Big Bad Bag Balm

Submitted by Eric Daniel

“I gotta tell you boys, the next reporter who asks me how hot it was over here, I’m going to bust him right in the mouth.”

These were the parting words MG Ronald H. Griffith, CDR 1st Armored Division, had for us as we departed Saudi Arabia following the conclusion of the 91 Gulf War, and I couldn’t have agreed more.

We arrived in December of 1990 and as soon as we hit the ground it started to rain.  Everything, our gear, our equipment, and our weapons, got soaked.  Moreover, it never quit raining.  It rained so much that our clothes started to rot.  We began to think the presence of so many BDU wearing soldiers (we hadn’t been issued DCUs and would not receive any till the night before we flew home) had confused the clouds and fooled them into thinking that we were a bunch of wayward shrubberies in need of a little irrigating.

When it wasn’t raining, it was bitterly cold, and dry, and windy, and it was this that proved more destructive than all that water.  Now, as a 3-year veteran of Germany I’d been exposed to a whole lot of wet and mud, and I’d been Bavaria cold, but I’d never experienced an honest to God high desert cold, like you get out at NTC or up in Yakima (where I lived for 3 miserable years) so this was something new.  The cold dry wind literally desiccated my exposed skin; my lips chapped, and the skin in my finger joints cracked and bled.

The only thing I could think of doing was to rub some GAA (Grease, Automotive and Artillery) into my hands and put my nomex gloves on.  I don’t think the GAA helped my hands heal but it did do a fair job of keeping sand and grit out of the cracks and eventually I recovered.

Lesson learned.

Thanks to that Gulf War experience, I learned the value of hand cream.  Moreover, the stuff I’ve come to swear by, thanks to an ex-wife with a horse addiction, was Bag Balm, a lanolin (wool wax) based product originally developed for the dairy cattle industry.  It’s just the thing for treating cracked skin, irritations, minor cuts, or rashes, and it is easily absorbed by the skin.

It’s available in a small “person sized” tin, a larger “cow sized” tin, and a “dairy farm” sized tub.  My recommendation is get the “cow” tin, but get it from a feed store or from an on-line vet supply store, don’t buy it in the cosmetic section of your local store (where you’ll find it 3x as expensive.)  Also, as an additional lesson learned, this stuff can become quite fluid when it warms up (think Baghdad/Barstow/Badger Gap warm) so either keep it in a Ziploc bag in your CVC bag or put some into a squeeze tube for use on the road during the summer.

Learn more about Bag Balm here.

Comments

[CML]

Bag Balm is great stuff... very popular here in northern New Mexico during the winter, when too much hand-washing in the cold & dry air can make your hands itch and bleed. My grandmother always had some around in her house in Arizona, as well.

[RBC]

I believe this product is called "udder palm" in the upper midwest. Also said to be useful on abrated, chapped skin. First used on cows udders that are abrated, red and sore-bleeding. Said to prevent onset of infection in some cases, though not a true antibiotic.

[Jesse Conrad]

I grew up farming in Idaho and this stuff is a life saver. I never had chapped hands or lips, ever. We always had at least five cans around and a one gallon bucket in the barn. I used to have an empty Carmex jar full in my pocket.

Yes there are still some of us that use it for its intended purpose, udders on a cow.

[katie]

We've been using bag balm in my family for as long as my grand dad can remember. We use it on sunburns, thermal burns, diaper rash chapping, etc... and not just on the humans. We all swear by the stuff. My husband also has chronically dry skin and this is the only stuff that he doesn't reapply twice daily. Doctors have given him "perscription strength lotion", (yeah right), that doesn't work half this well. And this stuff is available in every mom and pop farm equipment and hardware store I have seen.

[mike]

Lanolin.

If you cannot find this all it really is is lanolin in a carrier like mineral oil or petrolatum.

I used this stuff for years but have found Eucerin cream in the tub and in the tube a better product. The tube can be carried easily in the field and will be used more because you can carry it in your pocket.

Not that this is not a great product!!!!

[Don Cook]

Local Stores like Tractor Supply or Farm and Fleet sell this Bag Balm and I have used it and raised three kids using it. Bag Balm a little greasy but man it works and most Farmers wives knows it does. They also sell a Medicated Cream in the same size container Called Udder Essance that has a nice smell Aloa Vera Gel, Lanolin, Vitamin A,D,e and man if you ever had Jock itch the cool feeling sure does feel good along with an application to the sore Butt from a short wipe.Menthol. 0.25% is the feel good additive along with all the other stuff and not messy if you rub it in.

[Wayne Merritt]

It was 1991 (then 1993) onboard the USS INGRAHAM when we pulled into these great arab countries,and I recall the orders for liberty: "Long sleeve shirts, and Long pants" It was 126 Degrees in the stupid shade and pretty much ridiculously hot! I feel sorry for those "stationed" over in that heat man, I'd be buying stuff like this in groves if it worked!!

Wayne
Merritt

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