But I, like many MANY women suffer and dread the unavoidable, CHUB RUB. You know, when your thighs rub together and the friction gets too hot to handle and you feel like there is a fire down there? And honestly it's not even about weight, many women just have thicker or bigger thighs and well, when left bare they meet. And rub. And they burn, baby burn.
Frankly it is embarrassing even if no one knows about it — it was just personally mortifying to be so chafed you can't walk. Even at my slimmest the thighs just kind of...stayed together. Obviously the chafing was less when I wasn't as heavy, but either way — it hurts!
We've had a few warm days in the past few weeks — I don't really "do shorts" so I stick with skirts and dresses. I took the kids out for a walk, and just a few block out the rubbing started. Then the burning sensation, then more and more and by the time I reached the post office I felt I had rubbed off layers of skin.
I was in absolute pain. Ahhhhh! I thought, how could I have forgot about the chafing?! It was a terrible afternoon, but as soon as I was back, I generously applied vaseline to soothe the pain and I thought — "I need to get this sorted, AHORA!"
First thing, get back in shape. No question about that, but that takes times
Second, help ease the pain, so I pulled out the slimming shorts and my body glide. As a runner you use body glide — essentially hard vaseline on a stick similar to a deodorate to help with the chafing when doing longer runs. I swear by this stuff and I use it on my inner thighs and where my inner arms meet the side of my torso.
The slimming shorts are pulling double duty here — one to help keep the muffin top and slim your tummy and to avoid the chub rub. I wear them under my dresses and skirts during the summer. Just make sure to get the shorter ones so you can't see them when you walk.
The rest of the products are body glide/vaseline types of lubricants that are non-greasy and can be applied throughout the day. I carry my stick of body glide in my bag now. Vaseline is okay, but if it gets on your clothing can be hard to wash off, and frankly its just messy. Stick to the hard gels that look like deodorants. You can get these at any sports, running or your local CVS, Target or other pharmacy.
Make these your BBF's this summer!
1. Spanx Simplicty Girl Shaper Shorts — got it, love it!
2. Gold Bond Friction Defense Stick (unscented)
3. Chafe-Away Medicated Healing Balm
4. Bodyglide for Her Anti-Chafing Stick — got it, love it, use it all the time!
5. Monistat Soothing Care Powder Gel
6. Lanacane Ant-Chafing Gle
7. Vaseline Petroleum Jelly — works and soothes, but can be a bit messy.
(Click on any of the images above to get the links.)
So here's to a chafe free summer!
What do you use to alleviate the dreaded chub rub??!
