Plastic pants and skin cream don't go together well

[quattrus]

I'd love to hear the opinion of other plastic pants wearers on an issue I've been facing lately.

Since I've been using plastic (PVC) pants over my diapers, I've been experiencing a strange side-effect (on the pants, not on me, luckily). I always use skin cream on my diaper area, and the plastic pants, expecially on my inner thighs, get unavoidably in touch with the cream. The result is that, after some months, the plastic that gets in contact with the skin cream starts to get hard and, eventually, breaks.

The hardening process was even worse on my first pair of plastic pants, which I sometimes washed with the aid of some light soap. Now, I only use running water, but the problem still shows (although not as badly as before), and that's why I'm pretty sure it's mainly a cream-related problem.

So, first, is there any chemistry expert who can explain why PVC and skin cream don't go together well?

And, secondly, to people who use plastic pants, which is their average life? How long should they normally last before you have to trash them and get a new pair?

Do you use any tricks to make your PVC pants live longer? (apart from the obvious "stop using cream", but then I'd get rashes and the problem would be worse...)

Thanks to anyone who'll give me suggestions on the matter.

 

[bedwett]

My experiences with plastic pants are quite the same. What I try to do is to wash them in a special soft detergent (like Woolite or something like that). This keeps them soft a little longer, but eventually the break anyway. The durablity i achieved is about six months, if good quality maybe a year. That's the downside of plastic pants.

Also try to avoid them to dry on a radiator, it's better to dry them on a washing line.

 

[quattrus]

Also try to avoid them to dry on a radiator, it's better to dry them on a washing line.

Normally I dry most of the water from them with a towel, and then simply avoid putting them away immediately. In a couple of hours or less they get completely dry.

Six months is about the longest they lasted me at their best, but by that time they had become pretty uncomfortable to wear.

As for the model, I usually get mine at airoliver.de shop, they told me they have them manufactured somewhere in Asia. They don't seem to be bad products, and from what you say, their durability seems to be within the average standards.

 

[dogboy]

I use baby cream and wear plastic pants and have had good results. I take them into the shower with me in the morning. I use shampoo to wash them as this cuts the oil. Latex and PVC don't like oil, be it from your skin or cream, so you will have to take care of it by washing them with something that dissolves the oil. I've been using mine for more than a year now.

 

[ricky]

Hey Quattrus,

No, you can't get any kind of cream or oil onto your plastic pants. I learned that the hard way as well. I couldn't figure out why my pants would only get hard and crack only around the elastics. I was using baby lotion on my skin at the time, and didn't know that was what did it. Also, Desitin will do that too, so don't use it anyplace your pants will touch it.

I've got about 10 pairs now, and some of them are almost a year old. I usually only rinse them off in the shower whenever I change in the morning, or if I change during the day and change pants, I'll rinse them out and hang them up. Only once in a blue moon will I ever put them in the washer and run it on the lightest delicate cycle it has.

Since I quit using the lotions, all my pants have lasted a long time, so I would say quit with the lotion, or by more pants!

 

[Deleted member 221]

how bout use the baby lotion but not close to the plastic pants as in like baby lotion down to the middle of the tummy than down from middle of thighs to toes? so you don't have baby lotion near the plastic pants

 

[ricky]

how bout use the baby lotion but not close to the plastic pants as in like baby lotion down to the middle of the tummy than down from middle of thighs to toes? so you don't have baby lotion near the plastic pants

That would work, as long as you don't rub your stomach or legs and then touch your plastic pants. I personally wouldn't use it at all anymore, because it's just not worth it to me to have to keep buying plastic pants at 15 bucks a pair. I'll put up with the dry skin instead.