Louisiana’s Ultimate Guide To Managing Chafing in This Hot Weather

A recent meme on Facebook mentioned a topic that many people may experience, but sure don't want to talk about.....chafing. 

We decided since so many people have this issue and don't want to talk about it, which we understand, the least we could do is give some information about it. Most importantly, we want to give you some tips to deal with it.

Chafing on your body parts can be annoying, then painful to downright dangerous if you scratch the area and it gets infected. The excessive heat only exacerbates the problem whether you are a woman or a man. It doesn't matter if you are physically fit or inactive, in this blazing heat, it can be a real pain to deal with it.

What Is Chafing?

According to Mount Sinai Hospital, it's easy to give you a definition. It happens when skin rubs against other skin. So, this can happen in any area of your body. It can lead to mild irritation or major pain.

Between your thighs is one place where chafing happens often with people, but you can have the same experience with any part of your body where your skin rubs together. Adding a barrier like clothing can help, according to experts.

In addition to skin-on-skin chafing, the Cleveland Clinic says chafing can be a problem between your skin and some clothing. They point out it can happen at places on your body that are warm and moist. And in Louisiana, our entire body is typically warm and moist from May through November.

Chafing Can Happen Anywhere

According to the Cleveland Clinic, you can experience chafing in a variety of areas including the following:

• Armpits
• Breasts
• Butt
• Groin
• Nipples
• Thighs

What can we do to prevent chafing from happening? And, once chafing has started, what can we do to treat it?

What Are Some Things That Can Help Prevent Chafing?

Compression Shorts

Womensrunning.com says one of the biggest pieces of advice they can give is to wear compression shorts. They say if you don't have compression clothing you can try snug clothing instead.

In general, you need a barrier between your skin in order to prevent chafing. You want to be very careful with snug clothing as that can be uncomfortable in the heat.

Did You Know about Chafe Tape?

Some People Swear By Powder As Anti-Chafing Resource

Things You Can Rub on The Impacted Area

When you experience chafing they suggest you stop doing whatever caused it. That can be difficult if it happens in any area where you can't stop it like in between your thighs.

What they suggest is using clean and dry the area. The next step is to put on some aloe vera and follow it up with petroleum jelly. If it gets worse, consult your doctor.

You can also put petroleum jelly on any spots that are sensitive to chafing. It helps to maintain that barrier so that hopefully chafing won't happen again.

Moisture-Wicking Clothing

According to webmd.com choosing moisture-wicking clothing can help in the battle against chafing. They even suggest that if you are a lady, exercise with just your sports bra on. For men, just exercise without your shirt on.

Anit-Blister and Chafing Creams

You can look at your local store or you can go online to actually buy products that help to prevent blisters and chafing issues. There are a ton of choices on Amazon for anti-chafing and relief after the chafing products that come in stick form.

Finally, if you are a runner, someone who exercises a lot, or you deal with this problem constantly, you can email us your remedies and the things that help you by sending them to bernie.lee@townsquaremedia.com.

What about Home Remedies for Chafing?

Here's one product we found to help with chafing:

Should You Change the Way You Run?

Here's a Quick Check List from Body Glide: