If you watch a game of professional darts, you may notice that a good number of the players will blow or lick their fingers before they hold the dart and start to line up their throw. Why do dart players blow or lick their fingers?
Dart players will either lick or blow on their fingers to provide them with a bit of extra grip when they are holding the dart.
Obviously, when you are playing darts, you want to minimize the amount that the dart slips in your hands. If it slips even the smallest amount, your shot will be off-target.
Why Does Licking or Blowing Your Fingers Give Extra Grip?
Licking or blowing on your fingers, particularly when the weather is cold, will add a bit of moisture to your fingers. This increases the amount of grip that you have.
Obviously, licking or blowing on your fingers isn’t really going to do anything if you are not holding the dart in a secure way anyway. So, don’t think that licking is all it takes to get a decent grip. The world doesn’t work that way!
Lack of Grip Is Often Caused by Dry Fingers
If you watch professional darts players, you will notice that they tend to blow on their fingers a lot more when it is colder. This is because when it is cold, your fingers will dry out a lot more.
Once your fingers have dried out, it is pretty tough to grip anything properly, let alone a dart.
If you have naturally dry skin, then this could be the reason why you are struggling to grip the dart with your fingers. While you could probably just blow on your fingers each time you grip the dart, it would probably be better to just get a decent lotion to begin with.
This way you can deal with the reason why your fingers are dry. Ideally, you will want to purchase a lotion that isn’t laden with oils.
These tend to slip a lot more when you are holding the dart. You should try to opt for a water-based lotion. They aren’t as brilliant at making your skin less dry, but they will help when it comes to gripping darts.
If you are playing darts at home a lot, then you may also want to ensure that your dart room is fairly warm. If it gets cold, then it is going to make it very difficult for you to play the game properly! The average room temperature should be fine. It doesn’t have to be a sauna in there.
Using Dart Wax for Extra Grip
Blowing or licking your fingers is probably going to be the most readily method for increasing your dart grip in an instant. It is the option that most professional players use too so, therefore, it is probably going to be the best option as well.
Alternatively, you can look into the option of dart wax. This can be applied to your fingers and will provide you with a better grip on the dart.
Many types of wax will work, but we do recommend using a wax created specifically for darts. This dart wax by Red Dragon is tried and proven by many dart enthusiasts.
How to Use Dart Grip Wax
The most effective way to apply your dart grip wax is to rub a small amount onto your throwing fingers. This can include your thumb, middle, ring and index fingers depending on your preferred way of gripping the dart barrel.
While we are on the subject of dart wax, it is important to note that a lot of dart wax will actually require you to blow on your fingers to get the most out of the wax.
This is because it doesn’t get ‘grippy’ until a little bit of heat is applied. You can achieve this same effect by rolling your dart between your fingers to create friction and heat before throwing.
Final Thoughts
Darts players will tend to blow on their fingers to provide a little bit of extra grip on the dart. This will help make their shots more accurate and as well as preventing any darts slipping in their hand.
If gripping your darts is a constant issue, then looking into dart wax is a great alternative if you don’t want to be licking or blowing on your fingers after every throw.
Finally, you may want to invest in a high quality set of dart barrels. Lower quality dart barrels tend to have less grip in their structural design compared to more higher end dart barrels. This is because the actual grip part of the dart will be a lot smoother, and this means that your fingers won’t be able to wrap around it quite so effectively.