Is this normal?

[sapper6]

washing your belt could also cause it to shrink,my opinion is that you should keep it as clean as possible.

 

this is true and for a variety of other reason, DON'T WASH YOUR BELT

 

listen, you can blame it "sweaty people" for only so long. in our system, we are exclusive to buying from Century not because of price, but because of QUALITY PRODUCTS! we've had students working out in the rain for hours on end and NOT ONE TIME has a student had a belt with colors bleeding into the gi. im not trying to be offensive here but if you ask me, if your belt color is bleeding, it's not quality merchandise!

 

besides, isnt there MA tradition speaking of NOT WASHING YOUR BELT...? oh wait, nevermind, we are in the XMA era

[AngelaG]

besides, isnt there MA tradition speaking of NOT WASHING YOUR BELT...? oh wait, nevermind, we are in the XMA era

 

HAHAHA that made me laugh. What, you are a better martial artist because you don't wash your belt? Would you urinate in your underwear and not wash it ??? I guess not, but you won't wash a belt that has been saturated with sweat which is exactly the same chemical make up .

[sapper6]

besides, isnt there MA tradition speaking of NOT WASHING YOUR BELT...? oh wait, nevermind, we are in the XMA era

 

HAHAHA that made me laugh. What, you are a better martial artist because you don't wash your belt? Would you urinate in your underwear and not wash it ??? I guess not, but you won't wash a belt that has been saturated with sweat which is exactly the same chemical make up .

 

LOL that's hilarious Angela. and for the record, no i dont urinate in my pants but thanks for asking no where in my reply above did i even come close to insinuating i was better martial artist because i dont wash my belt. frankly, i could care less what you or anyone else does with your belt, besides, it's yours, have fun

 

all im saying is there are alternatives for this kind of problem. another problem i see arising from this is the fact your belt will not hold up to too many wash cycles. add to that the fact your belt color will fade and begin to fall apart. a better alternative to washing the belt would be to wash the uniform. a good soaking in Oxyclean and a run through on heavy wash will certainly remedy the color problem on the Gi.

 

i once knew of a black belt at a nearby mcdojo that washed his black belt twice a week to get the faded, falling apart, white frayed edges look only to give prospective students and parents the idea he'd been around a while.

 

there are far too many cons than there are pros to washing the belt: shrinkage, excessive wear, & fading. along the lines of MA tradition, it was forbidded to wash it. remember back in the day, the only color of belts were white. it went from white overtime to dirty brown to near black. it symbolized spiritual and physical growth within the art. so i guess you could say by washing your belt, you washed away your "knowledge" as well. we obviously know this to be different but hey, it's tradition. but like i said before, MA is becoming more and more commercialized and "easy" to buy your rank instead of working for it. if you dont care for tradition, so what, i could care less what you do with your belt or anything else for that matter. hell, just do away with the whole concept and buy yourself one of those flashy vinyl XMA Gis and knock yourself out

[AngelaG]

Oh dear, someone else who believes all the old pseudo-zen * about belt washing!

 

Wash your belt or don't wash it, but don't give me the whole baloney about the belt colour changing with dirt and blood! The Japanese are a fastidious race, do you really believe they'd wander around with some dirty old rag around their waists.

 

My tip of today, if your belt is really old and overly worn... buy a new one!!

 

A belt ties your gi together and gives your instructor an idea of what level you are at, and is a reward for hard work spent at your dojo. It has nothing to do with XMA, your 'spirit' or anything else. If I go to the dojo tomorrow and forget my belt, I'm still the same grade! If you underestimate someone because they choose to wash their gi then be prepared to wipe your blood off the floor afterwards. It's a personal choice and the two are not linked in the slightest.

 

FWIW I am not talking about washing a belt every week, but the occasional wash will not kill your belt, nor make you an XMA specialist!

[sapper6]

hey angela,

 

theres no need for you to preach to me about what a belt is or stands for. i have a very clear understanding of that already. the way i see it, somebody posed a question about belt colors bleeding into the Gi. some folks said to wash the belt, others were against it. period. what im wondering how you read into my reply that i was saying im a better martial artist because i dont wash my belt. get over it. ill believe what i want, and you are abliged the same. we'll just agree to disagree.

Wash your belt or don't wash it, but don't give me the whole baloney about the belt colour changing with dirt and blood! The Japanese are a fastidious race, do you really believe they'd wander around with some dirty old rag around their waists.

 

i guess you missed what i said in reference to that:

we obviously know this to be different but hey, it's tradition.

 

enough bickering already, time to workout

[scottnshelly]

This thread looks interesting, so i'm going to stick my nose in!

 

i've only worn one belt that wasn't Century, and it was a decorative Black Belt.

 

I only buy Century for three main reasons:

 

Quality

 

Price

 

Ease of access (it's about an hour drive to their warehouse)

 

i've never seen a belt bleed.

 

as far as it being dirty, if i can't shake it off, it's part of the belt as far as i'm concerned. i'm not worried about someone saying 'hey, looks like your belt is a little dirty' i'll say 'yea, i worked out hard'

 

i was taught the non-washing method, but i'm not saying that washing your belt is a bad thing.

 

like sapper6 said, there are those that purposely try to wear their belts down. i've seen 16 year olds with gray frayed belts, they looked like the took a sander to it. it was jet black in the middle and back, but the ends were frayed.

 

and yet another time that i went off of the topic, sorry

[foreveryoung001]

The one time I tried to wash a belt, many moons ago, I actually had the cotton stitching shrink, and pull away from the material. The whole thing fell apart within two weeks after that wash. Now this was back in the mid-80's, and it was the white belt that came with the uniform, so I can't vouch for quality, plus, they may be using nylon stitchimg now which would hold up better... I haven't examined one that closly since then, and I was tought after that, washing your belt is frowned upon in my style. Now I have worked out with people that do wash their belts, and they don't have a problem, so I guess it must have been my washing technique.

 

 

As for bleeding colors, I only ever had a problem with my red belt, and it sounds similar to those already explained. A good detergent for the uniform always took care of it though.

[tkdkarategirl]

If you wash your belt, it will be harder to tie correctly, and most likely will NOT tie correctly...if that doesn't bother you, you should wash it. I've never had ANY belt bleed onto my do bak, if your belts are bleeding their color, you should try looking for a different supplier...(or suggest it to your instructor if you're not the one ordering...)

[Shane]

My child

 

do not wash you belt, if you wash it all of your hardwork and dedication will be washed away. Trust me I washed my belt after about 6 years and I forgot everything.

 

Not really but some will tell you that. I will suggest to look for a better quality belt.

[47MartialMan]

Wash your belt, it wasn't intended to be "sacred".

 

Unless it has fancy embroidery, which that one doesn't appear to be a "heavy workout" one. Yes, I agree, get one of good quality, unless your school gave it to you and they "cut" the expense by color dying white belts.