Club Foyer>Healthcare

Sleeping Gas and Rubber Rainmacs

Dear Lorraine,

I came across your website a month or two ago when looking on the web for a way to preserve one of my old rubberised raincoats, which is now flaking terribly. Although I have always known that some people share my somewhat strange interest in rubberised clothing, I was surprised by going onto the web to find out the wide extent of fascination that these items hold. I have read your letters' page and thought I might add my two-cent's worth. My introduction to the many and varied delights of rubberised raingear occurred in a bit of a strange way and might add another point-of-view to the subjects discussed on your site.

I grew up on a small farm in Paarl, which is about 70 kms from Cape Town, South Africa. I had (and still have) two older brothers. Although we did not really want for anything, we were not that well off and my mother had to be quite frugal with her household budget. As a result there were a lot of hand-me-down clothes from my brothers, where these could be worn by a girl. One of these was an old navy-blue rubberised raincoat made by a company called Rain-O-Mac. This name gave rise to my brothers calling raincoats "rainmacs", a term that has still stuck with our family until today. To me the coat was nothing special - a rainmac was a rainmac as far as I was concerned - it was simply meant to keep you dry. This one was faded, stiff and unyielding, smelt rubbery, and was definitely not a fashion item. I wore it to school only when I had to.

When I was thirteen I had some teeth extracted under general anaesthetic at a clinic in Cape Town. When the doctors put me to sleep, they had a large machine with black rubber pipes and a facemask, which they held over my nose and mouth. The mask smelt strongly of rubber. At first I didn't like the sweet smell of the gas and the dizzy feeling of going under, but as I went deeper, the anaesthetic started affecting me in the strangest way. Let's just say I started to feel the most wonderful sensations, which for a young teenage girl who was starting to discover her sexuality, were as equally frightening as they were exquisitely pleasurable! I tried to fight the gas to keep these feelings alive, but eventually passed out, but not before having the most superb experience. I still clearly remember the entire event in detail to this day.

When I came round, I felt nauseous from the gas, my jaw ached terribly and my mouth was full of blood, but through all that, all I could think about was those happenings as I was put under with the sleeping gas. After I was taken home, I slept the whole day, but during this and the next day I had what can only be described as a deep warmness inside me. I did not dare tell my mother about this.

About a week later it was raining when I went to school. When I put my rainmac on, the smell of the lining immediately reminded me of the rubbery smell of the facemask and all the memories of my experience of going under the anaesthetic came flooding back. I couldn't believe how instant and real they were - I almost had another "passion attack" on the spot! The scent of the rubber was such a turn on. Naturally, I wore the mac at school for the whole day. From that day onwards, the old rubber rainmac was no longer a despised item of school clothing in my wardrobe!

That winter I wore my rainmac whenever I could. Luckily, it was quite rainy, so I had lots of opportunities to do so. At first I did so for the smell, but then I started discovering the other sensual pleasures of rubberised rainwear. I sometimes (after locking my bedroom door) put it on with no clothes underneath and got quite used to the divine feeling of the smooth rubber inside brushing against my skin, especially around my thighs. Sometimes I wore it inside out - I just loved the silky sheen of the blue rubber lining. The mac was a bit small and I was developing a bust, so it was like wearing a tightly fitting cosy little rubberised cocoon - I felt really safe and warm and sexy, especially if I did the waist strap up tight - the sensation was just so marvellous! I even wore it to bed once or twice, but always woke up drenched in sweat, so I stopped doing this. I also used to pretend sometimes that I was being put to sleep for an operation, making a facemask by rolling up the sleeve cuff and breathing into it. The sleeve used to expand in and out in time with my breathing, just like the big black rubber balloon that I remember seeing on the gas machine when I was put under. By doing this I could intimately relive the whole gassing experience again! I knew this wasn't normal, or what "nice girls should do", but I didn't care - I had many hours of pleasure with my rainmac and it became my almost constant companion.

But disaster struck. I went away on summer holidays with my best friend and her family and for some reason did not take my rainmac with. We came home just before the school term started. My mother had gone and prepared our school uniforms and had bought us some new things. One of these was (as my mom put it) "a nice new raincoat, as your old one was a bit small and getting a bit shabby." (I often wonder if she knew "something" was going on, but she never said anything.) The new raincoat was made of nylon with no rubber lining - and she had given my beloved rubberised rainmac away to charity!

I was devastated and sulked for a month! I tried to relive my gassing experience with the new coat, but it just wasn't the same. Eventually the urges and desires fell away and were replaced by other things like a growing interest in boyfriends. A raincoat became just a raincoat again and the whole experience was eventually dismissed as a strange stage of puberty that I had passed through. Or so I thought......

A quick jump through time: I was now twenty-two, at university and starting to go out with a medical student (I'll call him John). On walking into his flat one day, I caught the tiniest hint of that rubberised raincoat smell (certain smells are so instantly recognisable!) I looked around, and sure enough, there was a rainsuit hanging on a hook next to the door. I could see it had a blue rubber lining and for one moment the sight of it took me back to being thirteen again. I decided there and then to ignore such thoughts. I was very much in love and I was sure that I was well past such things.

Our relationship progressed and we became very close. When John wasn't studying, he was very fond of walking on the beach and often used to go out in all kinds of weather, especially in rain. I enjoyed it as well. He had one or two other rainsuits and raincoats and he used to kit me out in these for our walks. I didn't think anything of this, as he said they were spare for those friends who wanted to join him on his walks. I started to feel quite snug in them, and this partially rekindled the "cosy little rubberised cocoon" feelings of my early teenage years, but I kept these thoughts very much to myself.

One day I was alone in his flat. I had been idly thinking about his various rainsuits and was just curious to see what he had in his cupboards. On opening one door I was greeted with the sight of at least seven or eight raincoats, rainsuits and a poncho, all in different colours, all rubberised, hanging in a neat row! I felt and sniffed the rubber lining of each one. The smells (all slightly different) were fantastic and I was immediately aroused. Of course, there were a thousand questions: Why does he have so many? Could he also "be into" rubber raingear like me? What do guys feel with rainmacs? I was very naive about such things and had no means of knowing what was usual or even if my teenage experiences could be considered really abnormal. I was very confused. I closed the cupboard quickly. I wasn't sure how to handle this and decided not to mention any of this to John. After all, I didn't want to admit to any unnatural feelings or perversions and I didn't even want to admit to looking into his cupboard. But now there was always a temptation to sneak back and look, touch and smell!

After this, despite my very best intentions, I found myself well and truly hooked again. I now actively wore John's rainsuits and raincoats whenever bad weather gave me even the slightest excuse. I was fascinated with his rainmac "collection" and one day when I was sure he was outside, I decided to have a quick look in his cupboard again. I had just opened the door and was sniffing the lining of one of the coats when he walked into his bedroom. He looked a bit startled, and I must have as well. I stammered some excuse of trying to find a lipstick that I had left in one of the rainsuit pockets when we last went for a walk. He seemed to accept this and nothing further was said. He didn't seem to have noticed anything.

The following weekend was really stormy and John was heavily involved in his studies, but on Saturday evening we decided to go for a walk on the beach anyway. As we were about to go, John said he had a present for me. I could feel my heart beating wildly and my mouth go dry as I saw what it was. It was a black rainsuit top and trousers made by a company called PRIMET (now sadly no more) and had a black rubber lining that had the most marvellous smell; it was almost like a scent. Secretly, I was thrilled, but immediately had to be on the defensive. Did he know about my feelings for rubber and was he testing me? Was he also saying that he was into rubber as well? I decided to be cautious and not say anything. I thanked him warmly but neutrally, put the rainsuit on and we went on out together into the rain.

On the way back from the beach we stopped under a tree. The rain was drumming down heavily. He put his arms around me and kissed me. Through our raingear I could feel his warmth and a certain hardness to his body. He looked me deeply in the eyes and said, "You look and feel ever so sexy in your new rubberised rainsuit - it really looks great on you." To me that was as good as an admission that he knew, or at least had an idea, about my predilection for rubber and that he too was an afficionado of such things. I still held back and did not say anything, but I was ever so turned on. When we got back to his flat we went to bed. The smell of our rainsuits discarded so hurriedly next to the bed was pure perfume to me. Later on John suggested that we wear them in bed, despite their being cold and wet from our walk - I readily agreed. The result was sheer magic - we spent the night together in rubberised bliss......

Margy M

Dear Margy

Well, this is so interesting to me - thank you so much.The most interesting thing is the link with the dentist! I think it's a complete coincidence that your letter reaches me at almost the same moment as the one from MD who speaks well of his dentist for this reason. Though you say your love of mackintoshes stems from that encounter, I suppose there is always the question: by why you and not the many other people who must have been subjected to the mask but who emerge without the permanent enrichment of their lives you speak about...I do hope you will tell us more!

Best wishes - and thanks again -

Lorraine

Hi Lorraine,

Thanks for the prompt answer. I wasn't too sure about sending off my memoirs to you, but your response has been very very encouraging.

An interesting question on why THE MASK affects some people and not others.

In my case, the answer is probably in one little detail I didn't mention in my letter. I remember the anaesthetist who put me to sleep was a particularly handsome and attractive young doctor who took his time to reassure a very nervous and somewhat embarrassed teenage girl lying on the operating table in front of him. (Those open-backed theatre gowns that they make you wear ARE the most degrading garments in the world!) He was really quite a dish and very charming! - I remember being quite taken with him. When I look back now, all the elements were there - it just needed a good whiff of gas to get them going……

"Proper" rubberised rainwear is becoming a rarity in S.A. Rubberised nylon used to be reasonably common ten years ago, but now one struggles so hard to find it today. Apart from the PRIMET suit mentioned in the previous letter, I also had a navy blue raincoat (with hood) that also had the same black rubber lining. It was made (I suspect by PRIMET, there was nothing to say so) for Cape Union Mart, a large camping store here in C.T. Unfortunately these macs are no more, having perished and gone sticky on me. I eventually had to throw them away. I have another Cape Union Mart green rubberised mac, which I preserve with copious amounts of talc. I also bought a man's rainmac at a second-hand market made by a company called TRUCO (Transvaal Rubber Company). This is green with brown rubber lining which is starting to harden and flake - it has the most sensuous aroma - any ideas on how to preserve it?

My day-to-day hiking/gardening/dog-walking rainsuit is made by a PRO-MARC, which is unfortunately starting to wear a little (I've had it for five years now) I was lucky in that I came across another second-hand one in good condition (it has also had the talc treatment and is stored safely in my cupboard) so that I at least have a spare. All the companies mentioned above have gone bankrupt, don't make rainwear anymore, or produce "rubberised" rainwear that doesn't have the rubber smell. Are there any other rainmac fans out there in S.A. that would be interested in selling?

The weather here in C.T. has been deliciously wet over the last month. As I look over the bay, I see another squall coming in so I'm going to put my PRO-MARC on and take a walk......

Take care

Margy

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