The Mat
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490
492
Stains!
At first, I really loved this mat. However, throughout the months, it started to get weird stains. I was embarrassed to even show it in public. I did everything they said to use, such as baking soda and detergent, however nothing helped. I ended up buying a new mat. It's a shame because it's an expensive mat to use only for a few months.
May 21, 2013
Great Mat!
I love this mat! I've borrowed it twice from my mother and it is really great for hot yoga. I've been using a Jade mat but I found that they're really hard to break in and can still be slippery after months of use. I'm ready to buy one for myself!
May 20, 2013
Wears Quickly!
I purchased the mat about 3 months ago. I practice yoga 3-4 times per week. The mat was wonderful at first, however it stained easily and held the smell of my sweat. I tried EVERYTHING to get the stains out. I wiped it right after I practiced, soaked it in the bath tub, looked at what others had done - NOTHING WORKED. Now at 3 months not only is my mat stained and ugly- it is worn! Where my feet and hands are in downward dog is incredibly worn out after just 3 months of use! I have never had a problem with lulu products before but be warned - this mat is not worth the expensive price! I expected it to last much longer than 3 months and am VERY DISAPPOINTED! The smell can be taken out of the mat with soaking but if you want a mat that will last - this is NOT THE MAT FOR YOU!
May 20, 2013
Best mat out there!
So after purchasing the (towel) mat and being disappointed, I went to my local store and the educator suggested I try this mat for my hot yoga practices. I was entirely impressed with my decision to go with this mat.
It's super grippy and provides just enough cushioning so that you can still balance and not feel the floor too much. I also decided to stick with the black colour, as stains and discolouration was a previous concern and issue for me. No problems this time around!
I've used the mat about 4 times now and can say it's maintained very well, however, i do still have to wipe the mat down as I sweat insanely!
The smell? Was very obvious however, it won't hold me back from recommending or re-purchasing this mat. I'll take it!
May 18, 2013
so glad I made the investment
I have been practicing on cheaper mats for awhile, and decided it was time to make the investment in a better mat if I wanted to improve. I was constantly slipping, and the thickness wasn't enough to keep my spine from griding on the floor, and I just hated it. So, my instructor recommended The Mat, and that weekend I took the trip up to my local store and purchased one.
The grippiness and the padding have already made an improvement in my practice. I sweat a LOT in hot yoga, and I still don't need to use a towel- I do need to wipe it down every so often or I start to slip, but otherwise it's great. You really need to clean it after every practice or so as it states- I didn't once and when I unrolled my mat it was super slick the whole class. Yuck.
As for the smell, yeah it smelled like rubber the first class or two I brought it to but it was only really bad the first time... I bought it in store so maybe that made a difference and I unrolled it, cleaned it, and aired it out for a day before using it. But I've had it for less than a month and it already smells just fine. So I don't think it's something that happens all the time.
Also... I bought the light pink color and I do kind of regret that. I don't mind about the sweat stains showing during class- every color does that, even the black. But I have two stains on it that were there when I bought it (didn't see till I unrolled it at home) and I cannot get them off, and it seems like it looks dirtier faster than the other colors. So, I do wish I had gone with a purple or something :-/
May 13, 2013
Not sure there is a mat for those uber sweaters
Everyone thinks they sweat in a hot vinyasa. However, there are some of us that really do sweat abnormally much, and maybe it is unrealistic to find any mat that will allow us to go without a towel.
Usually I make it about half way through class before I have to roll out my grippy backed towel. I'm pretty slick at rolling it out without missing a pose. In my dream world there would be a mat that you go a whole class without an annoying towel underfoot.
This mat does work great with a little bit of sweat on it, but it is as slippery as an ice rink about halfway through class. Again, I am not sure any mat could be sticky with a quarter inch of sweat on it.
I would recommend it for 90% of yogis. I would love to hear of a mat that works for us heavy sweaters without having to use an annoying towel.
Also, the stink goes away in a weeks worth of heavy use.
May 11, 2013
What good is a mat you can't use?
I wanted to love this mat. I've been using the Yogi Toes for lululemon towel in my hot yoga classes, and it works fairly well. So I took the time to do the research before committing to an expensive mat. I read every review on here - the glowing ones and the ones that reported a foul stench - and it seemed like most people were able to remove the smell with a good washing and airing, so I bit the bullet and gave it a try. I immediately unrolled and aired out my mat in a spare room for a week, washed it in the tub with dish detergent, aired it out some more and took it to class. Smelly. Embarrassingly so. Repeat airing/washing, etc. The mat still reeks. The grip is fantastic, the thickness is wonderful, and the color is beautiful. (I have the Surge and don't mind the sweat stains that show up in class - I'm proud to be working so hard!) But I honestly would've given this mat zero stars if that was an option because it doesn't matter how good the other features are: if it smells so bad that it's embarrassing to take it to a class, what good is it doing me?
May 9, 2013
TOXIC
The "toxic" smell from this mat makes it unusable. The texture and grip is great but you can't even practice on it because it smells so bad, despite leaving outside to air out, using yoga mat spray, baking soda with water, Lysol, nothing makes a difference. Bummer.......waste of money
May 9, 2013
Sadly disappointed, although some positives
I purchased this mat with the hope that I would no longer slip around during a mega hot sweaty yoga session and whilst this initially was the case, the mat is now beginning to bunch a little during certain poses. I'm not so bothered by the smell which is slowly but surely disappearing but I still have incredible stains on the mat, and I have no idea from where!! I use a clean fresh towel each session, but my mat now looks years old instead of 1 month old. I have cleaned it as directed with lemon juice or baking soda but the stains remain. I air it after every session but it still looks pretty manky now. I?m pretty gutted as it?s my first proper yoga mat.
May 8, 2013
Skunky Smelling
I bought this mat because I needed one that was super grippy. The reviews on it were great, so i thought it would be an awesome investment. Turns out, it is really grippy. But, it's also super smelly. I've had it for over three months now and it still has that awful rubber odor. Every time I come home from yoga, my fiance remarks (in a loving way) that I smell like skunk (because that's what it smells like), yuck.
Even worse, I purchased it in the light pink color, and I can't seem to get stains out. I've tried baking soda, lemon juice, dish soap. Nothing works. I'm pretty disappointed because it's a great mat to practice on, but boy the smell and the stains really bring it down a number of stars.
May 5, 2013
