How To Wash Your Aerial Hammock

Aerial yoga is an amazing way to participate in yoga whilst being suspended by soft silky fabric, but if you’re wondering how to wash your aerial hammock, you’re in the right place. Washing your aerial hammock or silks will keep the fabric fresh, make it less slippy and prolong its lifespan.

The materials that aerial hammocks and silks are made from are soft and silky and need to be washed from time to time to keep them in a usable and hygienic state.

Failure to wash your hammock will mean that it becomes covered in sweat, skin cells, stains, makeup and other substances. Unwashed aerial hammocks can become slippy, smelly and a breeding ground for bacteria and pathogens.  The hammock might degrade and you’ll end up buying a new aerial yoga hammock.

This blog post tells you how to wash your hammock and discusses the importance of washing your hammock.

how to wash your aerial hammock

How To Wash Your Aerial Hammock

Here’s how to wash your aerial hammock.

Remove caribineers and other hardware

Ensure you remove all caribineers, o-rings and dasiy chains etc. These will prevent your hammock being cleaned properly and more importantly they may damage the fabric and your wahsng machine.

Untie knots

Leaving knots in the fabric will prevent it being cleaned properly. The knots may also tighten so much you are unable to undo them, which will obviously prevent you from retying hardware to rig the hammock.

Use gentle detergent

It’s  best to use a non-biological detergent. These will be suitable for more delicate skin. Harsh detergents could damage or degrade the fabric.

Use A Front Loading Washer

Use a front loading washing machine, on a delicates cycle with cold water and low spin speed instead. Top loading washers can damage the fabric.

Hang them up to dry

Hang your fabric up in the fresh air away from direct sunlight to dry. Direct sunlight can cause the fabric to fade. The fabric will dry quickly outside, so no need to use the dryer.

 

The Importance Of Washing Your Aerial Hammock

It’s important to wash your aerial hammock and here’s why.

The Fabric Absorbs Dirt and Bacteria

Aerial silks are magnets for dirt. Bacteria, germs and dirt transfer from your hands and body onto the material. The key to keeping them fresh is regular washing.

The Fabric Becomes Dusty

Natural creases form in the aerial silks and dust can settle in them. Washing the fabric will help keep you an other users healthy especially of you have an allergy or respiratory condition.

Avoid Germs and Bacteria Spreading Between Users

Bacteria can live on fabric for up to 30 days. Viruses survive less easily on fabric when compared to hard surfaces. If these pathogens can survive on your aerial hammock they can spread between users. Wash them regularly to get rid of bacteria and other germs.

The Fabric Absorbs Sweat

When you sweat, the moisture gets absorbed into the fabric. If you or your users are sweaty bods the hammock will absorb sweat and body odors along with it. We’ve all smelt the arm pits of t-shirts that have absorbed sweat – imagine your hammock smelling like that. Yuck! Also moisture is a breeding ground for bacteria (see above). Launder the hammcoks regularly to get rid of sweat and smells. You can spritz them in between uses to keep them smelling fresh.

Hammocks Can Start To Smell

Hammock material can start to smell a little musty if left packed away or hanging without use for a while. Give them a quick wash so they smell nice.

Do You Want to Lie in a Smelly, Dirty hammock?

Nope! A yoga swing, hammock or set of aerial silks should be clean and fresh to use. It wouldn’t be very yogic to lie there wishing the hammock didn’t smell whilst trying to do shavasna would it?!

 

In Summary

There are many reasons to give your aerial yoga hammock a wash, in my opinion the most important reason is so that it’s not slippy, smelly or generally gross. If you came here looking to find out how to wash your aerial hammock you will have found the answer to this above but if you need a quick overview here you go:

  • remove hardware
  • untie knots
  • pop the fabric in a front loading washer with some non-biological detergent
  • hang the fabric out to dry in the fresh air
  • rehang your hammock

Failure to keep your hammock clean could mean that you have to buy a new hammock.

 

 

 

 

 

Sophie

Sophie Green has been pole dancing and aerial arts at home and in studios around the world for over 13 years. She’s taken a number of instructor courses in pole and aerial. Plus attended a course on rigging. She takes part in lots of exercise.