Ask the Expert – does drinking water negate the effect of vocal sprays at coating the throat?

Nick Smith emails:

“One of the reviews for this product states that you need to drink plenty of water. This would seem to negate the idea of coating the throat to provide some relief from a dry throat. Can you please provide any further details?”

We reply:

Obviously, hydration is very important and used as standard advice by everyone promoting vocal health products, coaches and training programs.  “Coating” is a term used loosely with relative meaning.  In this case, consider the coating to be like lotion on your skin, the coating is oily but benefits take place in the skin not the “coating”. Most throat sprays do have a glycerin to help them stick which is a sort of coating but is inert in the scheme of things.
Many products purchased are with misconception of what the product does.  We do not offer Vocaleze as a hydration type product although some of their marketing suggests it promotes saliva and considering some of the ingredients it should. Our suggestion to customers is that Vocaleze’s greatest attribute is to remove mucous.  The mucous is your body’s way of promoting healing but often is in the way of a singer.  Vocaleze removes the mucous, replacing it with the lotion effect of aloe to continue the protection but clear the way.
Then, our standard suggestion is to do some humming exercises to loosen the mucous, to rinse after that to clear it out is when water might fit in. I suggest following up with Entertainers Secret to rehydrate the throat and coat loose particles to prevent choking or breaking. Neither product is a replacement for the other.