Complete Latex Care Guide

Your garment/accessory has been dusted with talcum powder to protect it from damage during transit. Before polishing (or wearing), we advise that you gently wash it in warm water with a delicate soap to remove this and any tailoring marks and construction tape residue remaining on the item from the construction process – see the instructions below for washing guidelines.

Latex is a fairly fragile natural material. It can withstand a good deal of stretch, but if pierced or cut will tear rather than stretching. Mico Couture garments are made from 0.5mm thick latex as standard (except where specific design requires thicker or thinner), rather than the 0.4 or 0.3 you may find elsewhere. This grade of material, combined with the highly tailored nature of Mico Couture garments which ensures stretch is evenly distributed through the garment, limits the risk of your latex splitting while it is being worn. Take care to avoid contact with all sharp objects. Take particular care when putting on your garment, removing jewellery and exercising caution with long nails.

Apply a lubricant (eg Talcum Powder) to the inside of the garment before putting it on. This will help you to ease into the garment. The most common lubricant used is talcum powder. The most suitable talcum powders are usually in the baby section of your chemist as these are least likely to have additives like perfume that might damage your latex. Water-based lubricants can also be used, the rule of thumb for these is to avoid anything containing petro-chemicals, such as Vaseline, which will be very damaging to your latex. Latex polish is also occasionally used but is the least effective of these three methods.

Polish your latex with a silicone-based polish. We recommend our multi-purpose blue polish. Work in gently using a dust free cotton cloth. You can also use clean hands to work in the polish, but be sure to remove any rings and exercise caution with long nails.

In addition to making your latex look awesome, polishing provides a protective layer, reducing damage from things like sunlight and generally lengthening the lifespan of your latex.

Wash your latex in luke-warm water with a little of our multi-purpose blue polish as a detergent to work away any dirt. You can also use a hand wash laundry detergent or a gentle soap. Be sparing! You do not need very much.

Rinse off your items well. Hang your garment to drain excess water and then pat dry with a soft towel. Droplets of water left on your garment may cause dulling.

When dry, lightly talc the inside of the garment and store appropriately.

Store your garment in a dark place – Exposure to UV light will damage your latex, initially dulling the surface shine, but also weakening the latex over a longer period of time. Suit bags are idea to keep your latex in the dark and protect it from other items hanging in your wardrobe.

Do not hang on metal hangers and do not fold.

Ensure white and coloured items are not stored next to other coloured rubbers or metal. Contact with metal (such as copper and coins) may cause discolouration in a very short time and damage your garment over a longer period of time.

While garments with zip fastening are generally easy to get into, pull-on latex garments can seem like a feat of contortion and constriction for the inexperienced! There are a few simple tips that can help you don your new latex outfit easily…

• Do your hair after putting on a pull-on latex top. Pulling a tight garment over ‘done’ hair gives you undone hair, but in addition, it’s a good idea to keep long hair tied up and out of the way as it tends to get snared up and gripped in the latex as it goes past.
• Take off all jewellery before pulling on your latex. If you have piercings that cannot be removed, take care when manoeuvring the latex over these areas. Similarly, take care with long nails.
• Lubricate the inside of the garment. This will stop the garment gripping to itself and you while you’re trying to pull it on. The most common lubricant used is talcum powder, the most suitable of which can be found in the baby section of your chemist as these are least likely to have additives like perfume that might damage your latex. Water-based lubricants can also be used. The rule of thumb for these is to avoid any product containing petro-chemicals, such as Vaseline, as these will corrode your latex. Latex polish is also occasionally used as a dressing lubricant but is the least effective of these three methods and least easy to wash off your body once you’ve taken off the latex.
• Beware of bunching – latex has a tendency to roll up into a tube as it grips to itself while you manoeuvre it over the broader areas of your body like your shoulders or bust and it is much more difficult to stretch when it gets bunched up. Try to keep the latex in a concertinaed bunch, which will allow you to move and stretch the latex over these broader areas of your body in smaller sections.
• “Lift and move” rather than pulling. Trying to pull the latex over an area it is stuck may make the latex tighten and grip to that area and increase the risk of damage. Slide your hand between the latex and your body, lift your hand away from the body and move the latex over the area.
• Try and get the garment seams in the right places from the outset – focus on side seams or princess seams. The earlier you do this during pulling on your garment the easier this will be. Once the garment is fully on it is very difficult to twist it around on the body, this is when the lifting and moving technique can really help.

If necessary, for the first couple of times you are trying out your pull-on garment, don’t be embarrassed if you need to enlist the help of a friend for un-rolling, hair de-snaring duties. We have all gone through this process and with a little practice and experience you’ll be slipping into your latex outfit on your own, while dashing about hunting for makeup.

Why do we make pull-on latex garments? Having just read about the difficulties of putting on a pull on latex garment, you are probably thinking wouldn’t the simplest way to get around this be, put a zip in the garment? No more problems – just wrap it around and zip it up. Yes this can be the best option for someone wanting to avoid any of these issues and we are more than happy to put zips into any of our garments on request. While zips on larger items like dresses come as standard (because it would be too difficult to get into these items as ‘pull-on’), the lengthy process of adding a zip to a garment adds £35 to the final price. Pull-on garments are more cost effective for our customers and it really only takes a little practice to be a pro at pull-on!

Mico Couture garments are not suitable for people with allergies to latex, nickel, silicon based polish, or talcum powder. If you find you have an adverse reaction to a Mico Couture garment, please remove it immediately and seek medical advice.