Did your skin ever feel burnt and stingy? There’s a high chance you’re suffering from skin chafing.
Skin chafing is a common skin irritation that takes place when the skin is repetitively rubbed to skin or to a piece of clothing. The friction can turn the skin raw and red and can eventually leave a burning or stinging feeling. Although the painful skin chafing can occur on all parts of the body, it occurs more often on the groins, inner thighs, underarms, under breasts, and nipples.
Who are susceptible to skin chafing?
- Anyone can experience skin chafing but runners and fitness enthusiasts who work out from time to time are more exposed to skin chafing because they tend to sweat more. Apparently, where there is moisture like sweat, the likelihood of chafing amplifies.
- Overweight people with multiple folds on the legs, necks, and arms are also more vulnerable to skin chafing because of the natural skin-to-skin contact.
- Breastfeeding moms can also suffer from chafing nipples because of the type of bra or pads that can serve as an irritant.
- As moisture and skin friction are the primary culprits that trigger skin chafing, anyone who wears inappropriate clothing is more likely to suffer from such an annoying and painful skin condition:
- Inappropriate garments include loose garments when working out where there repetitive moments can result with the skins rubbing against each other.
- Dresses and loose shorts that allow skin-to-skin rubbing
- Garments made of irritating fabric
- Non “dry fit” active garments that cause sweat to seep through rather that getting dried up fast
How to prevent chafing?
Using a chafing cream has been a popular solution because of the wonders it does but for those who want to eradicate the likelihood of chafing on their skins, a set of preventive measures is believed to be as much helpful:
- Apply lubricants and moisturizers to areas prone to chafing. Aside from chafing creams, you can go for other products like glide-on and petroleum jelly that ease skin friction.
- Drink plenty of fluids every day. Staying hydrated is one of the best natural and cheapest things you can do to prevent skin chafing, not to mention it has many benefits to your body.
Proper hydration means you need to drink a lot of water at least 8 times a day or before, during, and after exercising. Hydration enables you to sweat freely and the dried up sweat will not leave a salty crystal.
- Protect your inner groins and other parts of legs from chaffing by wearing compression shorts or running tights. These will significantly protect your skin from chafes and abrasions.
- Wear appropriate clothing.
If you are actively working out, e.g. a fitness enthusiast or a runner, as you are a top candidate to suffer from chafing, one of the preventive measures you should instill in mind is to pick the right kind of fabric for your active wear. Cottons, in this case, are not advisable because they are sweat absorbent and will stay wet instead of drying up fast. Where there’s moisture, chafing can occur or aggravate. Instead, go for dry-fit active garments as they are made to wick moisture and deliver sweat away.
If you are fond of shopping, consider purchasing clothes with tags that do not irritate when you wear them. As much as possible, go for tag-less clothing or seamless bras.
Ergonomics matter even on the type of clothes you are wearing. To avoid chafing, make sure that the socks, underwear, or base layers you pick have an ergonomic fit. Refrain from wearing loose-fitting garments. However, if wearing loose clothing is really your kind of fashion, make sure to apply anti chafing creams to reduce the frequency of irritation caused by skin friction.
How to treat chafing?
When prevention seems to be late and you are already suffering from a chafe, consider treating them through the following simple steps:
Step 1: Wash the wound with clean, lukewarm water and an antibacterial soap. This will help eliminate your potential of acquiring harmful bacteria that can creep into the abrasion and cause worse infections.
Step 2: Apply a soothing chafing cream that does not contain any wax, petroleum or silicone to make sure you are treating the skin instead of opening a room for more skin complications.
Step 3: Refer to the prevention tips mentioned above to put an end to your skin chafing episodes.
Using a Chafing Cream
While there are people that use ointments that they can easily grab to treat their chafed skin, the threatening side effects can rather make the problem worse.
Chafing creams are proven great at treating or preventing skin chafing. They are also especially created with a technology that can form a semi-permeable membrane on the skin which protects the skin from further blistering and chafing.
However, proper usage and application is vital to ensure the best potential of the product. Here’s how you must use it:
- Apply the chafing cream on the chafed area or on the areas susceptible to chafing or blistering.
- Rub and massage the cream thoroughly on the susceptible areas for around thirty section until you notice a stiff or tacky feeling on the skin. This may seem uncomfortable at first but the tackiness is only temporary and should only last for seconds.
- Let the cream dry for about two to three minutes without wiping it off.
After the application, more often than not, you’ll notice a different smoothness level on your skin and this will help your skin glide easy while you put on your tight workout or swimming gear or socks.
As skin chafing on the thigh is also common, chafing creams are also made to address such a problem by serving as a temporary glide-on. This makes them a commonly used product for marathon runners. However, as the market is flooded with a lot of chafing cream options, choosing one of the bests is imperative to ensure amazing results.