Club Obi Wan

I was just wondering if I should wear Ear protection while using my whip

I keep popping it rather loud and it makes my ear ring - is this bad ?

Any time your ears ring you have caused trauma to your ears. As someone who is currently dealing with Tinnitus, let me heartily recommend using ear protection. Permanent ringing of the ears is no fun at all, trust me.

I would go to your local hardware store and pick up a pack of those little foam ear plugs that you put inside your ear canal. They actually work a lot better than the large ear muff-type things and are quite unobtrusive. You just roll them up a little bit with your fingers, stick them in, and they slowly expand back to fill in all gaps.

/same goes for all you concert-goers! please!

In your case, yes. Protect your ears. Everybody is different. Ringing or discomfort is a sign that you need it.

Well, here's the thing. If your whip is cracking so loudly that you feel you might need hearing protection, maybe you're putting too much muscle into it. If you're cracking the whip properly, the direction of the crack will be pointed away from your body in almost all cases, so that's one thing that will keep it from being too loud. And especially when you're just practicing, you can try to focus on achieving nice clean "gentle" cracks with lower volume. If you muscle your whip to try and get a rattle-the-windows monster crack, you're more likely to lose bits of your fall/popper, damage the whip itself, or make some little mistake and damage yourself! The other thing I'd be worried about is if you have hearing protection on, you might be tempted to muscle your whip even more because even a nice clean crack will sound muffled through ear plugs.

That said though, if ever you experience discomfort or ringing in your ears and can't change the way you practice with you whip to alleviate it, by all means get hearing protection.

Lauren Wickline
www.midwestwhips.com

Are you cracking indoors or out? If you're indoors, then I'd get hearing protection. I've thrown whips in gymnasiums, martial arts dojo's and racquetball courts and for those YES! Get some hearing protection.

If you're outside, Lauren's right. The whip is either cracking too close to your body, or you might want to back off a little bit.

Three years ago this July 4 my next door neighbors were getting drunk in the late afternoon sun and letting off loud firecrackers. to create some noise of my own, I went out back with my 8ft Strain, a t-shirt, and a pair of shorts and began muscling some monster cracks.
My neighbors and I get a along and we were having trading off loud shots until I misjudged a simple overhead crack and sliced my right ear, BAD! I mean, the paid dropped me to my knees and blood was pouring out. Nasty. Nothing a little duct tape couldn't fix. I'm glad it wasn't my eye(s).
I realize that this thread is about protecting hearing but there is something to be said for always paying attention to where the whip is, and what the whip is doing, while it's in the air....thus protecting your ears.
Cool scar though.

Thanks for the advice guys

-I think I just have some sensitive ears and I started wearing some ear plugs just in my right ear - thats the only one that rings and yes it's outdoors I'm doing the cracking

Good tip about the "eyes" thing. I'd wear ear plugs and some sort of safety glasses.

I never wear any kind of protection. Ever since I got my first whip at 11 up until I bought my 10 footer from Joe Strain. If I happen to hit myself, then I just take my licks and keep at it.

I practice outdoors so the sound is disspated and have never felt the need for hearing protection. I'm not sure what I could do that would require it though... All I can tell you is ALWAYS respect the power you are wielding when throwing/cracking a whip, the minute you stop respecting it, it will bite you, usually hard! Just play safe and it's probably a good idea to NOT mix whips and alcohol... Just sayin'.

Vegeta wrote:I never wear any kind of protection. Ever since I got my first whip at 11 up until I bought my 10 footer from Joe Strain. If I happen to hit myself, then I just take my licks and keep at it.

The first attempt I ever made at a crack, I was over at Indydawg's and I had all the protection--the hat, jacket, gloves, boots, safety glasses, long pants, you name it (except ear protection). Well, I threw the whip and it sliced my right calf open--right threw the jeans! Anyway, it took a few tries, working through the pain and the blood dripping down my leg and staining my jeans, but I finally got the overhead crack to actually make a crack sound.

Yes, that's right. The first attempt I ever made at cracking a whip was an overhead crack and I sliced my right calf open.
Good times!