Saturday, September 03, 2005

Saturday, 03 September 2005 – Skin irritation!!!


My working life is going well. I landed some work that is allowing me to work from home most of the time (so far anyway) and wear latex most/all day, almost every day.

I have had one business trip where, obviously I had to don vanilla. Unexpectedly, I ended staying over and spending a second day working on site. Luckily I had thought to take toiletries and spare office clothes with me just in case. Unfortunately, I thought it so unlikely that I would have to stay over that I took absolutely zero latex with me. Woe is me! I could have cried when I got back to the hotel room. Such a sudden change was like a rubberist equivalent to going cold turkey – not at all pleasant.

I didn’t know what to do! Unwind and watch TV? No way that was going to work for me. As for sleeping – forget it! Only those who have got used to a rubbery routine will understand how difficult it is to suddenly have to do without.

It’s actually oddly a little like an occasional rubberist suddenly thinking they should try sleeping in rubber TE – complete with restrictive mask, which they are not able to take off in the middle of the night. Chances of a getting comfortable, let alone sleeping well for the first week(s) is unlikely! You just get used to whatever is normal for you – and a whole day without rubber is fairly non-standard for me!

If it had been more a matter of choice, I think it would have been easier as I would have mentally prepared to adjust. If it wasn’t a fairly stressful day – again, I think it would have been easier to cope. But, out of the blue I was going to have to go 48+ hours without any rubber, rather than the 8 hours I had planned, just when I wanted it most.

When I did finally get back home, the relief was amazing. The feeling of security when the last latex item finally donned tangible. It was a pleasant experience only marred by one thing – on dressing I had discover a number of areas of itchy skin irritation! The vanilla business clothes I had worn were so scratchy that they had caused my skin to come out in red blotches. Not nice. It was probably just that they we new brand clothes from the shop which I wore in a v.dry air conditioned environment, but a lot of things vanilla seem scratchy compared to my usual latex.

Anyway a few days of being back in my (chlorinated) latex and everything was back to normal. The injustice of it did seem ironic however. Received wisdom is that you can get skin irritation from wearing latex – not from abstaining from it! Truth is, you can get skin problems for many reasons, one of which may be a sudden change the material it in contact with it and in immediate environmental conditions.

I have another big challenge coming up. I am off on vacation to a hot climate for a week, where I will be unable to wear rubber for more than a short period. I think that it will be easier as I am mentally prepared and will have lots to otherwise occupy me. I am even wondering about leaving all my latex behind on purpose this time, so I enjoy it all the more when I get back…
A whole 7 days without rubber - whish me luck then!

Sealed

No comments: