Smart Shopping Saturdays #4

It's the second Saturday of the month and you know what that means! It's time for another Smart Shopping Saturday! This is a mini-series where I review several different products and give my opinion on which products every skater should know about and which products every skater should stay away from.

Accessories
The board-side bag known as the Kiss and Cry Bag is a trend sweeping competition vendors and rinks everywhere, or at least my rink. This is a little colorful bag that you can dump all of your goodies into in order to easily carry them out onto the ice. The idea is great. It's much easier to have everything in one bag rather than trying to carry your CD, perhaps your phone, your water, your bandaids, and maybe your butt pads all separately. But is it really necessary to pay up to $49 for a bag? It's got all of the bells and whistles that will make every 10 year old girl scream for one, the pockets and dividers and the special little space for your tissue box, it has it all. Honestly, in my opinion, a little plastic bin from Target will do the job, come in fun colors, and will only set you back about $10.
Click to see the Kiss and Cry Totes website






Books
I recently checked out the bestselling book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg from my local library. Duhigg discusses the nature of habits, how they are created, and how they can be changed. As a figure skater I found this book very informative and surprisingly, very applicable to skating. The information in this book has the potential to help you change your training style and create habits that will make you a better skater. It is a good read and very informative as a plus.
Click here to purchase The Power of Habit
Click here to learn about the author, Charles Duhigg

Skating Tools
How a skater prepares their skates before a competition varies from person to person. Some tape, some polish and some merely clean. If you're looking to tape I would recommend Sk8Tape. It's shiny, comes in white, black, and tan, and sticks to the boot. It does leave a gummy residue if you want to take it off but this will easily come off with nail polish remover. If you are looking to polish your boots I would recommend Riedell's skate polish. It is thick, provides full coverage, and will leave your skates looking like new. This is the best polish I have found so far in terms of whitening my skates. However, it is quite messy and you have to put it on with a rag because there is no applicator. Doing this on the floor of a hotel room with your synchro teammates might not be the best idea....as I have learned from personal experience. A jar of this costs about $12.50 and lasts quite awhile. A little polish goes a long way. Just buff it out with a dry rag when the polish has dried and they'll shine right up.

Riedell Skate polish is available here

Best of Luck!!