Waxing / Shaving advice: sore backside

[BentMikey]

You ride an Ass Hatchet, then you must MTFU and take the pain. Apparently.

 

[slowmotion]

You ride an Ass Hatchet, then you must MTFU and take the pain. Apparently.

Bloody deck chair riders...

 

[MacB]

I must just be a stinker, i shower after a long/sweaty ride and a few times a week anyway but twice a day seems ludicrous, i had a flat mate that did that and i thought he was mental! think of the water your wasting!

Each to their own, I'd shower twice a day in the Summer anyway, whether I was riding or not, rest of the year would be once only unless riding.

I'm not saying it's a must but I was commuting 40 miles a day, at the very least I'd have had a wash each end of the trip. That I had a locker and shower available at work just made things easier.

 

[MacB]

Run the risk of what, offending others of compromising your own health?

I would regularly go away wild camping in the hills for many days at a time, there would be no bathing, showing or clean clothes; true I would be a bit stinky at the end of the trip, but there would be nothing even remotely unhealthy about it. Our immune system is a lot more robust than you might think.

What you mean to say is that there has been nothing unhealthy about it so far and all I'm saying is that there's a greater risk of infection if the clothes next to your skin are dirty than if they're not. If you don't aggravate the skin, or get an abrasion, then you're unlikely to get any downsides.

As I said before my regime of clean shorts for each leg of the commute began after I had the problem(prior to that I wore the same pair to and from work), partly forced by the amount of blood and pus, no-one would have wanted to put them back on! My personal belief is that the regime allowed me to continue riding and heal rapidly at the same time. Of course I'd removed the original problem by sorting out my saddle position and alignment. But the whole experience was unpleasant enough for me to decide to stick with the clean shorts bit just in case.

Re the showering etc, I already did that and being unclean would not have been acceptable in my job, nor from my wife when I went to bed at night...hence two showers.

 

[MacB]

sorry, should have said at a high enough pace to get a fat bloke seriously sweaty....so anything over about 8mph

 

[Bayerd]

You could be right with the rest but I think you're wrong on the cleanliness front, I wouldn't dream of regularly cycling 18-20 miles, at pace, and not washing afterwards. As for the clean cycling kit, well you run a risk if you don't use it. If you do have a problem, saddle slips, hit a pothole, etc, then the bacteria are ready and waiting to cause an infection.

I never thought of showering twice a day as unnatural and, having experienced the level of unpleasantness I did, I considered fresh shorts each way to be a perfectly reasonable way to hedge my bets. I wouldn't wear the same boxers or shirt two days running either.

My mum always used to say to make sure I went out with clean crackers on in case I had an accident. I always thought she meant that the ambulance men would see my dirty undies if they weren't clean.......

 

[betty swollocks]

You are wearing your cycling shorts next to the skin aren't you ie no undies?

 

[Globalti]

Clean cycle shorts every two rides. Clean shreddies every morning. Shower daily or twice daily. Shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Roaders]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

Based on replies on this forum and some others I have taken the following steps:

• Use baby wipes to clean area before cycling
• Use sudo cream before cycling
• wear clean undershorts for both legs of daily commute
• bought a new gender specif saddle of correct size

Hopefully this will help. It'll probably be a few weeks until I know how effective this will be.

 

[biggs682]

i only shave my face as well and have never waxed any parts . but surely the more you wax/shave the stronger the hairs come back !!

 

[mr Mag00]

no to talc too, abrasive material!!!!

 

[ich will]

Have you tried applying Diprobase before a run on the Bike

http://www.netdoctor.../100004782.html

Dry skin results from lack of water in the outer layer of skin cells known as the stratum corneum. When this layer becomes dehydrated it loses its flexibility and becomes cracked, scaly and sometimes itchy. The stratum corneum contains natural water-holding substances that retain water seeping up from the deeper layers of the skin. Water is also normally retained in the stratum corneum by a surface film of natural oil (sebum) and broken-down skin cells, which slow down evaporation of water from the skin surface.

 

[BentMikey]

i only shave my face as well and have never waxed any parts . but surely the more you wax/shave the stronger the hairs come back !!

Nope, that's an urban myth. The hairs grow back the same as always. Waxing leaves them thin girly hairs for a while, but after a few months they're back to normal strength and thickness.

 

[david k]

i think shaving all areas is good, ive been doing it for years, thing is i only took up cycling a few months ago

 

[aberal]

Thanks for all the replies guys.

Based on replies on this forum and some others I have taken the following steps:

• Use baby wipes to clean area before cycling
• Use sudo cream before cycling
• wear clean undershorts for both legs of daily commute
• bought a new gender specif saddle of correct size

Hopefully this will help. It'll probably be a few weeks until I know how effective this will be.

All good precautions. Also - saddle sores are caused by bacteria getting pressed under the skin. So as a cure, wash with anti-bacterial soap. Available from Tesco/Boots/wherever. Simple as that. Works.