1/2 Ironman Clothing question (Page 2)

Yes, it takes more than a brief swim to get it all out of the pad.

Yes, it takes more than a brief swim to wash it out of the pad.

Well, now that we're down this slippery slope, there are 3 main brands of "chamois creme" out there. They are:
Paceline Chamois Butt'r which is a white lotion in a squeeze bottle
Assos Chamois Creme which is an off white creme in a tub and also has something in it that stimulates the skin which some people find uncomfortable. This is considered to be the Tour de France of chamois cremes.
Elite Ozone Protect Chamois Creme which is between the Assos and the Paceline in that it is a smooth white lotion that comes in a squeeze bottle.
If you watched the Lance Chronicles on OLN last year you saw him using the industrial coffee can size tub of Assos and just slathering it on his shorts. I have found that the more you put on your chamois, the better within reason since this stuff is expensive. Pretty much I'll use it on any ride greater than 1 hour in length. Last week I did a 5/30/5 mile duathlon and made sure I used it then. Prior to my IM I put it on my chamois the night before so I could just change and go, but I'm probably a bit anal. Probably almost any skin lotion can be used, but you'd want to avoid anything that resembles petroleum jelly since it will be hard to wash out. Also any perfumy lotions will probably cause more irritation than good. The chamois cremes were originally used to keep natural chamois soft, but now keep the synthetic chamois from rubbing you raw. It differs from Body Glide in that Body Glide is more of a waxy chap stick kind of lube whereas the chamois cremes are all lotions of some type and are meant to be rubbed into the chamois.

I'm by no means an expert, and this is just my .02.