Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Donkey Label Recovery Oil - Soothing

7
£15.00

VERDICT:

7
10
Fine-smelling, non-greasy massage oil for a bit of tired muscle love
Weight: 
80g
Contact: 
www.ilsoigneur.cc

At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.

What the road.cc scores mean

Good scores are more common than bad, because fortunately good products are more common than bad.

  • Exceptional
  • Excellent
  • Very Good
  • Good
  • Quite good
  • Average
  • Not so good
  • Poor
  • Bad
  • Appalling

Donkey Label are based in Minneapolis, just off the greenway bike path, and they produce a stylish range of cycle clothing accessories and skin care products, this Recovery Oil being a bottle from the last lot.

Donkey Label say their oils are created to enhance the experience of cycling, whether it's the preparation, the ride or the recovery, which is where this soothing lotion comes in. Hand crafted in Wisconsin with natural ingredients selected to benefit your skin and your muscles, Recovery Oil is a blend of organic jojoba oil and arnica flowers, with eucalyptus, peppermint, and ginger essential oils.

Just spritz it onto your hands and it already smells like it's doing you good, those eucalyptus and peppermint aromas wafting to the fore with the other perfumes providing more subtle base notes that loiter longer post massage making you smell that little bit happier.

I'm no massage expert, but I've had my moments, and the Donkey Label Oil feels like a good massage oil should: oily enough to last the length of any kneading without continual re-applying but not so greasy that it leaves an unpleasantly sticky or slimy residue.

Giving tired muscles a soothing rub after a ride and maybe locating and teasing out any troublesome knots can only improve recovery, and the extra moisturizing effects and pleasing lingering aroma of the Donkey are just welcome side-effects that add to the floppy post-massage well-being glow.

If you're not happy with the soothing properties of Donkey Label Recovery Oil then importer (iL) Soigneur will give you your money back. You can't go wrong really.

Verdict

Fine smelling, non-greasy massage oil for a bit of tired muscle love.

road.cc test report

Make and model: Donkey Label Recovery Oil Soothing

Size tested: n/a

Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

Donkey Label like to ride hard and rest hard, for them recovery is not a passive event. Applying their "soothing" recovery oil to sore muscles is the first step in ensuring you are ready for tomorrow's stage. This gently scented formula penetrates muscles, replenishes skin, and could quite possibly become your new best friend, they say.

A post ride massage is always a good thing, and it does smell really rather nice.

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Donkey Label Recovery Oil contains organic jojoba oil and arnica flowers, with essential oils of eucalyptus, peppermint, and ginger.

Rate the product for performance:
 
9/10

Incredibly pleasant to use, whether using it via your own hand or having the benefit of someone else's, and massaging muscles is going to aid recovery and benefit your performance.

Rate the product for durability:
 
7/10

Slippery enough not to need constant applications during a rub-down, and that little bottle lasts a while.

Rate the product for comfort, if applicable:
 
10/10

Incredibly pleasing to use with no unpleasant greasy residue, and a massage always makes the world a happier place

Rate the product for value:
 
8/10

£15 seems a whole bunch of money for such a tiny pot but it lasts a long long time, and if you're not happy with what it does then (iL) Soigneur will give you your money back

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

There's not much to ask from a massage oil, but it was non greasy and smelt rather nice, so it did just dandy.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

The aroma, and massages are always welcome.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Nothing.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes.

Would you consider buying the product? Hmmmmmmm, yes. A bit of post-ride leg love needs to be incorporated into my routine more often.

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes.

Overall rating: 7/10

About the tester

Age: 42  Height: 180cm  Weight: 73kg

I usually ride: It varies as to the season.  My best bike is: The one I'm on at the time

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: Most days  I would class myself as: Experienced

I regularly do the following types of riding: road racing, cyclo cross, general fitness riding, fixed/singlespeed, mtb, Fun

 

Jo Burt has spent the majority of his life riding bikes, drawing bikes and writing about bikes. When he's not scribbling pictures for the whole gamut of cycling media he writes words about them for road.cc and when he's not doing either of those he's pedaling. Then in whatever spare minutes there are in between he's agonizing over getting his socks, cycling cap and bar-tape to coordinate just so. And is quietly disappointed that yours don't He rides and races road bikes a bit, cyclo-cross bikes a lot and mountainbikes a fair bit too. Would rather be up a mountain.

Add new comment

1 comments

Avatar
caaad10 | 10 years ago
0 likes

Why is everything cycling related so bloody expensive? At around £200/ litre, I can get some unbelievable single estate organic extra virgin olive oil for a fraction of the price, and I can put it on my salad too.....

Latest Comments