dressed in a normal way..;)
Spinning fire I wear leather ONLY! Leather pants, short or long depending on my mood and a top that is not much more than a leather-bra. (remember, I´m on medieval markets! I can´t go with cotton or jeans! )
My arms are naked, if I plan to do wraps, I wear leather arm protectors that are actually made for swordfighting. They cover my arm from wrist to ellbow. Still leaves some skin free but I´ve never burned myself that way. My long hair will be wet for spinning and also covered under a thin cloth of wet leather, a bit larger than Bandana size. (I´m very scared of burning my hair!! ) I´ve read about the steam thing, but I´ve never wrapped my poi around my head by accident - IF they hit my head, it´s a short BONK.. (Yeah, the five-beat reverse still gives me BONK feelings at times... )and I´ve never had any problems with burning, hot steam or something. As for wearing wet clothes I´m sure steam could be a more serious issue though! Sounds smart not to do that!!!
So, whoever has leather pants at home, try them for spinning!

or just use heavy cotton......
but yeah...
i dont wear a shirt when i spin.....hate gettin chem. on my shirts...and i just hate shirts in general...but yeas....
and after a show i always put on a shirt and hoodie so as i wont cool down too fast...but yeah...my partner prefers shirts w/long sleeves...
i just hate the bloody things..

Spun naked?,,no....But wraps on bare skin?? yes..lots. I mostly use bicep wraps as transitions and have ended my evenings with a few sore spots, but nothing that causes me grief the next day. I do hand wraps with fire, and have never burned myself. but that photo that someone posted on here showing a line of blisters across the back of their hand after pausing mid burn to give someone a light haunts me on a daily basis and I sure think about it when I do a hand wrap right after a stall.

I also wrap one poi around my waist when I want to get out of the quad corkscrew, it puts me into TTN in the ceiling plane ( note: I stole this move off Spinning in Paris 1+2,, which I've been using as a tutorial video for well over a year now ) no problems doing this on bare skin either.

But...it's winter, so I usually spin in a 100% cotton long sleeved sweater and long pants, I sure don't miss the smell of burning leg hair

I think it also depends on the fuel.

With kerosene, i'd have no problem spinning with clothing as i don't have to really worry about catching clothes on fire, but with
whitegas which i normally use, the less clothing the better, because clothing catches on fire almost instantly with any contact and if i don't notice right away, that could lead to the fire spreading and more injury. With less clothing, If i contact my skin, the fire initially only burns the fuel so it's not hot enough that it will burn but it's hot enough that i'll notice and i put it out before any real damage is done

"because clothing catches on fire almost instantly with any contact "

well....

Nylon Shellsuits.... yes!
Denim...no!

well, I don't really like my boys a flapping in harms way while I am spinning, so my prefered spinning dress is a pair of cotton shorts and maybe some sneakers depending on the ground cover, nothing else.

clothing can't cause steam burns unless it is wet. only thin natural materials and synthetic materials catch fire quickly from the fire performers point of view. well, not sure about wool - thick wool, still being essentially hair, might still go up pretty quick.

if you are good with wraps and do not have much metel exposed on your wicks, no problem doing wraps on bare skin - just avoid tender areas like under arms and groins

white gas splatters will burn on anything - clothes, the ground, bare skin, whatever you like (that was the point reignoffire was going for I think UCOF). you have a few second to put them out before they burn you though, even on bare skin. but ALWAYS use a safety when spinning with white gas/coleman fuel!!!!!!!!!!!!

I voted clothing cuz I thought it was a fire question....without fire I'm mostly clothed, by that's because I'm mostly clothed. I wouldn't strip or anything for spinning but if I happen to be hanging around the house in the nuddy then I might have a spin

Obviously I dont have the enormous pendulemic problems of Vanize ...or better control

LOL,

I tend to have one top for spinning, another for sitting around in afterwards, cos kerro causes a nasty rash if you leave it on the skin too long... (ask the redmen)

but in the poll I defiatly take the third option, I remeber the first time I did wraps on bare skin, it was cos a VERY prety girl was watching, was pretty supprised to come away with very minor burns and even more supprised to find it worked on the girl.... (you know who you are! )

anyway, public displays of affectation aside, GO NEKID!!!! if there were more nekid peaple in there world it would be a much more humourous place.

T

I've never tried spinning naked, but it would be fun to do with close friends in the summer, in the archipelago.
all you who wrap on bare skin: what kind of heads do you have? the only time I've burnt myself yet is when wrapping my tubecore-heads against my arms. the steel core gets damn hot.

I use tube cores on bare skin, and I've never been burnt by the steel head. I don't know if doing it later in the spin helps at all, but I usually do it at least half way through...
Although I did manage to take a nick of skin out with the tube core head...those edges can be sharp when swung at high speeds :O

I'm using tube cores too, and I usually wait until about halfway through my burn before wrapping

Oh, it worked indeed

I'd go for the banana leaf skirt, definetely, but then i wouldnt do leg wraps i guess..

I tend to change shirts/tops as well for fire spinning, or just take my shirt off afterwards. Its HOT here in summer...

So, id say little tight clothing while doing it,
naked bodies running around the square afterwards

ciaociao,
un altro bacio, scoiattolo.
S*

oh,

id disagree with that, early on the spin the wick is pretty cool, but as you burn it heats up, so by the end you can get burns from just touching the wick (voice of experance here).

I do my wraps after a minute or so's burn time, enough to burn off any excess fuel that might otherwide turn you into human candle but before the halfway stage at least, I know its more scary with the big flames but its more ouchy with the hot components.

T

I don't mind the bigger flames, but I don't want to light my self on fire while spinning if I can avoid it ^.^'

Fireknife dancers use a lot of white gas, and it's actually pretty common to get a bit on yourself. They wear as little clothing as possible not only because it's a warrior's dance and Samoan warriors don't wear tshirts, but also because cothing catches fire. You can pat out a bit of burning white gas on bare skin, and it won't cause a burn for 3 to 5 seconds.
The banana leaves are usually soaked in water first, and provide a little protection for the chest and legs, but most fireknife dancers only use them in shows or competitions, they practise in just a lavalava wrapped tightly around their waist and groin. We usually have beginners wet their lavalava's too.

Teejay

Just what is a lavalava? Is it kinda like a sarong, or more like a loincloth? I love loincloths, they're cute:)

It's a sarong wrapped like a loincloth

The lowest i will ever go is down to my Boxxors (underwear)

That way i can show off my tattoo's and my poi skills.
hhhmmm... its going to be 30 celcius tommorow for our spin so maybe i will do it then.

I'm all for it........I might try it this summer......

I might spin topless sometime, but naked is just too... naked.

might go for topless if it was warm enough in the UK . Otherwise, a tight longsleeved black cotton shirt=no visible burn marks+ safe enough for wraps. Oh and jeans of course.

Where's Frodo? I seem to recall he has some experience in this field....

I'm a big girls blouse, as I usually wear a boiler suit for spinning as a)it's too darned cold b) its relatively fire resistant and c) i look really stupid topless as I am overweight and pale and tat-less. Besides, I can wrap the boiler suit in uv reactive duct tape if I'm doing a show and it looks cool...

I find clothing impedes my range of movement. Also, slight burns and scraps heel for free - damage to clothing takes time and money to repair. However, for fire CJ I'm all for tight wet sleaves and gloves.