Someone told me ordinary talc is fine and everyone else is fussing

The practical objection to scented bathroom talc is not the talc, it is everything else in the tub. Perfume, and in a lot of them a small amount of oil or a conditioning agent, which is the thing you do not want anywhere near rubber. A plain talc-free dressing powder is one ingredient and nothing else, so there is nothing to react and nothing to leave a residue.

Also it goes claggy. Scented talc plus a bit of sweat turns into a grey paste in the seams that you then have to wash out. Ask me how I know.

I used ordinary talc for about two years before I knew any better and nothing terrible happened to the pieces. So I do think the horror stories are overdone. That said I switched and the dressing powder is clearly better at the actual job, so I am not going back.

That is a fair summary of the state of things. Nothing catastrophic happens quickly, and the difference shows up over years rather than months, which is exactly why the argument never resolves. Nobody runs a controlled experiment on their own wardrobe. What is not really disputed is that the fragrance and any oil content are pointless risks for no benefit.

So the honest answer is that the talc itself is probably fine and the stuff mixed in with it is the problem. That is a much more useful distinction than what I was told, which was essentially that talc is poison.

Yes. And use far less than you think. Most people dump powder in like they are flouring a cake tin. A light dusting, worked around with your hand, is plenty.

Worth remembering what the powder is actually for, which is stopping rubber sticking to rubber and to skin. Once a piece is on and settled the powder has done its job. That is why people who dress with silicone do not need any, and why the piece still needs powdering before it goes away regardless of how you got into it.

One thing nobody has raised. Some people would rather not be breathing in clouds of any loose powder in a small bathroom, whatever it is made of. That alone was enough to move me to the silicone route.

Fair, though I would say the answer to that is to powder over a towel and not fling it about, rather than to change method entirely. I have used dressing powder for years in a normal bathroom without creating a fog.

Ten replies and a genuine split, which is more than my little question deserved. I have bought a plain talc-free powder, I am using much less of it than I was, and I have stopped worrying that I poisoned a top last summer.