Do you often feel painful rashes and blisters in places where your skin meets skin or fabric? These rashes are called chafing. Chafing can occur due to any friction created on your skin. This friction can arise out of skin or fabric. There are several places where you can experience chafing on your body, like the neck, shoulders, crotch, underboob, armpits, soles of your feet, thighs, etc.
Basically, chafing can occur anywhere on your body where there is sweat and friction. To combat this problem, you can use an anti chafing cream. There are several chafing creams that are available over the counter or online.
Benefits of anti chafing creams
Let us be honest; chafing is not fun. It is painful and takes several days to recover from chafing. Whoever said prevention is the best cure was absolutely correct.
You can use various anti chafing creams that provide several benefits:
- Prevention of Rashes: anti chafing creams prevent rashes that can be caused due to friction.
- Reduction of Friction: Most chafing creams form a barrier on the skin so that even if there is friction, it will not result in chafing.
- Soothing and Anti-inflammatory: Most anti chafing creams are loaded with ingredients that are soothing and have anti-inflammatory properties. This results in relief even if you are suffering from chafing, along with prevention from more chafing.
- Skin Lightening Properties: Most chafing creams have active ingredients like Vitamin C and Ferulic Acid in them, which have lightening properties. This results in the lightening of the dark spot, which is caused due to any previous chafing.
Do’s and Don'ts While Combating Chafing
Chafing is more common than you think. While chafing creams can do the job of treating chafing efficiently, there are a few do’s and don'ts that you need to be mindful about:
- Once chafing has erupted, be sure to keep the area clean and dry.
- Do use a mild soap to clean the area daily as skin areas that have suffered from chafing can catch an infection.
- Do not use fragrances in the area where the chafing has occurred, as fragrances contain alcohol and chemicals that can dry the area even more.
- Do not use a liquid disinfectant, as it can further irritate the area.
- Apply witch hazel to disinfect and experience relief from itching and burning sensation on the affected area.
- Do not take hot water baths while experiencing chafing.
- Do not apply a hot compress to the affected area. The chafing will become worse due to heat as it was caused by heat caused due to friction in the first place.
- If you experience severe itching, apply a cold compress to the affected area.
- Consult a doctor if the chafing does not get better even after using chafing creams
- Do consult a doctor if you are experiencing bleeding or oozing of any bodily fluid from the affected area. This usually means that you have caught an infection.
Final Thoughts
Chafing is painful and inconvenient. You can experience chafing even after using anti chafing creams, but chances of the same are low. As if that was not enough, it meddles in your day-to-day life by restricting movement and causing itching. While it is important to understand that prevention is better than cure, it is equally important to understand that chafing can happen to anyone and is not an indication of hygiene or fitness.
It merely means that your skin is sensitive and gets rashed by friction. Do not worry; just incorporate a chafing cream in areas where you experience chafing frequently, and you will be able to combat this problem.
