All natural chamois cream

[mdeth1313]

As I've moved away from foods/soaps/cosmetics loaded with dyes, chemicals and other garbage that shouldn't be on or in my body I was looking for something to use while cycling. So far a tiny dab of tea tree oil and then a good amount of coconut oil seems to be working better than anything else I've ever used. Washes out nicely as well and coconut oil is really cheap.

Anyone else going this (or a similar) route?

[emorydptt]

Endurance Shield Chamois Cream.
http://www.enduranceshield.com/chamois-creme

[Stolichnaya]

mdeth1313, while I understand the desire to reduce the cumulative effects of toxins and eliminating them where possible, is there danger from products like Assos chamois cream and other well established competitors? Assos ingredients don't seem too outrageous and after so many years on the market any negative affects should have revealed themselves. Not knocking the approach, as skin care is similar to a saddle choice, everyone needs to find what works for them, but I am more curious about the decision to avoid established chamois cream products (selfishly curious, because I use Assos and Rapha creams regularly in the early season, phasing them out as the callouses set.)

[mdeth1313]

@Stolichnaya - there's probably nothing wrong with the assos stuff, but a tub of coconut oil cost me about 5-7 usd for 443 ml (15 oz). Pure tea tree oil is more expensive, about 5-7 usd for 30 ml (1 oz), but you use so little of it, it also lasts. So for 10-14 usd I end up about a year's supply (the coconut oil may last longer) as compared to the assos cream and there's nothing in it (and, for me, it's working better than anything else I've tried, including the assos cream).

[Stolichnaya]

Gotcha. Understood. Yea, the Assos creams, etc. cost significantly more.

[TheKaiser]

mdeth1313, while I understand the desire to reduce the cumulative effects of toxins and eliminating them where possible, is there danger from products like Assos chamois cream and other well established competitors? Assos ingredients don't seem too outrageous and after so many years on the market any negative affects should have revealed themselves. Not knocking the approach, as skin care is similar to a saddle choice, everyone needs to find what works for them, but I am more curious about the decision to avoid established chamois cream products (selfishly curious, because I use Assos and Rapha creams regularly in the early season, phasing them out as the callouses set.)

I am not sure if mdeth1313 has seen this study, but here is a good reason to be cautious with your chamois cream ingredients: http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/study ... ing-234125

The finding was that cyclists had higher levels of estradiol than comparison groups of triathletes or regular people. There was a correlation between how long the cyclists had been using chamois cream containing parabens and how high their estradiol levels are, with the long term users having levels comparable to premenopausal women.

Now, that is just an observational correlation, which doesn't establish causation, etc...but if one is inclined to apply the precautionary principle then it would make sense to stay the he11 away from creams with parabens.

The thing is, there is the potential for many many substances to function as xenoestrogens. If you just google "xenoestrogen phytoestrogen list" you should find a huge range of synthetic chemicals, but also a lot of natural things too. For example, soy products have estrogenic potential, as do sesame and sunflower products. A lot of athletes are now avoiding consuming soy in their diets for this reason, and there isn't any reason to think that the transdermal route of a topical application through the skin would be any less concerning, as there are many cases of topically applied products causing endocrine disruption. The snag is that a lot of "natural" products will use soy, sesame, or sunflower oil rather than petroleum jelly or mineral oil that might be used in an old school formulation.

mdeth1313's coconut oil should be fine, and even has the potential to reduce the production of estrogen through the sterols helping in aromatase inhibition. His tea tree oil on the other hand, is questionable: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=2838840&page=1

Other natural things in some chamois creams that have the potential to disrupt the endocrine system include mints. Mint tea is used therapeutically to reduce testosterone levels in women suffering from excess body hair growth. A lot of chamois creams have a tingling enlivening sort of effect on the skin, and that is often achieved through the use of extracts of the mint family.

Now, lots of otherwise "healthy" foods have estrogenic potential, so I don't mean to put you off any of these items entirely. In fact, the pros of a given food item may easily outweigh the cons. The same goes for mints and tea tree oil. They have antibacterial action, and so if you need them to avoid saddle sores then you gotta do what you gotta do. But if you don't need them, then there isn't a reason to go slathering the stuff right on your nuts every day. There are a ton of unanswered questions on these topics, with new ones springing up every day, so going the route of mdeth and mixing your own will allow one to use the minimal amount of ingredients, rather than being locked into a 6-10 ingredient list. Similarly, if he finds that 1 drop of tea tree is all it takes to keep the saddle sores at bay, he isn't locked into the 2 or 3 drops that might be in a commercial product, so he has just cut his exposure down by at least 50%. Plus he is saving some cash.

[mdeth1313]

@TheKaiser - that was an interesting read. FWIW, I only put the stuff around my sit bones, not around the junk- I only add tea tree in when I'm doing much longer rides (100+ miles) and then occasionally after those rides (only the TTO).

The breasts story reminded me of a comedian who said, "If men had breasts we'd never leave the house." Of course he then went on to explain why, which is hysterical (and probably true), but this isn't really the place.

I don't think anything is risk free anymore, especially if it's made or grown in the US, but I do believe what I'm using now is so much better than Bag Balm or some of the other stuff I've tried in the past.

This stuff washes out much nicer as well!