Homemade / DIY Chamois Cream Recipes
Moderators: robbosmans, Moderator Team
The best chamois cream for most people is one that's astringent and keeps the pores from blocking up while riding. That's how they get infected. That's not a matter of antibiotic or steroids, just something like Noxema or other astringent creams. The pharmacy shelf is full of them.
If you are dealing not with blocked pores leading to saddle sores but more like chafing and abrasion, that's where the slick stuff is best. Amazon has all kinds made for runners and for feet and they all work well on the posterior. It's amazing how slick some of them can make you. No bad puns from those of you so inclined.
If you simply have hammer soreness (pounding that leaves you feeling bruised or tender), that's more of a condition issue, or a saddle style or position issue. In short, each kind of saddle soreness needs something different.
If you are dealing not with blocked pores leading to saddle sores but more like chafing and abrasion, that's where the slick stuff is best. Amazon has all kinds made for runners and for feet and they all work well on the posterior. It's amazing how slick some of them can make you. No bad puns from those of you so inclined.
If you simply have hammer soreness (pounding that leaves you feeling bruised or tender), that's more of a condition issue, or a saddle style or position issue. In short, each kind of saddle soreness needs something different.
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I know it's not home made, but has Bag Balm been mentioned? Works for me. Cheap, at most drug stores. Lanolin based. Disinfecting qualities. Very viscous. Recommended to me by a surgeon who had the pleasure of removing (yes, removing... not just lancing) a saddle sore the size of a golf ball when I returned home from a mulitweek bike touring trip down the West Coast. Believe he called it a fistula. Lovely. Luckily the saddle sore came about at the end of the trip. I use a little Bag Balm on the areas where I might tend to chafe. Goes on the skin directly. Has been good. Kind of does embed itself a bit to your pads but that's ok.
Colnago C64 - The Naked Build; Colnago C60 - PR99; Trek Koppenberg - Where Emonda and Domane Meet;
Unlinked Builds (searchable): Colnago C59 - 5 Years Later; Trek Emonda SL Campagnolo SR; Special Colnago EPQ
Unlinked Builds (searchable): Colnago C59 - 5 Years Later; Trek Emonda SL Campagnolo SR; Special Colnago EPQ
My first recommendation is usually to try nothing. It cleans up the best and if you wash carefully after a ride and wash your bibs properly, it may be all you need. If you want just a little help, I'd go with Noxema -- cheap, lubricant, astringent, nothing fancy. If you have chafing, I'd use BodyGlide or something like that, potentially mixed with Noxema. At that point your next step is something like DZNuts or Assos. If you still have problems, you may have a fit problem, an issue with flexibility or excessive body movement on the saddle, or whatever.
I don't recommend Bag Balm because it has a petrolatum base and contaminates the chamois pad. Same issue as using Vaseline or similar products. You can get the astringent and lubricating properties without vaseline.
I don't recommend Bag Balm because it has a petrolatum base and contaminates the chamois pad. Same issue as using Vaseline or similar products. You can get the astringent and lubricating properties without vaseline.
I've never used chamois cream. Forgive me sounding stupid, but do you all put it on you, or on your bibs pads? It's main purpose to help with chafing right?
I personally put it on my own skin only... it will get in the pad from there. I don't think this is a big deal. Some apparently do. I don't use much, only where I've experienced chafing. Really helps. Don't leave home without it. 
Colnago C64 - The Naked Build; Colnago C60 - PR99; Trek Koppenberg - Where Emonda and Domane Meet;
Unlinked Builds (searchable): Colnago C59 - 5 Years Later; Trek Emonda SL Campagnolo SR; Special Colnago EPQ
Unlinked Builds (searchable): Colnago C59 - 5 Years Later; Trek Emonda SL Campagnolo SR; Special Colnago EPQ
11.4 wrote:in the summer I'll use plain Noxema for a while because it cleans so well and its astringent qualities keep pores open so I am least prone to infectious in hair follicles.
Perhaps I have misunderstood the interplay between the skin surface and pores, but my impression was always that astringents (which shrink or tighten tissues) would also shrink or tighten pores. Is that the case or does the increased tension across the skin surface pull pores wider open? I interpret what you are saying above to mean that astringents open pores.
Tight pores against the chamois seems like it could be good in regard to preventing intrusion of bacteria laden whatever from that steamy environment, but it also seems like it would prevent the outflow of sweat/sebum which could create a kind of buildup within the pore, which wouldn't be good, so I am unclear on what we should be shooting for with cream ingredients.
Otherwise, that was all awesome info and many thanks for summing up your educated perspectives on the various options so concisely.
