‘In the heat, my thighs chafed together and bled. I was very unhappy, and yet no one ever asked me how I felt’ – Marcus Brigstocke
When it comes to mates I’ve got some some of the best ones and between the 6 of us I don’t think there’s much that we don’t talk about (take heed anyone who’s ever wronged us!) From periods, to poo, relationships to Riverdale, there’s nothing off limits.
So imagine my wonder when on a recent holiday and I encountered a serious case of something guarantee everyone woman with even the healthiest BMI has encountered before (especially me): chub rub.
Medically (and perhaps less crassly) known as chafing however I find chub rub a far more accurate description. It’s not something I’ve ever suffered from at home apart from some mild under boob chafing after a long run. My lack of experience is probably because I wear trousers 99.8% of the time and if I do happen to have a skirt or dress on It’s undoubtedly with tights or spanx.
For those unfamiliar, chub rub is when it’s hot and your inner thighs rub together causing some almighty painful friction and usually an unsightly rash. Now, between me and my besties it’s safe to say there’s none of us over weight by any stretch of the imagination but it’s also safe to say there’s not a thigh gap between us. So how come this is one thing we’ve never spoken about before?!
When I’ve suffered from chub rub on holidays of yore I’ve never really done anything about it, other than moaned a bit and vowed to get back to the gym when I got home. It never dawned on me that I could actually try some of the many lotions and potions available to combat my sweaty thighs. So, whilst I didn’t try everything that’s on offer, I did a bit of research to see what other people recommended, and tried a few out myself:
Talcum Powder
Remember years ago there was an advert for anti-chafing stuff where it was a balloon woman, and her balloon thighs rubbing together was supposed to symbolise chafing? Apparently that anti chafing wonder dust was essentially just talc in fancy packaging and sold at twice the price. In my option this probably worked best when I was in Thailand although did need to be reapplied half way through the night. Which paints a gloriously glamorous picture of me talcing up a storm in a Thai toilet.
Roll on deodorant
I really, really wanted this to work and thought that because I use Mitchum; the sweaty girl’s deodorant of choice, it would be the end of my chafing woes for good. However, and without meaning to sound too uncouth, it just felt a bit too sticky, which when you think about the area to which it’s applied, isn’t a pleasant feeling. And after it dried it did crap all for my chub rub.
Vaseline
Be it for nipples of thighs, Vaseline is Dave’s chafing destroyer of choice, and as someone who has been known to run the odd ultra marathon in is time, you’d think he knows what he’s talking about. For me however I had a similar experience to that of the roll on deodorant. As an aside, the fact the Vaseline claims to be odour free is quite frankly preposterous as the smell of it makes me retch.
Base layer clothing
Now, this is a bit of a curve ball. Base layer clothing (like leggings, cycling shorts or spanx) in my experience, are absolutely 100% guaranteed to stop you from ever suffering from chub rub. However, in the 30 degree heat in Thailand, this simply wasn’t an option, which is a shame really because I’m usually all over any excuse to wear a pair of spanx for their slimming properties alone.
Interestingly enough I saw a feature on This Morning while I was on holiday in Portugal talking about Pretty Little Thing who have just launched their own Thigh Bands to tackle chafing. The only problem being they’ve apparently been with the weather being so hot recently they’ve completely sold out.
Now, I’d be interested to see if these actually work because they look like the have all the grip of those ‘hold up’ tights you can get so you don’t get that awful tight line around your waist when you wear a dress. Those hold ups are never a match for my thunderous thighs so I doubt these Thigh Bands would be either.
So for now it looks like I’m stocking up on talc for the foreseeable!
Buy the more expensive ones called bandelettes. I can confirm they don’t roll and I’m on my 3rd year of mine. Make sure you measure your leg and get the right size- eBay cost around £15-20 but they are really worth it!