KEEPER BALM is a goalkeeper glove conditioner that contains humectants in the form of special oils and waxes that attract moisture to the foam latex while adding exceptional grip. Using it regularly will ensure that your gloves always grip as good as or better than new… for the life of your gloves.
DIRT, SWEAT & TEARS… AND SPIT
Saliva
There is a myth that spitting on your goalkeeper gloves is the best way to “activate” the grip in the palm latex. However, the act of spitting on your gloves is actually detrimental to them, as saliva contains sodium (a mineral) that gradually fills the pores and absorbs the natural moisture of the latex, thereby drying out the latex. Saliva also contains enzymes, of which the job is to digest food.
For food digestion, spit (saliva) serves as a temporary lubricating agent, to help food slide down your esophagus. For latex goalkeeper gloves though, saliva is just a temporary fix that causes long-term damage.
Sweat
Sweat, like saliva, is a great temporary fix for your grip problem, but wiping your brow is even more detrimental to the latex of your goalkeeper gloves, as sweat contains 50 to 100 times more salt than saliva, thereby ensuring your gloves will deteriorate 50 to 100 times faster than just spitting on them.
Dirt
If sweat is bad, what do you think dirt will do? Like salt, dirt is made up of minerals that fill the pores and dry out the latex. Applying KEEPER BALM to brand-new gloves ensures that the pores are protected, eliminating the detrimental effects of soil in the pores of the latex.
Tears
Goalkeeping can be a thankless job. If it’s a close game, you’ll beat yourself up for the next few weeks, thinking about how if you “could have just saved that one shot”, then maybe everything might not have gone “south” for your team.
Tap Water
Yes! Even tap water is detrimental to the longevity of your glove’s latex, because it has natural minerals, and sometimes chemicals like chlorine and fluoride. Minerals is tap water embed themselves into the pores of the latex, and when the water evaporates, the minerals continue to sap moisture from the latex, making them even dryer.
Trying to find a balance of the right amount of water to use to get maximum grip from your gloves is impossible, because each time they dry out, more pliability is sapped from the latex.
Applying Keeper Balm to your gloves when they’re brand new, will ensure that your gloves grip like new (or better) for the life of your gloves.
Applying KEEPER BALM to clean, dry, OLDER gloves will:
- Improve the grip to as-good-as or BETTER THAN NEW (try the PALM TEST – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuqbFvopn6g&t=9s)
- Increase the usable life of your gloves
- Save you money from purchasing gloves unnecessarily as you chase that new-glove-grip high.
- Make your coach happy (because you hang on to the ball more often.
- Make your teammates happy (for the same reason your coach is happy.