Here is the best DIY Chamois Creme recipe you'll find. No non-sense in there, super nice on the skin and with multi purpose functionality.
I started making this before my first long bikepacking adventure. I wanted a chamois creme that didn't have any chemical bull in it. After all your spreading this stuff across your privates and keep there for hours at a time. Just saying.
I also needed something that would work great for long days in the saddle and every day rides as well as those ultra adventures where at times I am not going to wash the one pair of bibs for 3-5 days straight ( yummi, I know )
So I did a deep dive on good chamois creme recipes and refined the best recipes I could find to my personal preference. Something that is antibacterial, soothing on the skin, works in heat, cold and rain and can even double up as a protective layer on any other skin parts of the body when the sudden rain hits and threatens to cool you down too much.
Oh and I got my good friend Happiness Nerd on board to help me out in picking the right essential oils to get the job done. (She has an even stronger focus on NERD than on Happiness :-)
Alright, enough of the small talk, here is the ingredient list and how it's done. (It is super simple and fast)
Ingredients:
20 g bees wax * - adding a great layer of protection against rubbing and protects on rainy days
20 g Cocoa Butter
40g Shea Butter
25 g Grapeseed oil
10g Calendula Oil - you're skin is going to dig this one
10 g Sunflower Oil
Lavender oil 20 drops healing and it also smells the bomb.
Tea tree oil 10 drops - anti inflammatory and anti fungus (you don't want no shrooms growing down there)
Copaiba oil 10 drops - promotes wound healing and pain relief
* Yes, there is a vegan alternative and you can skip the bees wax for callendilla but the harvesting and production is still rather questionable in many cases. Therefore I am opting for bees wax from a local source.
*Some folks also suggest adding a few drops of Vitamin E oil as preservative but I never have. I am using my chamois creme and not keeping it on a shelf for years to look at.
The process:
1. Take all ingredients but the essential oils and melt them in a hot water bath (basically having a smaller pot or heat resistant container float with in a bigger pot of hot water. This way the wax and butter melt without burning or sticking to the pot). Stir a little while melting.
2. Once all is melted take the smaller pot of the hot water and let cool down. Don't be fooled when you do it the first time. It might seem for a moment like this can take forever and suddenly it starts getting solid real fast.
3. Just as you can see that it starts solidifying (when it starts turning from clear to hazy) add the essential oils and stir for about another 2-3 minutes while it continues to cool down to create a nice, creamy formula.
4. Add into a container of your choice, put as smile on your face and look forward to the next ride.
Couple of tips and warnings:
- Use high quality ingredients. Especially in the side of the essential oils. They don't run cheap but I have used mine extensively for around a year and half now and haven't even gone through a third of them yet. If I was to do the math, even with the best quality ingredients this process costs me around 1/3 of what the top 'natural' chamois cremes out there cost.
- You're dealing with bees wax. The pot and your fingers will be a bit greasy after the process. I suggest using some kitchen paper to whipe off the pot after washing it as god as you can with hot water. Also wipe down the sink after you're done washing everything.
- For the best, creamy formula stick the the numbers above. Also as it is basically solidified wax and oil, it will be a little more solid on cold days but no worries, the body warmth will melt it nicely.
If you have questions or suggestions, have ideas for what my next DIY tip should be or simply decided to give the recipe a shot yourself, please leave a comment below and for more daily stuff follow me on Instagram.