Personal Hygiene

I originally was going to make this into a topic in the General Magic Discussion Forum, because I didn’t think there would be enough for it to be considered an essay. But, regardless of the length, I don’t want the topic to be buried under countless useless topics, and never be read again. So I decided to post it here in the Essay Section, as in the long run, more people would read it.
To get started... I think a lot of young magicians don't realize that hygiene, both visible and "invisible" hygiene, is very important to your performance. Visible hygiene would include things like nails, clothes, hair, etc. And the "invisible" hygiene would include stuff that is part of your hygiene, but you can't really see... such as your smell, breath, etc.
If your hygiene is bad, it can really affect how your audience perceives you as a performer, and sometimes they may not wish to watch you perform because of it. If some stinky, trashy looking teenager approached you, pulled out an old, dirty deck of red Bicycles from his coat pocket, and asked if you wanted to see something cool, what would you say? More than likely ... you would turn the kid down. As would most normal people on this Earth. It's nothing personal against the person, it's just life.

So, before you leave the house, even if you don't plan on performing, follow this checklist:

- Make sure your nails are trimmed.

- Brush your teeth.

- Make sure you're dressed appropriately.

- Brush your hair.

- Use deodorant!
- You should already know this, but… shower everyday!

Now, if you know you’re going to be performing, run to the bathroom 10-15 minutes before your performances, and follow this small checklist:

- Fly is zipped all the way to the top.

- You don't have boogers or snot hanging from your nose.

- You smell all right.

- You wash your hands so they’re not dirty.

- Your breath smells good (carry mints).

If you follow these checklists, it will lower your chances of getting turned down or told to get away on basis of how you look and smell. Of course, there will be those times when you have to rush, and don’t have time to do the little things like brush your hair or dress as nicely as you normally would. I personally don’t see a problem with this, as it happens to the best of us.
This has received mixed enthusiasm over at theory11. As one person said this is common sense, and therefore doesn’t need to be posted. But, I see videos online of kids performing with dirty untrimmed nails, in dirty clothes… who says they won’t go out and perform like this in public? I totally agree that most of it is common sense, but I feel it’s an important aspect of performance, and needed to be posted.
Thanks for reading, and I do apologize for the shorter length of this essay, but I figured most of it was common sense. Thanks again!

I was wondering where this went a while back. Also, with your permission of course, I'd like to recommend that others post incidents where they've seen poor hygiene from a magician, clown, or other performer. I'll tell you my favorite, or is it least favorite later on.

I don't mind at all... part of the reason I posted this was for people to post their favorite stories, and discuss... I feel this way about all my essays. Thanks for being nice about it, though.

So, here's one of mine. I work in a magic shop, so I see plenty.


We have a customer in the shop. I won't give Joe's name because that would be rude. He's one of those guy that just doesn't seem to understand the "practice" aspect of the "practice, practice, practice" rules of magic. Off-topic, he performed the Coin Bite in the shop one day for some lay people. He borrowed a coin. So far so good. Then, he stuck it in his pocket and fished through loose change for a bit before pulling out the gaff. He did the trick and then said "Now, I bet you don't think this is the same coin you gave me, but it is." The guy said "I know it's not" and Joe, err he, put the coin back in his pocket, fished some more, then pulled out the original coin. I'm not making this up at all. He got a rule enacted that says that customers aren't allowed to perform in the shop without permission. Back on topic, I was giving him a lesson in basic card handling. I couldn't seem to get the concept of the Mechanic's Grip down with this guy. Honestly. When I was going over it, I realized that 1/3 of his finger nails were the brown part sticking over the edge of his fingers. There's also this "talkingnonstopforhoursonenduntiloneofyouwantstoshoottheotheroneinthefacewithanailgun" thing that you guys should watch out for. It seems like almost every no no you go over here, he exemplifies. We've got another guy that comes in that I'll type up later. Wow, this is fun.

lol, the first one was hilarious. The second one was... gross. Thanks for sharing, I'm looking forward to the next story!

Second one? It's the same guy. I'll type the next guy up when I have had something to eat. I honestly get nauseous just thinking about it.

I alway hate when a magician want to show me a trick and he have scrundgy fingernails, That's one thing that kid forgot, either they bite them, or they dont cut them. A good manicure is not '' Edited '' and every magician should have presentable hand, Its part of the job.

Good essay
~blizt

Apollo Robbins keeps his hands manicured all the time. He has a gorgeous girlfriend.

Thanks for the kind words.

Thanks for the kind words.

Follow this both whether you are going to perform or just going to town to go shopping...You must always look professional because you never know who you are going to bump into...could be another magician, could be a past client, or could even be potential clients!

I heard Michael Finny say it best when he told me "To be successful, you must look successful" Always take the way you appear to people seriously if you want to appear professional.

I hate long nails, it just looks gross,
I agree with the essay 100%,
it also just helps with other aspects of life.

I have weird nails that grow really fast, lol, I have to cut them almost every 4 days lol to make sure they actually look normal l.

yepp. i almost wrote one ont his topic a couple month ago. I cut my nails weekly. and do the rest. story:

A magician showed me this trick. Now this guy was a good magician, better than i am. So i wasn't going to say anythign derogatory to him or call him out or anyhting like that. (that's what idiots do) Anyway, He didn't know i was a magician and i picked a card. And after i put it back and X,Y,Z i noticed his nials. I kinda zoned out jsut thinking how gross those nails were. Wow, this guy is a good magician, "how can he have such gross nails?...."
"was this your card" I shake back into it. "what, umm uhh. umm. i'm sorry, I forget my card"

i was sofocused on his nasty nails that i myself became less interested and took away every "magic" part of the trick.

(They wouldn't deny you for hygiene (smell) but they could deny you on looks(if your ugly or a greasy faced teen(yeah, that's me)))

I like it...the essay that is.

Something I would like to add, which is half story I guess, is that bad hygiene could also have some affect on the performer. An example is, I've seen a kid who, lets just say didn't put on deodorant, and even noticed the smell himself. He was extremely embarrased and his performance suffered for it.

If it were me in that situation, I would be embarrased too. I would be concentrating more on hoping no-one would notice than what I was doing with the cards.

Just my input. That first story Exodus was hilarious.