The why, where and when essential guide to chamois cream.

It amazes us how many times, we hear, "I don't have problems down there, so don't bother with chamois cream". You don't have to have problems to benefit from this taboo Cream. It's about giving yourself and your rear more comfort...

Way back when, around the 1940's, when cycling shorts were made from wool and bikes were only made from metal, cyclists used a pad, which located in the shorts on their under carriage to aid comfort during their rides. The pad was made from goats’ leather and thus the chamois pad was born. After a couple of rides and washes, the leather would become extremely hard, making the rider uncomfortable again. So to help with this problem, a special cream was created to help return the oils into the leather to keep it malleable. The special cream became known as chamois cream. Fast forward to more recent times, around 1980, when Duran Duran, were killing it with "Is there something I should know" and where string and glue was starting to be used to make bikes, shorts were largely made from Lycra with a synthetic pad inside them. You would think that you don’t really need chamois cream in this modern world. However, Chamois cream helps every cyclist stay comfortable for longer and being comfortable allows you to ride longer and train harder, or simply enjoy the ride, without getting off like John Wayne. Its all about marginal gains, as big Dave would say and training harder will mean you will kill your mates to the cafe. Weather your undercarriage is made from baby’s skin or tough old leather, cyclists still become sore from sitting on a saddle for prolonged periods. If you add sweat and/or rain to the situation the chances of ending up with a sore rear and the chances of general skin rubs and abrasions downstairs are high. It’s the same for everyone and unfortunately, at some point, a cyclist will suffer from a painful rear. But why use chamois cream, we hear you ask. Chamois cream – or any of the other creams that are used for cyclists – provides a layer of lubrication to reduce the amount of friction between your bare skin and the pad of the shorts. As well as benefiting from moisturising, anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory ingredients. Chamois cream is a preventive measure and not a cure. So applying the cream before any type of riding will help prevent the damage being done. Once the skin becomes broken, there is very little that can be done to heal the situation apart from taking time off the bike, which no one ever wants to do.

It doesn't just have to be long rides either. Turbo sessions are amazing at smashing yourself and it is the same for your rear too. The constantly pedalling action and pressure on the saddle, can also cause soreness. Pro tip use chamois cream on these sessions for added comfort. VeloSkin Chamois cream has been formulated using natural elements and all our ingredients have been reviewed to ensure they are kind on your skin, whilst providing long lasting protection and outstanding performance. Our cream has been specially designed to have a thick consistency, which melts with body heat. We recommend the VeloSkin be applied to both the pad of the shorts and directly to the skin on the areas of saddle contact. The VeloSkin range, available to purchase online, is the product of months of hard work, late nights and fraught nerves. It is a range that we are truly proud of and use everyday ourselves. We use VeloSkin to explore, to train, to enjoy every last minute out on the saddle.