In line with our goal to be your go-to for the best beauty-related info, we’ve rounded up 5 of the best chamois cream products. These creams were carefully assessed based on their effectiveness in preventing chafing from riding bikes. We believe these products can be a good addition to your beauty arsenal, especially when you're a passionate biker.
For many cyclists, chaffing during rides can be a real problem, especially during long ones.
Not only is it such a discomfort, but it can also cause irritations in the groin area, which can have you off the bike for several days.
That’s why many cyclists opt to use chamois creams to avoid this problem.
In the olden days, chamois creams were originally used to soften the chamois leather that was used to pad cycling shorts.
Nowadays, cycling shorts are made with foams and synthetic fabrics, putting an end to the need of applying chamois cream to retain its softness, which is why chamois creams nowadays are instead designed to be applied to the skin to ease discomfort during rides.
But with so many products on the market nowadays, it’s pretty difficult to find one that can actually deliver great results. That’s why we’ve listed down five of the best chamois creams to help you do so.
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Quick Overview: Our Top Picks for The Best Chamois Cream
OUR TOP #1 PICK - First up on our list of the best chamois cream is the Assos Chamois Cream. It is formulated with natural ingredients and has antibacterial properties to help prevent any unwanted saddle sores that you may get from cycling or horseback riding.
OUR TOP #2 PICK -If you want long-lasting skin protection, then you ought to consider the Blue Steel Sports Anti-Chafe Cream. Because of its unique formula, it doesn’t easily sweat off.
It also contains tea tree oil which is well-known for its potent antibacterial properties and ability to treat wounds.
OUR TOP #3 PICK -Third on our list is the Reflect Sports Hoo Ha Ride Glide. This chamois cream is made with natural ingredients such as tea tree, lavender, and sandalwood oils that may help combat infection, irritation, inflammation, and saddle sores.
OUR TOP #4 PICK -The DZ Nuts Women's Bliss Chamois Cream contains moisture-absorbing polymers that help prevent chafing. It also has anti-inflammatory properties which reduce itching, prickling, and general discomfort.
OUR TOP #5 PICK -And lastly, we have the Udderly Smooth Chamois Cream with Shea Butter. It has a thick texture but is surprisingly non-greasy. The natural vitamins and fatty acids present in the shea butter makes it incredibly nourishing and moisturizing for your skin and may help prevent chafing.
What Are the Benefits of Using a Chamois Cream?
Long rides can no doubt be extremely uncomfortable. That’s why many cyclists opt to use a chamois cream before heading out for a bike ride.
Not only can chamois creams make things more comfortable, but they can also prevent unwanted infections such as saddle sores that can potentially have you off the bike for several days.
Chamois creams have loads more uses that you can benefit from, and we’ve taken the liberty to write each one down to help you get a clearer picture of how chamois cream can be of use to you.
1. Prevents Infections
Saddle sores are an uncomfortable truth about cycling. When heat, pressure, and friction combine while riding your bike, saddle sores are likely to occur.
Medically, saddle sores are quite hard to define since they vary in nature. But in general, they’re simply an irritation in the groin area from riding a bicycle or from horseback riding.
To prevent these unwanted infections, you can apply some chamois cream before heading out for a long ride since many of these creams come with moisturizing and antibacterial properties that can help minimize friction and bacterial buildup during rides.
2. Reduces Riding Discomforts
For many experienced cyclists, they’ve usually gotten used to the discomforts of riding, but that doesn’t mean that probably some of them still use chamois creams.
And you can’t blame them, since many chamois creams provide a cooling sensation that can help cyclists last longer on rides.
But for people new to cycling, they often need chamois creams to help them get through the ride since their skin isn’t used to the pressure and rubbing associated with sitting on the saddle for hours yet.
3. Treats Saddle Sores
If you ask us, the best way to treat saddle sores is to try to prevent in the first place. But if you’re faced with the unfortunate task of having to treat them, then chamois cream can still be of much use to you.
Many chamois creams can sometimes be used to treat saddle sores because of their antibacterial properties. They can help prevent bacterial buildup to avoid making the infection worse.
Also, a lot of chamois creams can leave a cooling sensation on the skin to help alleviate the pain from going on a long ride.
What's the Best Way to Use a Chamois Cream?
In the olden days, when cycling shorts were padded with real chamois leather, chamois creams were used to replace the oils in chamois leather since it relied on its natural oils for its softness and comfort.
But these days, the padding in cycling shorts are made with foams and synthetic fabrics, designed to sit against your skin and keep your groin comfortable, so the use of chamois creams on your pads is somewhat unnecessary.
That’s why chamois creams nowadays are instead applied on the groin area to help you feel more comfortable during rides.
It is recommended that you use it on the areas prone to chafing to avoid saddle sores.
However, if you find that putting it on your groin area isn’t enough, you can apply it on both your padded shorts and onto yourself.
And since chamois creams can easily be washed off, they will not stain your clothing.
Product Reviews: Our Top 5 Best Chamois Cream
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Assos Chamois Cream tops our list of the best chamois creams because of its antibacterial properties which help prevent inflammation and irritation.
It also leaves your groin with a soothing and cooling effect because of its unique formula made with 100% natural ingredients.
It contains all the essential ingredients in skin care products such as hydrogenated polydecene, glycerin, and propylene glycol.
The hydrogenated polydecene is a non-sticky emollient, which mainly serves as a moisturizer. This ingredient creates a smooth and silky feeling on your skin, which can help reduce chafing during rides.
The next two ingredients, which are the glycerin and propylene glycol, both act as humectants, meaning they help your skin attract, absorb and retain moisture, thus making it feel soft.
We love how this chamois cream reduced the chaffing during bike rides and left a cooling sensation after being applied.
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The second spot on this list goes to the Blue Steel Sports Anti-Chafe Cream. With its long-lasting skin protection, this product may help avoid chafing even on very long bike rides.
It doesn’t easily sweat off, making it very convenient for long rides since you won’t have to worry about reapplying.
It also contains tea tree oil which is a powerful natural antibacterial ingredient that can help in preventing unwanted infections such as saddle sores. Tea tree oil can also assist in treating wounds and keep bacteria at bay.
The formula is also non-greasy and doesn’t stain your clothes when it gets on them. It can easily be washed off.
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One of the great things about the Reflect Sports Hoo Ha Ride Glide is that it’s mostly made with natural ingredients such as barley extract, sandalwood extract, lavender oil, tea tree oil, eucalyptus oil, and peppermint oil.
It was such a comfort using a product with all natural and organic ingredients, which may soothe and nourish the skin.
With the anti-inflammatory properties of the barley and sandalwood extract you get all-around protection from infections, chafing, and friction burns.
This cream also has powerful antibacterial properties from the tea tree oil, which helps prevent and treat saddle sores.
But the tea tree oil isn’t the only ingredient that treats unwanted infections; this product also contains lavender oil, which not only helps in healing wounds but also reduces stress.
And lastly, the eucalyptus and peppermint oil left a cooling sensation as we tested this product, which helped soothe the pain of a long and tiring ride.
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The DZ Nuts Women's Bliss Chamois Cream takes the fourth place on this list of the top five best chamois creams.
It contains some natural ingredients such as tea tree oil, barley extract, and sandalwood extract.
What makes this cream stand out is that it features shea butter in its ingredients, which acts as an excellent natural moisturizer to help eliminate friction between skin and clothing.
We found the shea butter to be a real help in reducing the chafing that occurs during rides, and it made the trip much more comfortable.
The tea tree oil, as we all know, is a natural disinfectant, which can help prevent unwanted infections by keeping bacteria at bay.
It may also assist in improving blisters if you ever forget to apply a chamois cream before going out for a ride.
And lastly, the barley and sandalwood extracts both have anti-inflammatory properties, which help ease aches and pains.
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From the name itself, the Udderly Smooth Chamois Cream with Shea Butter has shea butter as its main ingredient.
Because of its cinnamic acid, shea butter has anti-inflammatory properties, which can help protect against infections, friction burns, and irritations.
Many chamois creams tend to overlook shea butter in their ingredients, but it's great to have it because of its moisturizing and anti-inflammatory properties.
The concentration of natural vitamins and fatty acids in shea butter makes it incredibly nourishing and moisturizing for your skin.
By keeping your skin moisturized, you may be able to prevent chafing and avoid any sores when riding.
And because this product also works like a thick moisturizer, it tends to last longer, which is great when you’re going out for a long ride.
When we tested this product out, it kept us comfortable for a long time without having the need to reapply it over and over again.
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The Bottom Line
Among the five products listed, the best chamois cream is, of course, the Assos Chamois Cream.
It reduces friction during long bike rides, helps cyclists avoid chafing, and works hard to keep saddle sores away.
An essential factor to consider in choosing the best chamois cream is its ability to reduce discomfort during a ride such as chafing, which can lead to terrible saddle sores.
Since the whole point of even using a chamois cream is to avoid any unwanted infections, you might as well pick one that would suit your needs best.
