Do you wash your belt?

[nefti]

wash or febreeze it

 

[SpunK238]

I personally think the spread of staph/ringworm has more to do with the school being dirty than the practitioner and/or his/her gear being dirty (more specifically the belt, nasty gi's are nasty gi's, no matter how you spin it).

I've been doing BJJ for over 2.5 years, never washed my belt - been blue belt for a year and a half - nor does anybody I know of in my school wash their belt.

I have NEVER heard of a single staph/ringworm infection, EVER - it even goes beyond my 2.5 years. My instructor often brags about the fact that he's been in business for over 10 years without a SINGLE case of staph/ringworm and nobody disputes this fact (including the people who've been there much longer than me). I forget the name of the stuff he uses to clean the mats, but it kills everything, he washes the mats on a very regular basis. He also attributes this steak to the fact that we use gi pant's and long sleeved rashguards in nogi class.

In conclusion, I highly doubt a dirty belt is the cause of this staph/ringworm "epidemic". Either you're dirty, your gi is dirty, your training partners are dirty, or your school just doesn't take enough care cleaning up after class. But seriously, don't blame the belt.

 

[SpunK238]

I feel like choosing whether or not to wash a two inch piece of fabric dangling from one's waist is a pretty weak criterion for drawing the line between "good" and "asshole".

QFT.

And for those of you who wash your belt (and judging by this thread it is an overwhelming number) what do you do about your stripes? They obviously don't last much longer than a couple loads. You just keep some white tape handy? I don't know. I sometimes enjoy looking back at my worn out white belt and the fact that each stripe is slightly more weathered than the next. Even on my blue belt I can tell the difference between my first and second stripe.

EDIT:
lol reading some of the older posts...people can't actually believe that garbage about washing away your knowledge/skills. Please don't group me together with those imbeciles. I've just never washed my belt, nor has any of my training partners...we get along just fine, skin infection/disease free .

 

[SpunK238]

My doesn't stink so I haven't washed it.

This.

My belt has never gotten stinky. Maybe all of you are just horrible smelling guys?:icon_neut

This. maybe if you assholes didn't leave your gi in your bag overnight after sparring your belt wouldn't stink. But seriously, if you take your gi out and wash it right after class, you're golden.. I'm glad I don't train with the majority of the people in this thread because you guys seriously suck. I also just recently started using some of these "odor eating shoe balls" in my gym bag because my bag stinks from my workout cloths (not BJJ, and my belt still smells fine).

 

[platfox]

People keep saying that people don't get infections at their gym, so its not a problem. the problem is most people dont make it public when they have something, they just take time off and come back when healthy. So just because you don't hear about people getting infected doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

 

[SpunK238]

I understand where you're coming from, but that's a seriously weak excuse. If anybody's gym is like mine, they are a very tight group. If somebody takes time off there is a damn good reason for it and everyone is aware of it.

 

[billdog]

i notice that people who wash their belts have the worst jiu jitsu :icon_cry2

 

[SpunK238]

i notice that people who wash their belts have the worst jiu jitsu :icon_cry2

You're joking right? It's people like you that make me embarrassed to be on this side of the argument. I never wash my belt, but my game wouldn't stop evolving if I were to wash it tomorrow.

 

[RJ Green]

i wash mine. we've been averaging like 80% humidity and i wear a double-weave to practice, so my belt's just another material to sop up sweat and lord knows what else.

at the end of the day, it's still fabric. it gets sweaty and gets rubbed on the mat 3-4 days of the week.

i use oxiclean and lysol.

 

[Balto]

And for those of you who wash your belt (and judging by this thread it is an overwhelming number) what do you do about your stripes? They obviously don't last much longer than a couple loads. You just keep some white tape handy? I don't know. I sometimes enjoy looking back at my worn out white belt and the fact that each stripe is slightly more weathered than the next. Even on my blue belt I can tell the difference between my first and second stripe.

Sew your stripes on as little pieces of white cloth. Any white tape usually needs replacement eventually anyway.

Sewing them on takes like fifteen minutes of work upfront, but your stripes are then set for the life of your belt. You can then wash it as many times as you need to without affecting the stripes at all.

Again, simple logic points to taking these trivial steps and just washing the belt.

Claiming that you have never personally experienced any infections so that means it's not necessary to wash the belt is the same as claiming that you have never personally experienced any serious car accidents so that means it's not necessary to wear a seatbelt. You could go ten years without an infection or car accident, but still both preventive measures are easy and just make sense.

It's a medical fact that washing your gear decreases the risk of infection. It also takes no additional effort to just throw a belt in the regular wash of your other gear. So refusing to put your belt in the wash is the same as refusing to put on your seatbelt. It probably won't have immediate repercussions, but you are definitely taking an unnecessary risk. That just doesn't make sense.

 

[billdog]

You're joking right? It's people like you that make me embarrassed to be on this side of the argument. I never wash my belt, but my game wouldn't stop evolving if I were to wash it tomorrow.

w/e man ur jiu jitsu prolly sucks regardless lol

 

[sickboy609]

Nope never wash it, it's a superstition when you wash it, it washes out all the experience
I do wash my gi after I train all the time the whole belt washing thing is just how some schools do it, I don't like to go against the higher belts or the instructors, being insubordinate isn't a good trait to have while training with people

 

[ILikeBread]

I wash it. When we train, you can see small slicks of sweat in different areas of the mat. When you're on your back, that's what your belt is sliding across.

 

[MAvulture]

Nope never wash it, it's a superstition when you wash it, it washes out all the experience
I do wash my gi after I train

This. Its not so much belief that the superstition is true, its just that it becomes a tradition.

That said, if we wore gi where I train now I would definitely wash it . Way more training partners, hotter climate = more sweat, and shifty looking new guys coming in all the time.

 

[Neu!]

I wouldn't recommend. I washed it once, and after that i couldn't remember any of the techniques, so yes it does washes away your learning.