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Chamois Butter


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What's the deal with "Chamois Butter"? Does it make a difference?

Saw a tube for R170 Cry at Sportsman's Warehouse, which is a substantial amount of dosh for me.

Been riding for >2h at a stretch since I joined Velo 3 weeks back which is great, except for my undercarriage Dead and was wondering if the chamois butter would help me feel less like a prison inmate(until my backside is harder, that is).

 

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Chamois butter/cream/milki is BS.

 

It comes from the old days when the padding was a genuine piece of kid skin called a chamois. After a wash this thing was like a plank and you used to rub stuff into it to make it soft.

 

Nowadays its utility has disappeared and the perpretators of this product  will claim other properties.

 

Fact is, that once you've done a certain amount of miles in a given period, your behind is hard and saddle sores are rare.

 

A lubricant may help under certain condition, and that is when your saddle sores are abrasions. However, most saddle sores are just bruises. Bruises can become icschemic sores and no amout of butter/cream/milk can prevent these, they are pressure sores from internal tissue rotting. They are not related to bacteria or abrasion.

 

Very few people suffer from abrasion and therefore chamois cream is moot.

 
Johan Bornman2010-05-20 11:40:03
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"internal tissue rotting"? "icschemic sores"?  You almost managed to put me off cycling forever, doc. Good thing you can't shake the bug once it's gotten a hold of you lol

So it's just *@#! expensive snake oil? LOL

Looks like I'll have to "tuffen" up Ouch

 

Happy cycling :)

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i find chamois cream does make a ride more comfortable...not for your a$$ but just in general down in the chamois region

 

its a sort of lubricant between chamois and skin, so prevents that sticky uncomfortable feeling

 

just my opinion tho

 

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My wife has a shelf full of different chammy creams . But has found that fissen cream for babies bums works the best and can be baught at any supermarket or shop . She says it helps . Have never tried sorry .

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Fison paste.......thick and yukky....but has the same contents as Chamois Butter and @ 20% of the price!!! Agree with Mr Bornman's opinion.....but I find using the paste, stops sores before they start. The sores usually appear, when I forget to apply paste and don't shower immediately after a training ride or race due to either traveling back from a race of messing around after a training ride doing other cr@p.

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I get a skin irritation on my upper legs after a few days of commuting.

 

Almost on the line of padding stops.

 

 

 

It could be a few things,

 

Maybe a lycra allergy? But surely I would suffer everywhere then?

 

Maybe there is some material (nylon maybe) in the stitching that is nailing me? But it is all my shorts that irritate it?

 

 

 

Or else could it be that when I get home I dont always have time to shower straight away?

 

 

 

I dont use any creams etc. But I tried putting some aqueous on it this morning before my ride and it did seem to make it a bit better.

 

 

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I use chamois butter or what ever ingredient for the sole purpose to stop/eradicate any chaffing......MARKII shammy cream works for me! smiley20.gif

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I use chamois butter or what ever ingredient for the sole purpose to stop/eradicate any chaffing......MARKII shammy cream works for me! smiley20.gif

 

+1

 

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As stated so many times before, the best thing to use is Milking Cream as used by farmers. It contains the same goodies as expensive chamios cream.

buy it from your Vet.

You won't ride without it ever again

 

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I used Chamois Butter at the Epic and Non-stop and found it to be brilliant, a lot better then previous products I had used!

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Like Bornman said - The name stuck from the good old days when we had real chamois pads. They were fantastic ! After a wash, the leather got hard and dry and you had to soften it with a cream.

Cream will not make your bum harder or any easier to sit on a saddle - that comes from time and a good saddle fit (and standing up as often as possible).

 

The benefit was that the chamois stuck to your butt and there was zero chafing.  With the new fabrics most riders eventually get a spot that chafes.  The main benefit therefore is not for the chamois any longer, it is for your butt. 

 

I have the same costs complaint as you ? the Chamois Butter, Mark II cream.. .etc ..etc are all cycling gimmicks (like Johan said) to make money out of us.  But I agree, than one needs a cream to prevent the chaffing, and you can get perfectly good results from other creams.

The Milko balm (at most pharmacies is the cheapest and best) but it does break down with water ? so if you get very wet (sweaty) like me, the cream will eventually break down and the protection reduces.

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Unfortunately Vaseline and other oil based creams are hell to wash out of the chamois (in case you were thinking of trying them.) However, for longer rides ? 3hr and more I find I must put something on my butt.   I rub a little anti bacterial cream or one of the baby nappy rash creams or vaseline into the spots that always chafe ? then apply a good layer of Milko over that.

Note ? its all about the chaffing ? not the sore butt from sitting on a narrow saddle for hours. No cream is going to make the sitting part easier.

 

Yes the real chamois was in my opinion the best (i guess that shows how old I am) ? but some of these new short ? with the crazy protruding seams and poor material choice ? can be made to work with enough cream.  That could get me started on another subject?.the prices we pay for some really badly thought-out padding jobs?? aaaaaaargh !

 

And saddle sores......try to prevent them at all costs...... wash... wash ....wash... as soon as possible after a ride - if any chaffing occurred... rub a little anti-bacterial cream on after the wash.

 

By the way...... if you do ever get a saddle sore - as soon as possible...while it is still a lump under the skin... apply "Polysporin" ... it is the only cream I have ever found to work properly - after many years of trying everything under the sun.
Lounge Lizard2010-05-24 09:18:34
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Have a shower straight after the race/ride, before you hit the pub/beer tent. Good old fashioned hygiene and not messing around in your funky cycling rods will avert saddle sore 99% of time. That been said I still swear by Mark2 if only for the smell and that squishy feeling...

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You guys are legends! And I don't mean that in a bad way :P

Thanks for saving me lots of swearing.

Amazing to think it's so easy to milk us cyclists of our money Angry R170 bucks for a little Chamois Butter when the toddler shelf has the equivalent for less than R40 o.O

LOL

Happy cycling everyone! And yeah, I agree, cycling kit was made for cycling in, not for looking extreme while drinking mocha capuccino latte's out of small cups lmao

 

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