Stainless or Titanium

luvlee started this discussion · 2/6/2012

I am getting a new pole for my birthday. I currently have the 45 mm chrome. I know I am getting a 55mm for sure. The finish is confusing my though. I have worked on stainless and titanium just a little bit. The titanium concerns me. I do not sweat when I pole. I barely even get warm. Just my body. I have slid on titanium more than any finish. It seems to sweat. The pole its self. Is that possible? I hate to have to wipe it down before every move! How would I ever do a routine? I slid and fell right out of 2 moves on a titanium last night. It felt wet and I wasn't sweating. I know we all have different body chemistries and I just wonder if maybe titanium is not for me or if I should try it again. Who has stainless? Do you like it?

24 replies

chemgoddess1 · 2/6/2012
How long was the pole in your house before you tried using it? I have slipped off of brass....Amy's workshops were rough because we were all slipping off of them! In my experience brass and titanium tend to cool off faster than chrome. Stainless is finicky...it takes me a really long time to warm it up but once it is there it stays "in the zone" longer. I get frustrated quickly though with stainless during the winter. Now I am talking PS stainless. I have heard that Poledanzer stainless is very different, and I had no problems with a home made stainless pole that was at a bar. I am going back to play on stainless tonight so I will let you know if additional years of pole have changed my experiences with it.
luvlee · 2/6/2012
Thanks Chem!! It was at Marissas and had been there a few months... I do not have much trouble on my chrome now. It use to be so slick. I guess I have gotten use to it. I will be getting another xpole finish. Would you say stainless is stickier than chrome though?
chemgoddess1 · 2/6/2012
I have not been on 2 stainless poles (manufacturers) that have been the same so I cannot say that. The PS poles at Be I always hated during the winter because I had no grip whatsoever, during the summer it was not as bad. I don't know what the finish is like on the X stainless.
Dancing Paws · 2/6/2012
I can't compare to chrome, cuz I have never danced on it. With regards to TG and stainless, I have danced on both. I personally feel the LM SS is grippier than the PS stainless, but others feel the opposite. Regardless, I can say that whether I was dry or sweaty, I griped better to TG than stainless. When I had dry skin, stainless was REALLY hard to grip, not as hard with a little sweat tack on my hands and body. When stainless is warm, it does get grippier. I personally had to wipe both poles constantly because I had sweeaty hands. When my hands were dry, I had to use a grip aid on stainless for my hands, not so much with TG. Gripping stainless with a sticky body isn't too bad (for me), but it would have probably been harder without the body tack. Stainless does take quite a bit longer to warm up than TG. I did get pole burn on my wrists and ripped blisters on my hands from both finishes. Are the TG poles you were playing on broken in/ conditioned? Do you have access to a stainless pole??? If so, test it out, but keep in mind that stainless is different depending on the company. I have heard the x pole stainless is much slicker than the chrome, but I don't know if this was still in the break in period or not when this was said.
luvlee · 2/6/2012
I have always thought chrome was the slickest finish. I am very dry skinned. Very dry. I flake on the pole and my clothes. It's gross. I have no acess to an xpole stainless but it is such a bug purchase!!! Kind of frustrating.
Dancing Paws · 2/6/2012
I suggest working on the titanium pole some more and see if your body adjusts to it. If not, you already know you work well with chrome, so you could always get a 50mm chrome. Also, like any pole, the conditions of the dance area will affect the grip. That being said, I struggled on my brass without grip aids when I had dry skin. Same with the TG. You might run into a grip issue with any pole if your skin is that dry. In that instance, it might just be a matter of using some grip aid on your body and you'll be fine. I will say that stainless is pretty nice for spins as the slide on your hands is much smoother. You don't get that stuck feeling that can happen with TG and brass (not that the sticking is too terrible.) The TG is a bit grippier when doing spins.
luvlee · 2/6/2012
I actually have has sliding issues w the chrome since I got it 3 yrs ago. It seems very slick. Grip aids do help on it. I guess I was hoping for something just s tiny bit gripper. I am gonna try to work on a titanium again if I can.
dancing in the gray · 2/6/2012
Have you looked at the Lil Mynx powder coated finish? Super grippy.
luvlee · 2/6/2012
I have! I want a pink one real bad but I can not do a permanent fixture.
dancing in the gray · 2/6/2012
It's only semi permanent. I don't know your circumstances, but if you're in an apartment building where they don't want holes, you can putty it up very easily. It's a very, very small hole.
luvlee · 2/6/2012
Hmmm.... I nay very well have to think about that.
dancing in the gray · 2/6/2012
My pole is not put up yet because I had to send it back and get it resized, but if you want I can send a picture of what exactly my mount looks like.
Veena · 2/6/2012
If you don't sweat a lot and you work well with the Chrome, I think you would really love the Titanium gold. Remember, when poles are new it can take time for all the junk from manufacturing to come off. I have been steaming my poles now with hot steam to clean them and it works wonderful. 🥂I don't sweat much and have used stainless in my home and other studios, I just can't grip SS unless I'm super hot and sweaty. That doesn't happen much in the Midwest! lol I have normal to dry skin.
luvlee · 2/6/2012
I think you are right Veena. This pole I was practicing on could have been still needing broken in. I love the steamer idea. I know how much you lo w yours and I think we have similar skin type. I may be a bit drier. But I have ruled stainless out now. I had no idea it was worse than chrome as far as grip goes.
Veena · 2/6/2012
SS is worse for some, not everyone. I know there are girls who love, their SS. But from what you've said I do think our skin type is similar and our climate. 😉
Madfelice · 2/6/2012
You say that your skin is very dry, so I thought I would chip in and say that the dryer my skin is the more I find I slip on a stainless pole. I also slip more on then when sweaty though. I use no grip at all most of the time on anything other than stainless poles where I an forever reapplying. I would go titanium, but that's just me and I have brass which I love to bits.
nymphdancer · 2/6/2012
I have dry skin and I find stainless to be very slippery. Unless it is nice and humid out. then if I didn't mind listening to my hubby whine about the heat in the house I could stick.
taylornow · 2/8/2012
This thread has confused me a bit... I recently posted a question about brass and SS Xpoles (I am verrrry sweaty), and the response I got was to get a brass because the SS is extremely slick especially with my naturally sweaty self lol Now I am reading here that the SS are worse for dry skin and better for sweaty hands/body? ......
chemgoddess1 · 2/8/2012
I was back on the stainless Monday night and did not have any issues however the studio was warm and there was a class right before we got there. I was on one of the 45s most of the night and ouchies!
Veena · 2/8/2012
From what I have read, seems like Brass and SS are both good for the "glistening" dancer! 🌸Titanium gold and chrome are different than SS and Brass. But really you never know for sure what will work best for you until you try, even then conditions will change your grip.
Dancing Paws · 2/8/2012
Stainless and brass work for sweaty bodies. Stainless only gets hard to dance on when you are either too sweaty on your hands or bone dry. The happy medium seems to be okay. It's also harder when it's cold. A warm stainless is nice though. I am a sweaty girl now and I am oversticking to my brass pole. I had the opposite problem when I had dry skin. I couldn't grip in with my body without some grip aid. It was great for my hands though! I was able to grip the titanium pole realy well with my body while sweating. I had a harder time when I was dry (again grip aids helped.) Titanium can be a good medium when you want stick, but not an overstick, and it still has enough glide to be able to do spins on it. Brass I can spin on easily, but, like I said, now it can get too sticky.
EvaRut · 2/9/2012
I have only tried chrome and stainless. I like stainless more. I use ss at the studio and chrome at home. Whoo that rhymed! :P I have dry to normal skin and I dont sweat very much but it does happen sometimes. My experiances. Chrome. I hate it! I have great grip with my body but it is like the chrome makes me have the sweatiest hands in the world. No matter what grip aid I use the pole must be wiped constantly and wash my hands multiple times during practice. And when I do it only works for about a minute. I tried, dry hands, itac2, tite grip and chalk and nothing works good enough. :( Stainless. I love it! No matter if I am super dry or sweaty, Itac can almost always help me out when I get slippage issues and I very rarely need to wipe the pole and usually I dont need to do it at all during a whole practice. :)
amy · 2/9/2012
to further complicate the issue, i'll also add that the multi-piece PS ss is stickier than the one-piece.
luvlee · 2/9/2012
Lol!!!! This is a hard subject because body Chem has so much to do with it and we are all different. I called xpole today because my old one is stuck together in the middle, but anyway. Lol!!! Now I am thinking for me chrome or brass. I like my chrome now that it is broken in. She told me that titanium eventually will become 2 toned because of the coating. That bothers me a bit because I will hopefully have the pole forever.