How to Prevent Chafing: Top 3 Defenses for Body Friction

It’s time to come clean and be honest, gentlemen. Are you suffering from severe body friction down below?

If you are, you know exactly what we’re talking about. Chafing isn’t pretty, but it’s a reality for a lot of men. We’re not talking about a bit of dry skin here or there -- this isn’t a case of chapped lips or a little bit of cracked and itchy skin around the fingernails. No, when we say body friction, we’re talking major rubbing of the thighs, butt, and balls together in such a way as to create a hot, red, rashy, sweaty mess. These symptoms can actually be the same as the classic diaper rash that you probably dealt with as a baby.

A little bit of irritated skin is one thing. This is something different altogether. If you were just experiencing a small amount of redness, the occasional itch, or a bit of dry skin, you probably wouldn’t have landed on this page. But if you’re here, chances are good that you’re at your wit’s end trying to do something about this problem. Don’t worry, we’re here to help.

The causes of body friction are many and varied. If you work a physically demanding job -- whether you’re a UPS delivery man, a construction worker, a tree trimmer, or any other gig that involves being on your feet day in and day out -- and particularly in hot conditions, certain repeat motions like kneeling, climbing, squatting, or even just too much walking can bring about all sorts of chafing issues.

For the weekend warriors out there, body friction can be a real issue, too. Maybe you work a desk job all week and get to spend your time inside a climate-controlled office. Come the weekend, though, you’re prepping for Ironman, road biking for 8 hours straight, or playing two back-to-back games of pickup basketball. Whatever the situation, people who engage in repetitive athletic activity -- particularly when it involves running or cycling -- are prone to developing serious monkey butt.

While there are lots of guys out there suffering from body friction, though, there are far fewer who take the steps to do something about it. So, don’t despair. Just because this is a common problem, doesn’t mean that you’re doomed to suffer indefinitely.

That’s exactly why we’ve written this blog post: to help guys like you put a stop to chafing and body friction, once and for all. As it turns out, we’ve got three major tips to free you from the side effects of skin irritation once and for all. In this blog post, we’ll talk about each of these in turn:

● Anti-friction underwear

● Moisturizing body wash and creams

● Anti-friction body powder for friction defense

If you cover all your bases with these three approaches, a red rashy butt can be a thing of the past.

Ready to learn more? Let’s get started.

Body Friction: What Is It?

Before we look at your options for body friction defense -- including anti-friction underwear, the right body wash, and the correct type and application of body powder -- we should clarify exactly what we mean when we say “body friction.”

Let’s try a quick experiment. You might remember this from elementary school. Put your hands together for a moment and rub them back and forth briskly. What happens? Things start heating up, right? That’s the first law of thermodynamics in action: energy can never be created or destroyed -- it can only change forms. You’re taking mechanical energy (the act of rubbing your hands together) and converting it into heat. As a result, your hands start to get warm.

Now, if you kept rubbing your hands together for a while -- maybe thirty minutes or an hour -- thing would start to get really uncomfortable, really quick. Next thing you know, your hands would be red, puffy, and irritated. Your skin just can’t handle that kind of agitation, and it would soon become inflamed as a result of various somatic defense mechanisms deploying to deal with the irritation.

Maybe you’re thinking to yourself: okay, fair enough, I get it. Rubbing two body parts together like a madman is going to cause irritation. But I’m not doing that -- so why am I so irritated down below?

For one thing, the amount of rubbing going on between your thighs, balls, and butt cheeks it probably more significant than you’d think. Consider for a moment: How many strides per minute are you taking when you go for a run? Or, how many times do your legs move up and down when you’re cycling over the course of sixty seconds? Now, multiply that by the amount of time you’ve been putting in for that upcoming triathlon or mountain biking race. See what we mean?

Still, though, sheer friction isn’t 100% responsible for what’s going on here. There are other factors to blame, too.

As we already mentioned, chafing is a problem that lots of people have to contend with. But, in many cases, it shows up as a pretty mild issue. Maybe it comes and goes, but it never really gets out of hand. As a result, most people who experience body friction don’t ever actually end up taking steps to do anything about it.

In your case, though, things are obviously different. There are a couple of reasons that body friction might be causing you more trouble than it does for the average guy.

For one thing, some people just have particularly sensitive skin. If this is the case for you, there’s not a whole lot that you can do about it. It’s best to acknowledge that you’re prone to such issues, and then take the necessary steps to heal any current chafing you’re experiencing -- and to prevent future instances of skin irritation.

On top of this, though, there are environmental factors at play here. While you may not be rubbing your thighs together quite as vigorously or as forcefully as in the example above with your hands, it’s not just friction that’s causing irritation. In addition to that physical motion, the inner thighs, testicles, and butt are parts of the body that tend to stay warm and moist. It’s easy for sweat to build up here, and for things to get uncomfortably warm. The combination of sweat, heat, and friction is a surefire way to end up with chafed skin.

So, now you understand what body friction is and why you’re experiencing it. That said, what can you do about it?

We recommend three separate measures to fix and prevent chafing, monkey butt, and body friction.

Clothing: Anti-Friction, Anti-Chafing Underwear

One of the first steps you should take when evaluating your body friction problem is surprisingly obvious: take a look at your undies.

Think about it. Your thighs, butt, and balls are tightly encased in some sort of fabric day in, day out. When you go for a run, there’s a layer of material enclosing that part of your body. Is it breathing properly? Are things getting too hot in there? Is it actually making friction worse?

Look, we get it: you don’t like shopping. It’s understandable. A lot of guys make the mistake of going to the store, buying the cheapest underwear they can find (or maybe whichever pair happens to be the first one they come across in the store), and then wearing them until there are so many holes that they have no choice but to replace them.

While that strategy may work if all you’re doing is sitting in a cubicle all day, it’s a bad idea for active men. Whether you’re working a job outside in the heat, getting in a mid-day jog, or running wind sprints to prep for an upcoming competition, you can’t expect a cheap pair of cotton underwear to offer you the kind of performance that you need.

What you need are anti-chafing underwear. When we say anti-chafing, we’re referring to any of the wide range of athletic underwear options that are out there. Athletic, anti-friction underwear is designed to do a few different things:

1) Lower ambient temperature

2) Wick moisture away from the body

3) Provide protection to reduce the effects of friction

When you sweat and the moisture on your skin evaporates, it creates an exothermic reaction that has a cooling effect on your body. But when you sweat and there’s no evaporation, there’s also no cooling effect. If you’re wearing a pair of thick cotton boxers that soak up moisture, cling to your skin, and don’t allow for any air circulation, you’ll end up hotter down there instead of cooler. Plus, all that extra moisture is going to exacerbate your chafing problems.

By wicking sweat away from your skin, athletic anti-chafing underwear help keep you dry and cool. Boxer briefs, the most popular style for athletics, also feature padding and cushiony material in all the right places, which can be especially helpful in preventing friction.

Body Wash and Cream for Chafing Prevention

Of course, it’s not just about underwear. Sure, the right anti-chafing underwear is an important consideration. But, you’ve also got to think about your, ahem, personal grooming habits.

We’re going to assume that you’re showering daily (if not, well, that’s something you’ll need to start doing). When you shower, though, what are you using to wash down there?

A lot of guys use some kind of industrial-strength soap on their butt, balls, and inner thighs. It dries out their skin, and they assume that that drying effect is actually a good thing. Far from it, though.

Now, don’t get us wrong: cleaning your man parts every day is an important part of preventing monkey butt and chafing problems. But, you’ve got to use the right kind of soap if you want to have the intended effect.

You see, completely drying out your skin with some bar soap that could take the paint off of a car isn’t doing you any favors. An appropriate amount of moisture on your skin is actually incredibly important. If your skin is dried out, red, scaly, and irritated, it’s going to be prone to even more irritation once you’re active and creating body friction.

As a result, you’ll need to choose a cleanser designed specifically for your manly area: something that knocks out the bacteria that cause odor and itch, but that also ensures you maintain the proper balance of moisture. We’ve got just the thing: Chassis® Shower Primer.

With Chassis Shower Primer, you’ll clean, moisturize, and soften your skin in one fell swoop. You simply can’t go wrong. Plus, if you’re not happy, Chassis offers a money-back guarantee.

Now, you may be wondering why this cleanser is called a “primer.” That’s because it’s your first line of defense against chafed, stinky balls. Once you’re clean and out of the shower, it’s time for step two: body powder.

If a shower primer isn’t enough, and things are looking to be a bigger challenge, consider a premium cream protectant like those offered from Chassis. These products not only have extra moisturizers, but they contain physical skin barriers that help reduce friction all day long.

Anti-Friction Powder

As we’ve already indicated, sweat and moisture exacerbate body friction problems. For this reason, keeping things cool and dry down below is a great way to cut down on chafing.

While the proper underwear and the right cleanser are important steps on the path to chafe-free balls, nothing beats a quality anti-friction body powder. And, without a doubt, there’s no better body powder than Chassis® Premium Powder.

This world renowned powder is designed specifically to cut down on friction, reduce moisture, and provide cooling relief to skin that’s already irritated. It’s free of harmful chemicals and ingredients like talc, which can make things worse instead of better. Its natural blend of aloe, witch hazel, pumpkin seed, and hops will keep you fresh all-day long.

There’s nothing worse than a bad case of chafing down there. Fortunately, body friction can be a thing of the past with Chassis.

To learn more about what Chassis can do for you, click here.