Channel Grease

LeadhyenaLeadhyena Member
edited August 2015 in Beginner Questions
So last night I mixed up my first batch of channel grease, and from what I read on the internet, there were varying opinions on what the proportions should be between petroleum jelly, lanolin, and zinc oxide. Tried a mix of (by weight) 2 parts zinc oxide, 7 parts lanolin, and 3 parts petroleum jelly judged solely on desired SPF of next day's swim and consistency. Seems like the formula worked really well for a 6-hour swim in warmer water, but I had a heck of a time getting the stuff off. The only thing that seemed to work was dishwasher detergent. Will this mean that for my swim in late August (colder water) I need to bring dish soap or is there a better alternative? Maybe a different mix?

Comments

  • evmoevmo SydneyAdmin
    edited July 2013
    Leadhyena wrote:
    Tried a mix of (by weight) 2 parts zinc oxide, 7 parts lanolin, and 3 parts petroleum jelly
    @david_barra famously suggested a 10/50/50 formula, see here:

    http://www.marathonswimmers.org/forum/discussion/comment/819#Comment_819

    Because 110% is better than 100%, right? ;)
    DanSimonelliHelbe
  • loneswimmerloneswimmer IrelandCharter Member
    Dishwashing liquid is the best thing I've found, regardless of % mix. Once thing yiou can do is put a washing cloth liberally coated with dishwashing liquid & warm water in a tupperware box or tied plastic bag to clean afterwards. Or just have post-swim clothes that it doesn't matter if they get greasy. I prefer channel grease even for 2 hour swims, so I have a few older t-shirts on rotation for post-swim until I get home for a shower.

    loneswimmer.com

  • thanks for the links! very helpful. I won't scorch too badly if I drop the ZnO2 to 9%? (the 50/50/10 mix)
  • dc_in_sfdc_in_sf San FranciscoCharter Member
    Leadhyena wrote:
    thanks for the links! very helpful. I won't scorch too badly if I drop the ZnO2 to 9%? (the 50/50/10 mix)

    It's unclear from your posting but are you using your Channel Grease mix as your primary sun protection?

    You only really need to use grease on whatever your personal "hotspots" for chafing are (e.g. for me that would be armpits, groin, neck), so you typically would be using a separate sun protection strategy. Having Zinc Oxide in the grease isn't going to hurt, but whatever you use for sun protection for the non chafing parts can also be applied to the chafing parts.

    If you are covering yourself entirely in channel grease + Zinc Oxide mix you are going to very very messy.

    Also worth mentioning that you can actually apply more grease while in the water, so you don't necessarily have to go overboard getting it on ahead of time.

    http://notdrowningswimming.com - open water adventures of a very ordinary swimmer

  • mmeadmmead Charter Member
    My personal opinion on the practice of greasing the entire body.........

    It has only a placebo effect on heat retention.

    Its messy and destroys suits, towels, goggles, and boaters hate cleaning it off their boats.

    In the event of an emergency it makes it very difficult to get a swimmer out of the water.

    I have found that a moderate amount of vaseline is enough to get me through anything 20 miles or shorter.
  • Good points, both of you... I did discover that it was incredibly messy. My concern with sun protection was that my sunscreen was dying about 2 hours into my practice swims (and Brighton Beach has been unforgiving in sun coverage this year). I've been quite okay with Vaseline only on 5k and under swims, but the longer practice swims I've done have scorched my body, save for this last practice swim, where I did an entire body grease. It didn't come off the entire swim, and after some consultation that may have to do with the excess amount of ZnO I used. Heck, the stuff is still on my skin in some places after two showers with dishwashing detergent. But I didn't burn at all!
    I am concerned now about the mess to be made on the boat taking me over... and that's a really good reason to back off (especially since 1/2 of the swim will be at night). And mmead, you are right in that it didn't provide any heat retention at all, but with the water around 70 this time of year, I really couldn't tell. Furthermore I'm concerned with ZnO possibly getting in muscous membranes where it's absorbed (not sure about TiO2).
  • evmoevmo SydneyAdmin
    Leadhyena wrote:
    My concern with sun protection was that my sunscreen was dying about 2 hours into my practice swims
    Try SolRx. There's also a version with zinc oxide.
    flystorms
  • timsroottimsroot Spring, TXCharter Member
    In regards to getting it off, as people have mentioned, dish soap is the best way to get it off. When I worked underground in a coal mine, we had to shower with dishsoap, otherwise, we just wouldn't get clean. The dishsoap worked incredibly well.
  • bcobbbcobb Member
    I have found that shampoo works well on grease and sunscreen. You have to leave it on for a few minutes.
  • megrenmegren Member
    I've been planning to use channel grease hoping that it would reduce jellyfish stings since safe sea wears off quickly and channel grease doesn't - I figured it would block some nematocysts from firing... It seemed to help in my practice swims as my worst stings were on my forearms where there's the most friction and the grease wore off sooner. I plan to try re-applying in the water on my forearms. Might that work?
    Or is it just my imagination that it minimizes stings?
    -M
  • Apologize if this question has a a prior discussion elsewhere (could not locate one). What suggestions and recommendations are there for grease or other products to apply prior to a swim?

  • Thanks for the info. Where do I find channel grease or is it homemade?

  • loneswimmerloneswimmer IrelandCharter Member

    Homemade proportions according to personal taste.

    loneswimmer.com

  • swimmer25kswimmer25k Charter Member

    mmead said:
    My personal opinion on the practice of greasing the entire body.........

    It has only a placebo effect on heat retention.

    Its messy and destroys suits, towels, goggles, and boaters hate cleaning it off their boats.

    In the event of an emergency it makes it very difficult to get a swimmer out of the water.

    I have found that a moderate amount of vaseline is enough to get me through anything 20 miles or shorter.

    Agree 100%. Greasing ip is highly overrated. Spend the time to train in cold water is the only way to defeat it when it matters.

    LeadhyenaJenAMvG
  • Thanks for all responses. Very helpful.

  • IronMikeIronMike Northern VirginiaCharter Member

    @mlkma1, I would say that something like grease is beneficial if you, like me, rash up. My pits and inner thigh rash up something fierce. I get what my wife and I lovingly call "baby butt cream," aka Desitin. I slather it in my pits, inner thighs, some on my neck, and it takes care of the problem.

    Now if you're thinking grease for heat retention, then see above. ;)

    We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams

  • timsroottimsroot Spring, TXCharter Member

    swimmer25k

    Agree 100%. Greasing up is highly overrated. Spend the time to train in cold water is the only way to defeat it when it matters.

    I use Bag Balm, but I'm not under the illusion that it retains any heat. I am fairly prone to chafing, even sometimes for a long pool workout, so i apply fairly liberally, but only to areas that are prone to chafing (armpits, shoulders because of my chin, groin because of my suit)

  • swimmer25kswimmer25k Charter Member

    timsroot said:

    swimmer25k

    Agree 100%. Greasing up is highly overrated. Spend the time to train in cold water is the only way to defeat it when it matters.

    I use Bag Balm, but I'm not under the illusion that it retains any heat. I am fairly prone to chafing, even sometimes for a long pool workout, so i apply fairly liberally, but only to areas that are prone to chafing (armpits, shoulders because of my chin, groin because of my suit)

    Sport Slick is my choice for chafing protection.

  • timsroottimsroot Spring, TXCharter Member

    swimmer25k said: Sport Slick is my choice for chafing protection.

    Hadn't heard of that before. The Mission 5 hour stuff I sometimes use in the pool doesn't come in a roll on fashion anymore, which I find unfortunate, and body glide doesn't last very long. How long does this stuff stay on?

    I may have to experiment with this in the coming weeks/months.

  • allanl16allanl16 Miami, FloridaMember

    Quick question, do you have to heat up the channel grease to use it? Or is that only during the creation process with vaseline. Thank you!

  • swimmer25kswimmer25k Charter Member
    edited June 2017

    timsroot said:

    swimmer25k said: Sport Slick is my choice for chafing protection.

    Hadn't heard of that before. The Mission 5 hour stuff I sometimes use in the pool doesn't come in a roll on fashion anymore, which I find unfortunate, and body glide doesn't last very long. How long does this stuff stay on?

    I may have to experiment with this in the coming weeks/months.

    I've thrown out many a hotel room towel scraping that crap off of me after a race. It's never let me down until it was time to get it off.

    I've never been a true believer that lanolin/Channel grease helps with heat retention. Maybe it helps with the initial shock of the cold water. The only time I ever used it was during my Channel swim. I had a small amount smeared on my shoulders. I'll use the analogy of a triathlete spending a ton of cash on some nice aerobars or Zipp wheels. Yes, they might give you a small advantage, but there's no way for stuff like that to overcome not being ready or in shape. Lathering yourself up with grease to the point you look like a wedding cake isn't going to do you a damn thing if you haven't trained the miles or suffered in the cold before the Big Day.

    Chris

    IronMike
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