You probably need to get the tape tighter. Applying it clockwise, hold the loose end and stretch the tape tight as you go around two or three turns. Then pinch it into the threads with our fingers.

I tell you what I do. I start winding the tape on the chrome of the shower head arm. I lay the tape flat on the chrome, wind it twice like a candy cane towards the end of the threads that insert into the fitting, then wind it twice back to the flat of the crome the same direction without stopping. What this does is leave no exposed end where the pipe inserts into the threads. Both exposed ends are back on the chrome arm. So as you thread it into the joint, there is nothing to catch on the inside of the female thread.

Good Luck

Raymond VinZant Plumbing Prof.

I thought the manufacturers application instructions were to start at the end of the pipe and work back and not come back to the end.