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Sensitive skin solutionsHealth: What have you used for yourself and students to help with sensitive skin in the neck and collarbone area? Friction and thickness are a consideration.From Kathryn Woodby What do you all use to minimize skin irritation? I have one student this year who literally will barely let her violin touch her--it's not a pressure or pain thing at this point, we've got that figured out, it's just she has extremely sensitive skin. She's sensitive to other things, not just her violin, but it's making it almost impossible for her to hold her violin correctly, she totally shies away from it touching her skin at all. So far I don't think it's an allergy issue or anything; if she were a high schooler I could probably tell her to give it a try and in two weeks she'd be used to it, but she is young and I need to find a way to help her out. What do you all use to make it more comfy and less sensitive? I've used SHAR's chinrest covers in the past but she really doesn't need any extra bulk, just something very thin and soft. I know several violinists who used silk and I've sometimes tried a cloth but have found both to be slippery. Probably will search through SHAR again and see what I can find but thought I would check what you all are doing. Thanks!
From sharelle taylor
Posted on November 3, 2009 at 08:33 PM If she is truly touch sensitive to that degree, I suggest discussing contact with a local Occupational Therapist that specialises in sensory processing difficulties in children. A touch sensitivity that makes a person so avoidant can have pervasive impact on learning, play and social skills. The OT will hopefully have some strategies for decreasing the constant arousing of the child's nervous system. From Scott Cole
Posted on November 4, 2009 at 01:01 AM strad pad From Mandy Lam
Posted on November 4, 2009 at 06:16 AM I also have sensitive skin, and have found a chamois to be the best solution (I picked up this tip from another thread here). You can find them in hardware stores....the type that is used to clean cars, just make sure it's the "real" type, and not the man-made type. It's a thin, soft, leathery type of material, so it doesn't slip, and is also washable. I found the strad pad to be a bit too bulky for me... From Karen Allendoerfer
Posted on November 4, 2009 at 12:16 PM My daughter and my teacher both like the Chin Cozy. It is a chinrest cover, but it is not that bulky. For my daughter it is also important that it cover the "button" on the end of the instrument, which this does. Two of her friends in school have asked if they can trade violins with her because they think the chin cozy is so comfy. From Raphael Klayman
Posted on November 4, 2009 at 01:28 PM Have you tried a simple hankerchief? Even better is a piece of flannel - it's softer. I recommend that most people use something over the chinrest. it will prevent the "violinist's hickey". From Anne-Marie Proulx
Posted on November 4, 2009 at 02:19 PM My teacher tells us to buy Vitamine E (the best for skin) in oil (or puncture a pill to let the oil out) and rub our neck skin... and maybe put a bandaid sometimes. It helps very much! Also, I know you said it was not a pressure thing but maybe this would help: I have a super sensitive skin. I'm very sensitive to sun, mosquitos, winter, allergy issues etc When I played with a rest, I had super big neck irritation, red bumps etc (it was terribly ugly too). When I converted myslef to the restless technique despite my neck beeing long (I made a few adaptations to my physionomy) it has unstiffened the neck, jaw and shoulder area so much. I realized how much unnecessary pressure I've put before without realizing it. My head just slightly touch to the violin. It's not easy at all to learn at first but it helped very much for irritation issues. Now, I just have a very very light red mark on my neck. I know that a personal experience of someone is not always the solution for someone else, however. I admit it would be a drastic change just for a skin irritation problem. But I'm not a teacher and just you knows how bad this irritation problem is. Hope you will find a solution! Also just put a thin foam that you cut in the size of the chin rest can help. Anne-Marie
From Mandy Lam
Posted on November 4, 2009 at 09:26 PM Karen, is the Chin Cozy padded at all? or is it just a thin cloth? From Kathryn Woodby
Posted on November 4, 2009 at 10:51 PM Mandy, does the chamois you use stay on/how do you keep it secure? I've done the hanky thing but It always falls off the violin or the shoulder and it's more of a pain than it worth in my experience. Maybe I just wasn't doing it right. I may look at the chin cozy. No shoulder rest or anything it's gotta fit around; she uses very little "extra" and wouldn't have room in her neck space for it anyway; just needs something to make it soft and friendly :) From Raphael Klayman
Posted on November 4, 2009 at 11:14 PM Re the hankie, the chin should keep it in place while playing. If you want it to stay in place when taking the violin away from the chin, try a rubber band over that portion of the hankie that goes on the chinrest.. From Mandy Lam
Posted on November 5, 2009 at 01:05 AM Yup, I do exactly that....just putting an elastic around the chinrest will keep it from falling off when I'm not playing/resting. When I'm playing, it's very secure...never moves since the texture of the chamois just "sticks" to the chinrest. From Karen Allendoerfer
Posted on November 5, 2009 at 03:01 PM Mandy, the part that hooks over the chinrest is not padded, it's just chamois-like material. There is some removable foam on the part that goes over the end, it's thin, and I think we've left ours in because it pads the button on the end of the instrument. From Karen Allendoerfer
Posted on November 5, 2009 at 03:03 PM Here it is from Johnson, where we got ours: http://www.johnsonstring.com/cgi-bin/accessorysearch/accessorysearch.cgi?select1=CHC&instrument=VN&file=chinrestcovers&forcestyle=6 From Mandy Lam
Posted on November 5, 2009 at 07:25 PM awesome...thanks Karen! |
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