New with a question!

[Bloke]

Osu Ksan

Actually taking the belt off and washing it. Ill Check with some people and see what I can come up with.

[ksan]

Osu Bloke,...

I never heard of that... would be good to know if it was so.. i always assumed that when you did any kind of water training and you would give your belt a twist afterwards to get it dry quicker that was allowed and didnt interfere with the "dont wash the obi" thought....

Osu

[blackdog]

Is their any way to make my off white uniform a really pure white?

Sweat a lot, then wash it. Repeat several thousand times.

[blackdog]

Sorry MarkW, I missed your other reply to my post.

Where in geelong do you train? And more importantly, do you go for the cats?

Yes i have heard of your dojo, some very good fighters have come out of there.

I train at the waterworld dojo (the big pool / gym) just across from the maccas when you drive into geelong, under the Shihan Gary Viccars Branch (family)

Sadly, i barrack for Carlton

Bren

[MarkW]

You barrack for Carlton? You make me sick...

Kidding.

Waterworld...yeah I think I swam their once. When I was a small kid . Nice.

[Lucy]

DONT WASH YOUR BELT!!!!

lol blood sweat and tears will shape/soften the belt. Ive always been told no matter what you should never wash you belt its dispespectful he he

[Lucy]

Mark W your cat is far more scary than mine!

[MarkW]

Yes, the mighty white tiger, capable of ripping the kitten in your avatar in half with one swish of his claws.

[buckette]

Mark,

Your gi will whiten and soften over time with repeated washings. Shihan frowns upon buying pre-bleached or cotton gis. Also, don't bleach it, belive me, i'm talking from personal experience. If you bleach your gi, your kanji will turn brown or pink.

One trick I had for softening up my belts would be to tie it up into many knots until it was just a knotty ball shape. Then unknot and reknot it every couple of days.

Everyone feels self conscious when they get a new gi, but over time you will realise that everyone goes through the same process.

One word of advice...always kiai loudly in class

[ksan]

Originally Posted by buckette

Mark,

Your gi will whiten and soften over time with repeated washings. Shihan frowns upon buying pre-bleached or cotton gis. Also, don't bleach it, belive me, i'm talking from personal experience. If you bleach your gi, your kanji will turn brown or pink.

One trick I had for softening up my belts would be to tie it up into many knots until it was just a knotty ball shape. Then unknot and reknot it every couple of days.

Everyone feels self conscious when they get a new gi, but over time you will realise that everyone goes through the same process.

One word of advice...always kiai loudly in class

I bleached an isami once... kanji stayed same colour...
(isami made in japan quality.....)

[buckette]

hehehe ksan,

You're lucky to have an Isami. Unfortunately, we don't have Isami gis in our dojo. Ours are made in Pakistan, not sure if the kanji embroidery is done there, or here. I had bleached gis before with no problem, but there was a new batch and when i bleached it, the kanji turned brown. I ended up painting over it with blue fabric paint. Sounds so dodgy, but at least it wasn't so noticeable after that

[MarkW]

Hmm, my Gi was made in Pakistan as well.

(notices your from melbourne)

You don't happen to train at Melbourne Martial Arts under George Kovolos in Melbourne, do you? Because thats where I'm going to be training.

[MarkW]

Alright, I washed my Gi in 20 degree temperature water. It shrunk a little, but not that much:

http://img480.imageshack.us/my.php?i...a110022hh0.jpg

Yeah, I look cool. Anyway, is this a good fit now or do I need to shrink it further?

Osu

[buckette]

Wash it as often as you can to soften it up a bit...it still looks like what we call a "cardboard gi". And iron it before you turn up to class.

Yes i do train at MKK. I've been there for a few years now. And yes i still remember what it's like to be a white belt and to not know anything. It all comes together with time and very hard work!

[buckette]

oh and another thing i just noticed....your organisation/style is kyokushin union, not iko

[ksan]

think they use IKO as well... not sure though

[buckette]

i'm not sure either. maybe someone else can confirm?

[kakatootoshi]

Dear buckette,
I'm not sure which organization you're referring to, but kyokushin union also uses the title of iko.

OSU!