Sportique Road Rash Balm

Sportique Road Rash does a good job of helping cuts and scrapes to heal, whether you're an unlucky adult or a 16-month-old trainee stuntman.

U.S. based Sportique specialise in manufacturing pretty much everything that the sporty customer could desire with regards to hygiene and body care. There are massage creams, deodorants, lip balms and so on as well as more traditional sports warm up and joint gels all with the main selling point that all the ingredients are natural, botanicals, oils etc all picked for their healing properties.

The Road Rash balm provides an alternative to the usual antibacterial creams for scrapes, small abrasions, cuts, minor post-surgical scars, burns, sun burns, cold sores and chapped lips. Neem oil is said to be the star of the show with regards to the antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties and over the last few months this tube has been used on pretty much every body part.

While Sportique don't test on animals I needed to (it was either that or keep chucking myself of the bike). With a daughter learning to ride her bike without stabilisers and a 16 month old son who is basically an apprentice stuntman finding some subjects to test the cream on hasn't been too difficult.

The balm is quite a thin liquid yet not runny. You need very little on the tip of your finger to apply it to the skin which means the small 20ml tube lasts loads longer than you'd expect. The best thing about it is that it doesn't sting open wounds at all and rubs in without leaving any mess: ideal for kids. Large bumps on heads have subsided quickly after just the smallest of balm has been applied.

Using it on saddle soreness and other irritations the Road Rash Balm seems to work just as quickly as the usual antiseptic cream found in the first aid cabinet. After a crash in the summer when I took the skin off of most of the right hand side of my hip, knee and shoulder I used this a lot to stop irritation from cycling kit when I was riding and it worked very well keeping the road rash moist enough that it didn't crack with movement but dry enough that it didn't stick to anything meaning no need for bandages or plasters. I was also comfortable going through the pedaling motion plus the scabs and bruising had all subsided within a week.

At £9.45 for the 20ml it's not cheap but as you use so little of it lasts a good amount of time and the performance more than makes up for it. I'm not anti-medicine by any stretch of the imagination but I prefer to use them as little as possible so the fact this natural alternative provides, at the very least, a comparable ability to aid healing and stop infections means that I'd happily use the Road Rash Balm every time.

Verdict

Brilliant natural alternative to medicinal creams with very little put you off, other than possibly the price.