I remember being told once that tea toughens the skin. Tea contains tannin, and supposedly soaking your fingertips in tea will tan then like leather. I've dipped my fingers in tea, but I couldn't tell if that helped or not, or if it required a longer soaking time.
Another thing I heard to try came from a list for Filipino martial arts, and that is using urine to toughen skin. I haven't tried that, or at least I won't admit to it.
Tim
"Be kind to the band; they never get to dance"
Those crazy Filipinos.
Breedlove Quartz FF with K&K Twin - Weber Big Horn - Fender FM62SCE
Wall Hangers - 1970's Stella A and 60's Kay Kraft
Whether you slow your roll or mash on it, enjoy the ride.
the world is better off without bad ideas, good ideas are better off without the world
If urine toughen skin wouldn't we all be walking around kinda funny, men?
Breedlove Quartz FF with K&K Twin - Weber Big Horn - Fender FM62SCE
Wall Hangers - 1970's Stella A and 60's Kay Kraft
Whether you slow your roll or mash on it, enjoy the ride.
Climb-on is great, I use it all the time, both for callus's and general conditioning in my dry climate.
I'm tracking my progress as a beginning mandolinist via this blog. Feel free to drop by.
http://mycroftmando.blogspot.com.au/
I overheard a classical mando player saying that if you rub your fingers on your hair/scalp just above your ear for a few seconds, the natural oils in your hair will build up on your fingertips and moisturise the callous - making it tougher and also making it last longer before it flakes off...
It also makes your fingers glide along the strings nicely.
Admittedly, I haven't really tried it that much. Interesting though...
Hand quilters would use turpentine instead of the rubbin alcohol. There was an actual product I remember hearing about umpteen years ago for helping build that quilter's callous, but I'll be darned if I can remember what it was.
ok, it *was* the New-Skin.
Connie
I have to scrub my hands thoroughly several time a day for work. Additionally, my fingers start flaking in the fall as the weather turns cooler. My instructor told me about derma gear and it has fixed the callus and flaking issues.
i don't think there is any majic cure for callouses except playing consistantly, but not too much... You of course need good callouses and they will come with effort. but as suggesed above, learning to fret with only enough pressure but not too much will do much to help.... However by the time you are playing well enough to lighten up on the fretting you already have good callouses.
Callouses are God's way of asking you "Do you really want to play mandolin?"
Bart McNeil
i don't think there is any majic cure for callouses except playing consistantly, but not too much... You of course need good callouses and they will come with effort. but as suggesed above, learning to fret with only enough pressure but not too much will do much to help.... However by the time you are playing well enough to lighten up on the fretting you already have good callouses.
Sore finger tips are God's way of asking you "Do you really want to play mandolin?"
Bart McNeil
I work at a stone and tile company moving slabs of rock around all day. It's like sanding your hands all day long. I found this stuff at the local guitar shop and it works like a charm. They make this stuff in my home town not sure how big they are but it works. http://www.dermagear.com
I'm posted here before that I use and love the climbOn bar for treating, soothing, repairing and conditioning the callouses on my fretting fingers.
Some of you have posted (and told me) that the climbOn Bar works for them too.
I want to pass along to my fellow mandolinists that the manufacturer is having a 30% off sale on everything on their web site until 1/31/16 using Coupon Code: NewYear
The link for the climbOn Bar is here.
The link for the crossFIXE Tube is here.This is a slightly softer formulation, in a compostable tube, with a bit of pain relief in the formula.
From either of these links you can get to the main web site where right now, again, everything is 30% off with the code.
Disclaimer: my wife invented all of these products, so I'm probably biased. That said, I use these products and believe in them. This is food-grade skin-repair, used by the top rock climbers in the world (who need their callouses too) -- safe for you, children, animals, the environment. This started as a home-grown business and now the products are distributed in 37 countries, because they work and people have spread the word.
Thanks for listening.
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