Latex allergy - which shorts?

mrwoogie

As above really.

I have a latex allergy which means my skin reacts to the latex/silcone type gripper bands on the bottom of lycra shorts. I have tried turning the ends inside out but my skin is v. sensitive and still reacts. I have resorted to taking scissors to my old shorts, but they now ride up.

So which shorts? Anyone ride in wool shorts?

I would like to keep costs down as I'm a bit of a penny pincher and buy most of my gear from decathalon. However if I need to spend more on this then I realise I may have little choice!

thanks

calmx5

THe shorts I bought from Vitesse had a rubber gripper instead of silicone - would this help?

http://www.provisionclothing.com/store/vitesse

Jez mon

Can you solve the issue by turning up the grippers at the end?

mrwoogie

Jez:

thanks but I've tried this and my skin still reacts as through the material.

Calmx5:

I think I need some shorts that have no rubber-skin contact by design. I think this leaves me with two options:
i. Shorts are simply sans grip band, I thought maybe retro wool shorts may fit this description?
ii. shorts where the grip band is insulated from skin contact by a layer of material, but this may be less than ideal because my skin still reacts even when the band is turned inside out.

MrChuck

I had a similar thing with some Endura shorts- had them for ages with no issues, then I noticed that I was getting a rash/swelling from the grippers whenever I wore them. Other shorts with rubbery stuff on haven't/don't give me a problem though so maybe not all the rubbery/silicon stuff is the same, but it's probably quite hard to find out exactly what different manufacturers use.

You can get shorts that don't have rubber grippers, but just have wide bands of elasticated material instead. Ground Effect and Louis Garneau do some like this but I expect there are more- might be worth looking into? Dunno what sort of price range you tend to go for but the ones I've seen tend to be a bit on the spendy side.

majormantra

There are definitely some modern shorts that don't have rubber grippers. I think the Etxeondo Dicolor is one.

mrwoogie

thanks for the advice, looks like I'm gonna have to quell my stingy ways and shell out some readies!

One further request, does anyone know any decent shops where I can take a look at said shorts in London area?

MrChuck

Evans do Louis Garneau, maybe one of their bigger branches would be a good place to start.

bobtbuilder

While you are researching shorts without silicon grippers, could you put a layer of plaster tape around your thighs so that the silicon grippers on your current shorts sit on that rather than on your skin?