I heard about Cornerman’s defence rub initially through a facebook post by the owners offering sponsorship opportunities. Although we were’t good fit in terms of sponsorship he did offer me a free can of the product to try as a thank you. So it made perfect sense not just to accept but to also do a review of this brand new product for the blog.

The package is very clean plain and simple with the bottle being about the size of a small handbag sized hair spray. It should fit pretty easily into your gym bag but at 150 ml its not travel sized so no just popping to your hand luggage for competitions (although who knows a travel option may be in the future!). It has a large nozzle dispenser so it shouldn’t clog and was easy to use.

To call the product a skin rub does give me the mental impression of something really oily and greasy that you have to work and rub into the skin. The reality is a lot nicer as it’s actually a skin foam. I mentioned in my bathroom favourites blog a long time ago a product called Muc Off for post training and this is really similar in terms of texture.  Think rubbing a thin white bubble bath foam into your skin! It really does rub into your skin that easily and isn’t sticky at all.

Now this product has been designed by a male wrestler so if I’m honest I was slightly concerned about the fragrance. Let’s be honest stereotypically male grapplers don’t smell the greatest and can be a little nose blind when it comes to these things! Now I’ll Admit I don’t always smell my best on the mats either but a girl does like to try! The smell of the actual rub is slightly citrusy. Nothing too strong but very clean smelling as you’d expect plus the smell didn’t really linger on the skin so team mates won’t really know your wearing it.

As it is a barrier foam and designed to protect against nasties it is not the most natural product ingredient wise. The label does advise you do a patch test if you have sensitive skins (which I do) so before using the product I did take this precaution. I was perfectly fine after testing it on my hand and inner wrist so I did a fuller product test the week after.

Regarding how it felt on my skin; I did experience some slight tightening of my skin as it dried but that past incredibly quickly. Once dried you couldn’t tell that anything had been applied. My skin didn’t feel any different, my body hair (well what I have on my arms etc) hadn’t stuck together or stuck down in any weird way. I know that your hair not matting isn’t a female priority but I’m guessing my male readers may have more of a body hair issue!   I also appeared to sweat as normal. In terms of grappling I also didn’t appear to have gained any additional slipperiness which is a positive or a negative depending on your perspective and the position your stuck in!

One thing I would advice is that you apply to clean skin. Remember this is a barrier foam as well as helping to create a really effective barrier to keep nasties out you can trap things in like natural skin oils so if your prone to spots it worth considering and making the extra effort in your application. I’ll be honest I didn’t have a problem with any breakouts but I also only wore it during training and washed as usual straight away after training (including using a body scrub as usual).

Obviously I couldn’t do the ultimate test as to my knowledge I haven’t been rolling in any mat lurgie! My gym (like many others) cleans its mats religiously so the incident of skin infections is pretty low but we do have frequent visitors whom we can’t vouch for lol! Because of this I thought of the foam as essentially an insurance policy in can.

My biggest problem with the product was actually the fact I’d forget to put the foam on!I’m actually pretty low maintenance (I forget to even moisturise on a regular basis) so I haven’t gotten the application process into my gym routine (yet). I think if I did more no-gi and wrestling  I’d probably remember more and use it a lot more frequently. For me at the moment I think it’s a really useful product to have and something I’m going to keep in my kit bag ideal for those open mats and seminars where you visit those unknown gyms (or if I hear of any individual at the gym catching lurgie).

However I would thoroughly recommend any grappler (male or female) to give it a try and see how it works for them. Especially anyone who is active in or prefers the no-gi variety of grappling. For them I could see it easily being a kit bag essential! If you want to get hold of your can then you can buy it direct from their website. Individual cans retail at £5.99 plus packing and postage but if you want to buy more for your own usage or gym then feel free to contact them for further pricing information.