How To Prevent And Treat Chafing

How do you stop your inner thighs from chafing? Chafing is a serious problem. Marathon runners are all too familiar with the inconvenience and pain of chafing, but chafing can make even basic movements like walking excruciating.

Thankfully, chafing is relatively easy to treat and even easier to prevent.

In this article, I’ll help you understand what causes chafing, give you some preventative tips and suggest ways to relieve the pain if you are prone to chafing.

What is Chafing?

Chafing, also known as intertrigo, happens when there is friction from repeated skin-on-skin (or skin-on-clothing) contact. This friction damages your skin and can cause rashes, pain, blisters and even bleeding.

There are several common causes of chafing:

• Wet skin and moisture trapped between the skin folds after swimming
• Not drying off after a sweaty workout
• Extensive walking or running, causing the skin to rub together
• Wearing thin fabric that doesn’t create enough of a barrier between the fabric and your skin
• Excessive heat and humidity
• Wearing non moisture wicking underwear

Chafing Symptoms

The symptoms of chafing are easy to recognize:

• Red skin
• Burning
• Pain
• Blister-like-lesions
• A flat, hot rash

Where Does Chafing Occur?

Even though most people experience chafing between their inner thighs, chafing can occur anywhere on your body. Chafing is also common under your arms and in your groin at the underwear line.

How to Prevent Chafing

Here are some easy ways to prevent chafing:

• Dry off your skin regularly. If you know that you sweat profusely on certain days, try to keep it dry. This will cut down on the redness and pain.
• Wear loose clothes. If your tight clothes are causing you to sweat more, wear looser clothes to help your body to stay cool.
• Keep your body temperature lower. Drink plenty of water and stay hydrated and cool.
• Powder your inner thighs (see products below). This can soak up the moisture and sweat and calm your inflamed skin. You can purchase specialty powder at drugstores or online.
• Use an anti-chafing cream or balm. See Bag Balm below, a Vaseline alternative.
• Wear anti-chafe underwear. The right kind of underwear will protect your thighs and genitals from irritation.

How to Treat Chafing

Once your skin is chafed, keep the following in mind before pursuing other treatments:

• Avoid repeated rubbing or touching irritated skin
• Avoid scented soaps or moisturizers
• Cover your skin with loose fitting clothing to reduce friction and avoid further irritation

Here are some products that will help chafed skin if you’re already suffering. The following should be applied to clean, dry skin for best results.

Chassis for Men

Unlike baby powder, Chassis Body Powder was specifically designed to provide day-long protection against sweat, odor, and chafing. However, it does not absorb moisture like baby powder or other talcum powders. In fact, it contains no talc at all.

Where to buy: chassisformen.com

Ballsy Ballguard Ball Deodorant

This liquid powder product applies like a cream. It dries instantly to help fight sweat, smell and chafing. It’s also talc-free, paraben-free, and aluminum-free.

Try using the Ballsy Ballguard Ball Deodorant on your inner thighs instead of a powder-based formual.

Where to buy: ballsybrand.com

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Bag Balm

Created in 1899, Bag Balm was originally designed to keep dairy cows from becoming chapped as a result of the harsh Vermont environment. Now people from all around the world use Bag Balm to treat chapped, cracked skin.

Bag Balm can also prevent chafing and is less sticky than Vaseline. A reader and landscaper by the name of Danny stopped by to share this anti-chafing hack in the comments below. He said he applies it about two times per day on average, and he stays comfortable and chafe-free even after walking around for more than six hours a day.

Where to buy: Amazon

Baby Powder

Baby powder will soak up moisture and help keep you dry, preventing further skin irritations. Apply it to your inner thighs before getting dressed. Re-apply as necessary.

Vaseline

Vaseline or any type of branded petroleum jelly works by softening and moisturizing your skin. It creates a skin barrier to protect you from more irritations, soothing chafing pain almost instantly.

However, one reader wrote in stating that he had tried Vaseline and it was a bit too sticky for him. If you’ve tried using any petroleum jelly product, let me know your thoughts in the comment section below.

For additional information about treating chafing, please be sure to check out WebMD.