What is the dirtiest thing in my karate bag? Hands down, it HAS to be my obi (belt), and in particular, the kanji end of my belt!

Every time I get dressed I grab the end of the belt that has my name on it, hold it against my waist, and drop the rest of the belt on the locker room floor. Then as I wrap my gi around my waist again and again, the end of the obi draaags across the floor before the end flicks up and I knot it.

I’ve done this twice a week for 6 years, the last 2 with my black belt, and it took until last week for me to actually realize what I was doing. GROSS!!

How many germs live on that obi? Since we don’t wash our obi I guess the germs will just stay. Or maybe my karate mojo is terrifying to germs and they’ve all fled? Ha!

I toyed with the idea of spraying my obi with antibacterial stuff or with Lysol but I think I’ll wait until after my black belt test – just in case it makes bleach spots or something.  🙂

Has anyone else cleaned their obi? What did you use?