Problem with first Men

(Italy)

Problem with my new men

I have a problem with my new men. Last year I bought my first men. I gave the exact measures. The chin and forehead fit ok, but there is no gap (or a very little one) in the up-center and up-lateral parts of the head.

At first I tried to ignore it, but now that I wear bogu more I suffer often upper strikes as if I wear only men.

I'm trying to insert some soft cloth between the head and the cap, but the gap is really small so the pressure against my head makes hard to practice for a long period of time.

I spoke with my Sensei but he has no ideas...

Do you have any suggestions? Is there some home-made solution to gain extra protection? Which materials could I try? Is there a way to stretch a men? Or do you think my only solution is to buy another one?

Answer: I am sorry to hear that you are having a hard time when receiving men strikes. I am not expert in bogu but it sounds like you’ve go the right size. You should not have much gap.

I think you are wearing a tenugui before putting your men on, right? I assume you do.

It is hard to get a right size because everyone is different, unless we order a custom-made bogu. There is something you can do about lessening the pain.

1. Keep the back of your neck straight: This is one easy thing to do to prevent your head from the pains you get.

Most of people who have this problem have their head down a bit. That exposes the top of the head. When this happens, a striker will hit the top of your head while they should be hitting the part close to the men gane (bars).

It does not matter how good your bogu is, if you expose the top of your head to a striker, you cannot do anything but take the pain. So this is something you can do at your next training.

2. Pad: There is a special pad for preventing the pain from men strikes. But probably you do not have enough space for that. So use these air bubble films that are used for wrapping fragile items. It may help.

Well, this is not very traditional and I know there are some people who will frown upon such materials. Of course, if you do not have to use such materials, that is better.

3. Custom-made: If things I suggested do not solve your problem, you may want to think about talking to a bogu shop. I am sure there are some bogu shops in Europe. I suggest talking to them and get a custom-made men. After all, it is to protect your head and you do not want to skip the safety over the price. Yes, it can be pricy to get a custom-made. At the moment, I have one recommendation for you to talk to about a custom-made bogu. Michael Komoto at Chiba bogu. He took a good care of one of my students.

Those are the solutions that I can think of. If anyone who has an advice and suggestion for him, please post it here. That would help others too.

Thank you for your help in advance.

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