What type of adhesive can I use to glue plastic or metal to skin in a way that will take a strain?
There are of course plenty of glues that “bond instantly to skin”, but they’re invariably labled as irritants. Is surgical glue available to the common man, and will it glue things to skin as well as skin to skin?
Any other possible options, and how long would they last, what kind of strain would they take?
Spirit gum is the glue used to stick on false beards and that sort of thing. No idea about its strength though.
More information is requested.
Dare we even ask why you want to do such a thing?
Isn’t surgical glue just a special formulation of cyanoacrylate, i.e. similar to Crazy Glue? I could be wrong but I didn’t think Crazy Glue was that irritating. It certainly hasn’t irritated my skin when I’ve accidentally got some on me.
“Surgical glue” is just a cyanoacrylate adhesive labeled for a specific use. It may bear a claim of sterility.
What about prosthetic adhesive? It is readily available, and is made for use on the skin.
http://wolfstone.halloweenhost.com/Costumes/adhpro_ProstheticAdhesive.html
I believe that crazy glue was originally intended for use as a surgical glue, but was not promoted as such because of the irritation it caused.
It depends on what exactly you want to glue to your skin, where exactly you want to glue it, how long it needs to stay on, and what you expect to be doing.
Some glues won’t work with certain materials. Some handle weight better than others. Some can’t handle bending.
Depending on the specifics, a wad of gum might work or you may need an industrial strength adhesive.
Re Irritation
While this varies from person to person, I’ve never had a problem with glue on my skin.
Sadly This To That does not cover attaching things to your skin.
Just remember that when it comes time to remove the glued object, it has to be terror sweat.
I’d try Band-Aid® Liquid Bandage. http://www.bandaid.com/liquid_bandage.shtml I’ll warn you, though, it’s not cheap.
When my dentist was about to glue a crown onto my tooth, he said he was using a high-strength glue. Epoxy, I asked? He shook his head and said that epoxy is not bio-compatible
Liquid Bandage is a cyanoacrylate product, but not as strong as you might expect - they say you can readily pull apart fingers that have been glued together with it. Their pro-grade stuff is called Dermabond, and you won’t be able to separate fingers glued together with it, but it’s not available to consumers.
From personal experience, the old-stype Liquid Nails construction adhesive will stick to skin for a few days.
In case anyone’s wondering, it’s not possible to glue something to skin in a truly permanent way due to the constant cycle of the outer layer of skin renewing itself as cells flake off.
What about nail glue, for acrylic nails? Would that work?
A glue as potent as what’s being discussed will be stronger than the upper layer of your skin. One really good tug on whatever you’ve got glued on could really ruin your day.
It’s not that hard to rip off spirit-gummed moustaches/beards. It usually takes a bit of skin off with it and that smarts a lot. When my high school did South Pacific, most of the sailors were actually girls, so almost everybody was wearing some sort of fake facial hair. The one guy who was wearing a fake moustache decided that he was too impatient to wait for the remover, so every night he just ripped his moustache off. I don’t know if he just had really tough skin or if it was just that he actually shaved his upper lip and we girls didn’t, but four year later, I still can’t believe that he did that eight times in five days. I tried, and I ended up taking off a chunk of skin off my lip.
If you were going to try to glue something with any weight to it, then I’d wager that spirit gum isn’t strong enough. Anything stronger and I think you’d be looking at a pretty bad scab or worse afterwards.
In the movies and in theater, when it looks like an actor has metal glued to their skin, it’s usually actually a lightweight rubber or plastic prosthetic or mould, and they’re using spirit gum or a similar substance to attach it. It might be a very lightweight metal, but probably not.
FWIW, and I can’t cite this, when Crazy Glue came on the market the surgeons recognized it’s possibilities. However, the same stuff in “surgical quality” wasn’t available in sufficient quantities so they just went ahead and use the off-the-shelf stuff in their procedures. It worked and they thought it was pure enough for their purposes.
Again, take it FWIT.
More information on its way.
Sure. I was wondering whether it was possible to use glue to make a fake piercing, for example by glueing a split ring to… somewhere.
Well all the ones I’ve seen are labled as irritating, and the staff report on using ordinary Super Glue as cheap liquid bandage says:
And I suppose that’s enough quoting. It appears I’ll have to shelve this idea, or start hanging out with doctors and try to score some dermabond. 
Your genitals are no place for Krazy Glue, Goop, or spirit gum. I’ve never had any of them irritate my hands, but rubbing alcohol or chili peppers don’t cause an indescribable burning agony when applied to my hands either.
I have no idea what effect these adhesives have on nipples. I am not eager to find out.
You can get fake rings for the face. These pinch somewhat, but require no glue. I have no idea how well they would hold on genitals, or how comfortable they would be.
Hey mangeorge!
Pinching is no problem, their main drawback would be them not staying on under any kind of strain.