Thursday, September 3, 2009

My Arse

Looks a bit like Spak sans goatee.
Don't monkey usually pick ticks, fleas and fling poo? I've never seen one take such care in their personal hygiene before.
Sorry monkey butt, but it didn't seem to alleviate my swollen baboon like arse.

I was contacted a while back by a rep for Anti Monkey Butt Powder to give it a try, hand out some samples, and suggested a little bit of blog time. With receiving a product (which I get requests from time to time to try out) from a company contacting you, you feel a sense of obligation to say good things about it.

I want to be honest with my experiences with a product and the temptation to blow smoke up the readers arse about whatever you're testing is there . . . . solely because you feel a sense of obligation because you've been given free shit. I usually do have good things to say about a product, but this is the first time something didn't 'work' for me.

I heard of Anti Monkey Butt Powder before and was curious if it worked or not. Here's the low down on it:

AMBP is . . . . "designed to treat friction and irritation that can result from excess sweat. As you yourself and I am sure many of your readers may have experienced, excessive sweat from riding on the rough terrain all day can cause irritation, also known as "monkey butt". Unlike other powders, AMBP has calamine and talc which gives it a cooling sensation instead of the burning that you might get from other products."


I used the powder on a number of rides - on a rainy day, a humid day, a few dry warm summer days, and a cool evening ride. I basically got the same result. I did have a dry feeling from it - it seemed to absorb some sweat (to a limit), BUT, it didn't help to reduce chaffing or irritation that you get from your chamois moving around on your undercarriage. From what I could gather, all it really is is baby or talcum powder.

Ever see what happens to baby or talcum powder when it gets wet, like really arse sweating wet? It clumps up and stops doing it's job. You really need to use a chamois cream that doesn't allow moisture to penetrate it and aids in lubrication that prevents chaffing and rubbing and hence, irritation. So in my riding shorts, I didn't find it better than products I have used in the past, or present, in helping reduce irritation.

I DID, however, find it very useful in preventing hot-spots in my socks/shoes. I usually get hot-spots on my feet during long rides or short intense ones. It may only be talcum powder, but it seemed to eliminate or at least reduce the hot-spots on my feet. I also used it on a few rides at the trailhead immediately after riding to freshen up a bit. It has a pleasant odor to it and does make you feel fresh after using it.

Don't take my word for it. Everyone's arse is different and it may work for you - try it out for yourself.

4 comments:

Matt Surch said...

Hmm, I'm not too surprised about the non-stellar undercarriage performance, but I am interested in the foot application. Wondering whether you reduced friction...absorbing sweat mustn't be related to hot spots...or is it? If the hot spots are from friction, Body Glide seems like a good option too. Hmm.

On the butt sauce front, some of us Tall Tree folk have just received our first batch of Mad Alchemy Pro Chamois cream. I'll be testing it out during Sunday's QuinTuple Pave Classic. As you say Craig, DZ's Nutz sauce is pretty hard to beat, so we'll see. The Mad Alchemy is lighter, and perhaps more breathable, i.e. better for really hot weather. We'll see.

Big Bikes said...

When it comes to Chamois cream I say the gloopier the better, a powder doesn't make sense to me. You're lubricating moving parts to put it in disgusting terms. You wouldn't powder your chain would you?

I go to the pharmacy and get the biggest, cheapest tub of generic hand cream. Beats the hell out of proper Chamois cream even at bike shop employee cost.

-t

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
the original big ring said...

Anonymous - a.k.a. Jeff - keep it clean please . . . a bit over the edge on that last comment for my taste - this is a public site. I'd really rather not have to change my settings and censor every comment before they're posted.
Thanks.