I was age 12 . Worked hard , wrote a book about it later , got a full scholarship through college , went to law school , now I ' m a lawyer . <| sep |> Very sexy , Rabbit ! Those moans . <| sep |> If you ' re brand new to hooping , I would defiantly recommend a polyethylene PE tubing hoop that ' s at least up to your belly button . They ' re a bit heavier material so it ' s will move slower making it easier to figure out tricks and also hug your bodystick a bit move simply because of the weight . You can find them on Etsy also or you can buy a big roll of tubing from a local hardware store for pretty cheap and then you can cut new smaller hoops once you get more experienced . I would definitely recommend some gaffer tape for grip at first . You can add pretty tape too , but be warned that hoops get scuffed a lot , especially when you ' re just starting out . So , you might just want to get some pretty colored gaffer so you can retape it easily once it starts to look well loved . If you ' re not brand new , then completely ignore all the above . If you want a pretty taped hoop , I would recommend either a ring of thin gaffer tape on the inside or hoop wax or a hot glue stick . The latter two you just rub on the hoop by hand . A plain sanded hoop also works . A lot of hooping is just figuring out your own personal preferences , so don ' t feel like my word is gospel Anyways , good luck on you hoop journey ! Edit since I realized I didn ' t answer one of your questions . Pretty much all the reflectiveshiny tapes aren ' t going to have much grip on their own .