Chafing Prevention

Thanks for the link. I have also had a lot of success with wearing spandex biking shorts, which have all but prevented chaffing for me.

+1 with Dave. Spandex shorts took care of all the inner thigh chaffing. Sports Slick for all other random chaffing. Will have to look at Daryl's suggestion too.

Ryan

Wondering what his wife meant about "still nothing there"

Under Armor boxers are basically spandex shorts and work great for me chafing-wise.

Jockey makes some snug-fitting, longer-length UW that are akin to bicycling shorts without the butt padding and of thinner material (i.e. lighter). I get them in black and have worn them as my one and only on the trail – they look like bicycling shorts and the black hides the contours pretty well. They wash & dry very quickly and are cheaper than other options I've seen.

http://www.spanx.com

I've tried various form fitting undergarments without success. The chafing occurs very high up and almost no garment will stay up that high throughout a trip.

I think it is possibly the hairy rough skin of the scrotom rubbing against the more vulnerable skin on the upper inner thigh. To test this out I recently bought a jock strap and will see how that works. If nothing else it might help me sort out exactly what causes the chafing. (I know….too much information)

In the meantime the towelettes worked wonderfully so I now know I have at least one thing that prevents the chafing.

This chafing thing is no small item for me. I almost had to turn back on one trip because of it. Had to walk bow legged for several miles. (yippee ki yay)

I have thin legs. Take that!

Soap and water are a preventative treatment for chafing.

TP is a preparation for chafing.

Body Glide Liquified Powder works wonderfully to help prevent chafing for me.

http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11005964&gsidynamic=GooglePLA-_-SOCKS/RUNNINGACCESSORIES-_-SOCKS/RUNNINGACCESSORIES-_-SKU-9155602&camp=CSE:GooglePLA:11005964:9155602:SOCKS/RUNNINGACCESSORIES-

If you want to try it, PM me your address, I have an extra tube.

To me, longer boxer briefs would be for thigh-thigh chafing. If the chafing is higher on groin as Daryl describes, it seems a slightly tighter brief should be tried, maybe along with some cream or even changing briefs midday to reduce moisture.

May sound strange, but saw this on a Nat Geo show at some point. Gel antiperspirant! Works great– I'm a big guy and sweat a lot, this stuff does the trick and can be bought just about anywhere. All problems with chaffing– gone gone gone!

Max,

"I have thin legs. Take that!"

Well you definitely have a leg up on me in that department.

I think I spent too much time with the thigh master during my formative years. I blame Suzanne Somers.

David Walls,

I bought some of the gel antiperspirant and will give it a try.

If it works I may use it around town and save the towelettes from my original post for backpacking. The towelettes are much lighter but the gel is much cheaper.

Daryl Daryl,

No lie. Right Guard Total Defense 5 with Active cooling . . .

You will find , likely, that your BTL temp (between the leg LOL!) will still rise and you may get sweat as before, but trust me on this and feel free to report back . . . apply to "leg pits" just as you would arm puts and I think your worries are a thing of the past. My son used to get chaffing really bad as well, especially where salt water was involved. My wife had seen a Dr. OZ show on tv while we were at the beach house and he and a whole panel of exercise/running pro's had indicated the gel antiperspirant and possibly/probably solid stick worked exceedingly well. Side benefit, single stick could be used for arms as well, Love the multi-purpose gear!

Dave

What about shaving the nether regions?

Dave U,

I shaved my armpits once, many years ago, just to see how it felt. It felt scratchy.

From what I've read I should be trying to reduce friction between skin parts and between skin and clothing. Seems like short scratchy stubble would increase friction?

I can't know for sure without trying it of course. So maybe I'll get liquored up and go in for a scrotum/inner thigh bikini wax job………not.

"What about shaving the nether regions?"

Sometimes shaving can have the opposite effect. I'll just leave it at that.

If you have something that works for you, stick with it.

Daryl Daryl,

Now you're talking ! LOL! If you're gonna do that, why stop short, get a bleach job too! Those of us in the BIZ learned that secret years ago.

Doug,

I ordered some Body Glide Liquified Powder and will give it a try. Thanks for the tip. I've tried the solid version without success. It actually hurt when I tried to rub it on this delicate area. The liquid version sounds much better.

And thanks for the offer of your second tube. I found a place with free shipping so that seemed the route to go.

Yes, just don't use an electric razor. Don't ask Ian why….

"Sometimes shaving can have the opposite effect. I'll just leave it at that"

Well hey there Big Boy ;) pray do tell, we all want to hear about your..um.."friend's" experience.

J/K! Please don't tell.

Hey Daryl, i feel your pain (well at least i have, literally). I'm going to one up your TMI experience here a bit. I had a jock itch infection develop before i went to Spain and walked the El Camino De Santiago, my first and only really long hiking trip so far (which i did treat more as a backpacking trip, until i found out it was illegal and frowned upon for us "pilgrims" to nature camp, but i had a tarp, blankets, etc and did use it some in the beginning). Right before we left for the trip, i thought i had the infection beat, as the cream i was using (prescribed by an MD) seemed to be doing the trick, and i treated it for the appropriate length of time (3 weeks). It looked like it was totally gone by the time we left for Spain.

Well, en Espana, it came back with a vengeance, Dos Mio! At first it wasn't so bad, but yeah, try walking 500 or so miles with such an infection that just got worse and worse because i was always sweaty and hot. At one point, my skin got so raw and painful, that despite really disliking the idea, i took a bus and skipped about 40 miles to rest and treat it a couple of days. Unfortunately during this trip, it mutated and went deeper in my skin, and it took everything but nuclear blasting it to get rid of the infection (and a lot of time, experimentation, and testing).

It was after this trip that i started to get a wee bit obsessed with hygienic fabrics and materials like Linen to help with fighting the infection. At first all i got were shorts, since it was the area affected, but i ended up really like linen in general so ended up getting shirts and other things even though it had nothing to do with the jock infection. I even have a linen towel and bathrobe :O

Anyways, no advice, but just wanted to commiserate a bit and tell you i know how much raw skin sucks on backpacking/hiking trips. I really hope your solution continues to help out a lot.

What about shaving the nether regions?

There's a great story about this in Lawson "Disco" Grinter's fantastic book – I Hike. I wont spoil it for anyone, as the book is really worth a read. I finished it in a couple of days and am now even more obsessed with doing a Thru Hike.

Good info on chafing here http://krudmeister.blogspot.co.nz/2010/10/chafe.html