New batch of X-poles slippery!

Yep mine will be an xpert xpole 45mm chrome

I have a pole in my living room and also 6 poles at my studio, I clean them both with vodka.

The poles in the studio are cleaned a lot more often as they are used every day for 4 hours a day. My studio is quite cold during the day so when I come in and put my heating on and the studio heats up I find they get grippy. Cold poles are not grippy no matter what material it is.
My pole at home took a little longer to wear in but I cleaned it every day and then say once a week maybe twice I would give it a good clean.
I highly recommend getting a micro fibre cloth, putting vodka on it. Then leave it over night and then clean it again in the morning with a clean dry micro fibre cloth. The alcohol seems to clean the dirt and help with grip.

If that doesn’t work then I highly recommend putting dry hands on the pole before you pole. This also helps with grip.

You also need to think about outside affects, so if your pole is in your kitchen is it near a cooker? or like me with 2 small boys do you have small greasy hands on it ? Does anyone else swing around it ( I found my husband would have a little swing around the pole when I wasn’t there )

Also have you out any body cream on even in the morning ? All of these will have an affect on your pole and your body.

X-Clean will do the same thing. You can order this from XPoleUS.

I was thinking the 99% alcohol we use as a sterilization at my hair salon….would that work? Or just plain rubbing alcohol you buy at the drugstore?

Thanks I hoping my pole will be in tomorrow 🙂 soooo excited!

I have to disagree with the xpole rep! I purchased the chrome xpole 7 months ago and it is still slippery as day one! I have steamed it, rubbing alcohol, vinager, windex, vodka, grip aids, etc…nothing has changed. I contacted the company and they pretty much implied it was my vault. I must be doing something wrong. It must be my skin, room temperature, humidity, etc. After telling them I have no problem gripping studio poles, their reply was because those poles are broken in. So am I to wait years before I can even grip my pole to do a simple spin! Need better response than what they are giving…

Pole dancing is not easy, it is a constant fight with gravity. No pole you encounter will be perfectly sticky the every moment you feel like taking a whirl, so you can look at a slick pole anywhere as an invitation to conquer, not an invitation to say I’m not gonna try because its slippery. Any pole, any brand, any place will be slippery at some point. I’ve encountered slippery poles during a competition in Vegas because of AirCon, the same poles were used shortly after in South America and the stick was amazing!

As a pole dancer, that has traveled the world and been on poles of all brands, in many different climates, I’ve got to say that getting a good grip on every pole you encounter, in every temperature and humidity level, is a skill in itself! There are a ton of factors for getting a good stick.

One major factor is the weather and how your skin reacts to it. Some people get extremely dry (like me) so I need a tacky quick fix, like iTac, to at least get me climbing, raise my body temperature and gain some confidence. Others dry pole’rs use for a little less tackiness. I haven’t read any comments like “I am so sweaty, I’m sliding off”, so maybe we all need to be a little more determined?? Whatever the case, if you’re a sweaty slider, I’d say DryHands on the sweatiest places and always the palms.

Another component is internal body temperature. It is VERY rare that I do a super proper warm up when I use my brand new 40mm X-Pole at home on my own. Turning on the heater is nice, but doesn’t actually get the body radiating heat, which is what creates the best stick. I read that plenty of people are steaming their pole. May I suggest steaming your pole with your body heat, which means, struggle and pull and try until you are hot and sweaty enough to stick. I understand that is easier said than done.

This also has to do with a proper warm up. There are things I KNOW I can do, and have done, several times amazing in practice at the studio, and then I roll out of bed and see my pole and think, OMG there is no way I can do that move now. I grab the pole and even thinking about repeating that move makes me feel nervous. My body is smart, and I always listen to it. No one starts a class with inversions or handsprings, a class starts with a warm-up for a good reason. Our bodies need the warm-up, to prepare our bodies for the craziness we do. I would recommend doing a lighter, more cardio based, freestyle flow warm-up to your favorite playlist when you are on your own at home, just because doing a class style warm-up solo may not be as inviting or even possible if you don’t actually know a warm-up by heart. Free-styling is a great way to get warm fast and improve your musicality/movement skills. When I say free-styling, I don’t mean all your pole tricks and combos, I mean floor work, prancing around the pole, body rolls etc.

It seems like most of us have complaints about their poles at home, not in their studio. The poles are the same, so why is the stick different?

I’ve got a theory… When I go to Bespun and train, on their new X-Poles, I do a proper warm-up, I get sweaty, I have constant visual motivation, I take shorter breaks, the particles in the room are energized, I feel the body heat of those around me and so it feels easier to get a stick there than when I am at home.

When I train on my new X-Pole at home, I do a personal, much less formal warm-up and get on my pole right away. The first climb is never inviting. It is a test to see how my skin is feeling that day, more than likely I am not hot, nor am I sweaty at all, the room particles are not energized, and my energy is lower than if I were in a studio. So, after I put on Pandora, move around doing pirouettes and freestyle movement, my body temperature rises and my stick improves. I can get the same stick as I do at the studio in my home, but it just takes a bit more motivation to do it on your own.

I hope this was helpful, please ask me any questions you may have on stick, poles, or any other dancer related issues. I will be more than happy to help. Also, feel free to email me personally about anything X-Pole related at nadia@xpoleus.com, so that I can respond as fast as possible instead of searching the web looking for people with X-Pole questions, concerns or comments. Thanks! 😛