Chamois Butter. Yay? Nay?

Does anyone here use it? Any one swear by it for long rides? 3+ hours? (Road riding, not hop off and on riding like on a MUni)

Thanks

Re: Chamois Butter. Yay? Nay?

Sofa,

I have a friend/coworker who commutes 400 miles/week on his bicycle.  He swears by the stuff.  From what he tells me is that although it sounds greasy and gross it really makes his long ride much more comfortable.

matt

BTW If you purchase something from Unicycle.com, they offer a free sample with your purchase. You have to add it to your cart here. It adds $.87 onto your shipping though. :wink: If your ordering something anyways might as well try some out. They probably have these sample packets at you LBS too.

matt

From my days of doing long road rides on bicycles and 85-125 mile long enduroes on motorcycles, my personal choice has been Vaseline petroleum jelly cream. It comes in a yellow and white tube that says “creamy” on it. It is excellent for long rides in the saddle and is less expensive and easier to find than Chamios Butter. As I mentioned before, it is a cream and really works well!

Any comparisons betweem Chamois Butter/vaseline and talcum powder/corn starch?
Which protects best, grease or powder?

I always use Chamois Butter even for quite short rides otherwise I get sore.

I dunno, I think that powder is just for absorbing all the sweat, and keeping you comfortable that way. Part of the cooling effect comes from the powder itself not being 'crotch-sitting-on-a-unicycle-for-hours-while-you-are-working-as-hard-as-you-can temperature all of a sudden in your shorts.

Having not used chamois butter, actually ‘But’r’ if I recall correctly. (how’s that for a Cliff Clayvon ? Well N’ammy, a small tribe in the East Indies discoverd this, but was actually…

but aren’t it’s benefits to lubricate so the chaffing doesn’t begin in the first place?

The benefits of “lubing up” before a ride are quite simple:
By applying something such as Vaseline creamy, you actually help to prevent the friction and irritation that causes the chafing.
Another product that I tried with gret success was Noxzema moisturizing cream (in the blue jar)
Many years ago when I was still racing motorcycles, I spotted one of the pros sitting outside his motorhome rubbing Noxzema into the chamois of his cycling shorts that he wore under his leathers. I questioned him about it’s effectiveness and he told me that being as it was a moisturizer, the more it rubbed against your “sensitive areas” the more it moisturized, reducing what we commonly called “monkey butt”

I use Chamois Butt’r with my shorts that have a leather-like more traditional chamois. The Chamois Butt’r keeps the chamois from drying out and keeps it more comfortable.

For my shorts with a fabric-like chamois I have been trying Bodyglide I didn’t like the way the fabric chamois absorbed the Chamois Butt’r and didn’t keep it next to my skin. Bodyglide stays on the skin.

Petroleum jelly and similar products are very difficult to wash out of your shorts and off of your skin. Yucky! Chamois Butt’r does have mineral oil, but it’s easy to wash out of the shorts and off your skin.

I’ve tried to STRESS that I have been referring to Vaseline CREAMY

I agree with you wholeheartedly about using petroleum products.YUCK!!! The Vaseline Cream is a totally different product that cleans up easily, same as the Noxzema. Just offering everyone some alternative choices that have worked well for me

You’ve sold me on it! I’m gonna get some. Do you put it on you or the shorts?

Thanks

Krashin’Kenny

I’ve tried to STRESS that I have been referring to Vaseline CREAMY

I agree with you wholeheartedly about using petroleum products.YUCK!!! The Vaseline Cream is a totally different product that cleans up easily

Sorry, I should have realized when you said it came in a yellow and white tube.

Can you get Vasaline Creamy from a chemists or do you have to go to a bike shop?

My comments about the Vaseline was not in response to your mention of the Vaseline Creamy stuff. Some people promote the use of products like Vaseline or Bag Balm as a chamois cream or as a treatment for saddle sores and I wanted to stop that idea before it got started.

Another alternative product is Desitin diaper rash ointment. I’ll sometimes use it if I’m starting to develop a rash and want to keep on riding. It seems to help the rash heal and keep it from getting worse. The creamy is better than the original formula stuff for use as a saddle cream. Desitin is a bit of a pain to wash off your skin and out of your shorts because it won’t wash off with just water, you need to use soap. But it’s not like trying to wash out petroleum jelly.

If anyone has a problem with a rash make sure to wear clean shorts and change out of the shorts as soon as possible at the end of the ride. Dirty shorts will have bacteria and rubbing those bacteria into a rash will make things much much worse.

Butt’r

No matter! – shorts or skin, it ends up in the same place :slight_smile:

An LBS here gives away the small packets of Chamois Butt’r, while another sells them for a buck. Depending on what type of chamois you have, you may not need much to get the desired effect. I use it quite liberally on my shorts with a traditional chamois, but less so on more cloth-like pads.

Sorry 'bout that, no offense meant,
I thought maybe there was a miscommuncation, I just didn’t want anybody to miss out on the many options available.

You should be able to find the Vaseline Creamy around the baby ointments at the local market. I just put a little on my skin where chaffing may occur. When I was using Noxzema medicated cream, I would rub it into the shorts. Both feel a little slippery at first, but you’ll soon get used to it.

sureley its a bad idea to trick your body into ignoring pain?
pain is designed to make you stop doing things that hurt your body isn’t it?

won’t you be just as sore the next day?
if my saddle becomes uncomfortable i just ride seat in front for a while untill the pain in my leggs is worse than the pain on my ass, then i sit down again.
mind you i never ride more than a few miles at a time.

Butt’r

The purpose of chamois lubricant of any kind is to eliminate chaffing – which would cause skin pain in addition to any pain associated with long periods in a saddle. As for that, it’s a matter of allowing your body time to adjust.

I dug up this old thread while searching for something, so I think I’ll post here: anyone heard of Anti Monkey Butt powder?

The product description claims it fights two causes of the saddle soreness: it absorbs sweat to help keep dry, and it lubricates the skin to prevent chafing.

I heard of this through some motorcycling friends out west, who get theirs at Rite Aid pharmacy stores out there. I will be checking to see if it’s available here in Michigan, and will try it - unless it’s already known to unicyclists as a waste of money…anyone have experience with it?

(incidentally: elsewhere on the page it states that if the pain causes you to walk bow-legged like a monkey you have Monkey Butt!)