Double Bass Blisters gone!

[bassicallyjakob]

So I got these blisters about 2 weeks ago from playing 3-4 hour jam sessions on top of my practicing (not used to that extent of playing yet).

Now, they've turned into callouses I think because the skin is harder, but it's ripping up and I'm starting to see the raw pink skin underneath.

What can I do to heal and get callouses back if I lose these?

 

[bassicallyjakob]

Note: I already know a ton of methods for when blisters form or pop, that's not what I'm asking about.

 

[Kai Sanchez]

That "pink" means that your skin is healed but might not be rough (callused) enough to withstand playing a gig. In that situation I've used a liquid bandage called "new skin". On top of that I've used crazy glue as well, it is toxic to the skin, so beware. I played a gig once on the pink skin and before the first set was over I had a new blister.

Note: I'm not a doctor, this is in my own experience.

 

[bassicallyjakob]

And that new blister turned into a good callous right (this time I won't be popping mine, the whole made my skin tear off).

 

[bassicallyjakob]

^Meant to write that as a question. My bad

 

[Kai Sanchez]

The skin is going to fall off eventually, me thinks. I believe that if you don't pop it, it will take longer to dry and heal.

 

[sensei_steve]

Just my experience, callouses are tough dead skin, the skin underneath a callous is tender and pink. If you stress a callous, it will tear away from the soft skin underneath. What you want to do is regularly sand (i use a nail file or emory board) the dead skin. There is no pain or feeling cause the skin is dead anyway. When you start feeling the filing, its time to stop. Over time, you will develop soft resilient pads. This technique works for foot callouses too. I hope this helps.

 

[bassicallyjakob]

Just my experience, callouses are tough dead skin, the skin underneath a callous is tender and pink. If you stress a callous, it will tear away from the soft skin underneath. What you want to do is regularly sand (i use a nail file or emory board) the dead skin. There is no pain or feeling cause the skin is dead anyway. When you start feeling the filing, its time to stop. Over time, you will develop soft resilient pads. This technique works for foot callouses too. I hope this helps.

So with a nail file or emory board (I've heard the latter is best), how many times can you go back and forth, per say, with the emory board on the callous? I feel like it could make it wear away or damage the callous. How do you know when you're filing too much?

 

[Anonymatt]

No offense, but your questions make you sound like an alien parasite that has donned its first human.

 

[Kael]

On top of that I've used crazy glue as well, it is toxic to the skin, so beware.

It is my understanding that this is incorrect. Super glue isn't toxic. It was once used as an alternative to stitches for field wounds.

I used to use dunking my fingers in extremely hot brine to help new skin toughen up. Seemed to help, but I got more mileage out of simply playing lightly with an amp turned up for a bit to get the callouses to reform.

 

[bassicallyjakob]

No offense, but your questions make you sound like an alien parasite that has donned its first human.

I'm only trying to be more specific. There's a ton of blister threads where you see people mentioning band-aids, medical tape, new-skin, super glue, etc. I just want to keep seeing that kind of stuff.

 

[bassicallyjakob]

bump

 

[Anonymatt]

Well I'll just say that I had a really bad episode w/ blisters a couple months ago. Superglue wouldn't hold and the only tape that would stay on my fingers would be so tight that it would cut off the circulation and make my fingers numb. I remember exhausting all the advice anybody gave me and eventually just played as little as possible, with my ring finger and pinky, on different sides of my fingers, with my thumb, using an electric bass, etc.

My healing went through lots of stages, everything you have described. Initial skin regrowth that seemed like callouses eventually fell off or were ripped away.

There are all kinds of things that you should do for major blisters from a medical standpoint that will stand up to everyday activity. If you hike for a week and get blisters, when you get home you can wear flipflops for a while. In my experience, when your blisters are bad enough, there is just nothing you can do but grin and bear it. I just don't think there is any modification, short of wearing gloves (which will still hurt), that will stand up to hours of playing doublebass.

It was a few weeks before my fingers were better for having been through the whole situation. At some point, I was lucky to have a few days off.

 

[bassicallyjakob]

That is the best advice I've seen on this site! I'm at the point where I'm playing on the pinkish skin that's there. Unfortunately, I'm forced to play every day (I go to a conservatory).