The Ultimate Grip: Why Liquid Chalk Outperforms Loose Chalk in Climbing
High quality, high performance liquid chalk consists of two very important ingredients; magnesium carbonate (chalk) and alcohol. That’s all you need to give you supreme grip.
Most liquid chalk, sadly, contains resin and the ones that thankfully now don’t, still contain thickeners. This means bad performance and thus a bad reputation. But why?
Chalk likes to clump together when it’s in a liquid. The easiest and cheapest way of keeping it dispersed is with the addition of resins and thickeners. Lower quality liquid chalks will contain resin (also known as rosin, colophony, colophonia, styrax benzoin and even the intentionally ambiguous “scent”) and other standard thickeners or stabilizers present in cosmetics/skincare.
Resin gunks up holds and permanently damages rock by gathering and hardening under the application of force and shoe rubber, effectively turning to amber(think of the insects in biology class). This makes the climbing experience worse for everyone in the long run, even if there is the small benefit of some stickiness when used(debatable as to whether it actually increases friction). It’s also horrible to wash off your hands at the end of the session! So imagine how hard it is for the poor hold cleaners of our favourite climbing walls.
Thickeners… bad or good?
Thickeners are often also the worlds best slip agents(lube) and in turn are incredibly detrimental to friction. Not what you want in a climbing product.
So when you get a great liquid chalk, *cough* GEKCO *clears throat*... what about it, actually makes it great ?
Below we break down the 5 key mechanisms that make liquid chalk a must have for any climber:
Perfectly even coverage - this is achieved when you apply a pea-sized amount into the middle of your palm and spread evenly across all finger tips, a good waft of the hands and a blow and you’re left with that perfect layer. And this is -
Just the right amount - a single layer to absorb sweat whilst not reducing friction; more chalk isn’t always better. When there’s multiple layers, it results in slipping between the chalk rather than embedding within the skin. And when combined with the -
Drying effect from the alcohol, this helps carry away moisture from your hands as the alcohol will mix with any present on your skin and evaporate it away. And this evaporation causes a -
Cooling effect which comes from heat loss through evaporation. This is a relatively complex chemical process that we won’t dig into here but basically the phase change of the alcohol causes heat (energy) to be taken away from the hands. Only a couple of degrees, but that can make a big difference when it -
Stays put for longer - all 4 of the factors above contribute to the most important one which is what we all want. To chalk up less and for the chalk that’s there to do more for us while climbing.
Great for everyone?
There's generally only one exception where liquid doesn’t seem to outperform loose and that’s on dry, hard, glassy and non-sweaty skin. This comes down to this skin type's low moisture content. Climbers with this skin type will often struggle to get all chalk to stick for a reasonable period of time and specifically don’t get on with fine powdered chalk as their skin doesn’t have the moisture content to ‘hold’ chalk.
Liquid can exacerbate this issue because the alcohol dries the skin even further which further reduces it’s ability to hold chalk.
Despite popular belief, super dry skin is not optimum for friction and therefore climbing. Problems like splits and tears can be common and set climbers back as they heal slowly. Dry skin is tougher but in turn less pliable and elastic which can result in friction reduction which causes ‘dry firing’. The solution to helping all chalk stick better, liquid, powder (even fine stuff) is handily packed into our new product SKIN which works to restore the optimum hydration level of the skin for friction, performance and chalk adherence.
Liquid chalk paired with fine powder, on good skin, is hands down the best for friction, performance and even the environment. If you can get it to work with your skin, it’s a game changer.
Let us know your thoughts, experiences and skin type below! Have you tried liquid chalk before?
