Does retaining promote coverage?

[deja_ale]

Some people decide to start wearing a retainer at some point in their restoration journey. I don't want to make the commitment until I think that I have enough skin to maintain reliable coverage even if I take the retainer off. Many people say that once you start retaining and have a dekeratinized glans, you cannot stop retaining because it is too sensitive. I am currently at a RCI-4 and started to experiment with wearing a retainer for a couple hours here and there. After wearing the retainer for at least an hour my skin maintains full flaccid coverage for some time afterward. Although i sometimes have full flaccid coverage when the skin is stretched I don't consider myself a RCI-5 yet because "one cannot consider oneself at the RCI-5 level unless the coverage is consistent and the foreskin can be tugged back down into place reliably if a slip-off occurs."

My questions are mainly aimed towards people who started retaining somewhere between RCI-3 - RCI-5, but all comments are welcome.

Has anyone made a jump on their coverage reliability when they started retaining full time?
If so, were you able to stop wearing the retainer and maintain that coverage or does you skin revert back to pre-retaining coverage?
Does a dekeratinized glans become "sticky" and promote coverage or become "slippery" and discourage coverage?

[parsecskin]

Some people decide to start wearing a retainer at some point in their restoration journey. I don't want to make the commitment until I think that I have enough skin to maintain reliable coverage even if I take the retainer off. Many people say that once you start retaining and have a dekeratinized glans, you cannot stop retaining because it is too sensitive. I am currently at a RCI-4 and started to experiment with wearing a retainer for a couple hours here and there. After wearing the retainer for at least an hour my skin maintains full flaccid coverage for some time afterward. Although i sometimes have full flaccid coverage when the skin is stretched I don't consider myself a RCI-5 yet because "one cannot consider oneself at the RCI-5 level unless the coverage is consistent and the foreskin can be tugged back down into place reliably if a slip-off occurs."

My questions are mainly aimed towards people who started retaining somewhere between RCI-3 - RCI-5, but all comments are welcome.

Has anyone made a jump on their coverage reliability when they started retaining full time?
If so, were you able to stop wearing the retainer and maintain that coverage or does you skin revert back to pre-retaining coverage?
Does a dekeratinized glans become "sticky" and promote coverage or become "slippery" and discourage coverage?

You are exactly right in your thinking. You should only retain when you have enough skin to do so easily. Preferably with an o ring. Retaining does not help growth. When you do dekeratinize your in Dr mucosa will becom a little sticky and help hold the skin in place. So just KOT.

[Guest]

Soon after I started tugging I did retain because I wanted to see the effect of increased sensitivity as soon as possible; not horniness, but "science" (well, sorta science). Took awhile, but it started to increase with time, and it did become really ... irritating, I think is the best word in my case, not entirely painful, but pretty close to painful, for sure. I used common plastic bandaids, in the classic "cross", maybe replaced them 2 to 3 times a day at most (I was interested in experimentation as much as anything else, so cost wasn't an issue).

Otherwise, it's as parsecskin says, the stickiness of your glans helps hold skin forward, and I first stared noticing this when I had approx half of the glans covered, using no retainer per se, just tighter underwear. So, while sensitivity in the earlier stages can be a literal pain, as long as you're faithful about retaining, it's doable if you're interested in gettin' things going, so it's your choice.

Then, something like 4 years later, I tried some more "science" and uncovered, stayed that way throughout the day, walked funny for the first few minutes, and then discovered that (again) in my case the pain dulled somewhat, enough to go without coverage if I had to. Soon as I covered again, sensitivity returned much more quickly, and wasn't affected as far as I could tell. Interesting. The brain is part of the sensitivity equation at all times. Teach it, and it seems to learn to accept playing more of an obvious role in interpretation and response to varying conditions. Again, this isn't true science, but it's very interesting.

The other thing that happened was that the loose skin I had grown re rolled down with no input from me; I had enough to cover roughly half the glans with no influence from anything except tighter underwear, and my penis shrinking from decreased blood flow. This equals a happy, even though the penis was going the other way .

[mjwise]

I started retaining on day 1 here (including overnight), but I was starting from CI-3. Personally, I think retaining helps encourage the skin to grow and lay on the penis the way you want it to, even though in and of itself it applies too little tension to cause skin growth. Because I am using inflation a lot, I haven't actually had a lot of dekeratinization (all that air inhibits contact between glans and inner skin), but I have gone from CI-3 to CI-5 in about six months.

[Guest]

I started retaining on day 1 here (including overnight), but I was starting from CI-3. Personally, I think retaining helps encourage the skin to grow and lay on the penis the way you want it to, even though in and of itself it applies too little tension to cause skin growth. Because I am using inflation a lot, I haven't actually had a lot of dekeratinization (all that air inhibits contact between glans and inner skin), but I have gone from CI-3 to CI-5 in about six months.

Retaining really doesn't do that, but whatever, it does allow sensitivity to begin.

[Guy]

I've been restoring for over a year now. I used the dtr and its different methods. I've definitely seen results but am ultimately unsatisfied with them.

A couple of weeks ago I started using the tlc tugger and for the first time started retaining. I'm starting to see faster results I believe and I think that it's partially due to retaining. I didn't previously retain.

I think retaining never actually let's the skin rest and sort of puts your skin in a "save state" to be continued the next day.

Both Ron and Chuck retained and they received rather quick results. I believe that if you want faster results then you should start retaining. I would suggest retaining with Ron's cone

[Guest]

Yeah, it's been a fairly common misunderstanding for many years on restoration forums that retaining somehow affects skin in a physical way. The old term usually used was "train" the skin; used to see that a lot. It isn't true for a couple of obvious reasons:

1. Cellular addition through mitosis (beyond the maintenance rate) happens on the microscopic level, at the unseen bottom-most layer of epidermis, a few cells at a time. Nobody can see this with the naked eye at any point over the LONG term, let alone in the short term. Everything noticeable in restoration happens in a rear-view mirror, and that's a fact that guys who've actually done this thing for years come to know;

2. Now the term used above is "save state". This is a new one; I like it, sounds all technical, but it's made up, and it simply doesn't exist in the process of mitosis.

3.. Thinking that you can affect skin by holding it in some position comes from the old "stretch" myth, ie "I stretched my skin to here, and I'll keep it there by retaining". Nope, you won't, because that isn't how any of the process actually works. Guys want control over this whole thing, and you'll never get it, other than not tugging anymore and walking away from restoration.

You can chose to not know how this thing works but that doesn't allow anybody to make something up. That would be the definition of magical thinking, and it doesn't help newbies. But it does help put tugging in a poor light, to those who know better, and it keeps that old myth alive. Why do that.

And not least: "over a year" (let alone over some shorter time frame trying something new) will reveal almost nothing in the way of results, visible or otherwise. Years, in the plural; it takes years to see any progress. And THAT'S a fact; a fact of human physiology. If you know how your body actually works, then you know what to expect. So unless you're not from this planet.........

[Swingshiftworker]

Just wearing a tugger (or other device) for the purpose of retention w/o any tension probably doesn't do anything to promote skin growth or coverage but, as noted previously, it does keep your glans moist and promotes the softening and dekeratinization of the glans.

However, if you have enough skin for 100% FEC (full forced erect coverage), wearing a tugger (or other device) for retension MAY contribute to skin growth because of the tension created by the erection. It's no different than putting a strap on the tugger but, of course, the tension only lasts as long as the erection does (which can be quite a while in my case) but probably not long enough to really make a difference. Just no way to no for sure, yea or nay, but mostly likely nay.