Chub rub. Chub rub. Chub rub.
The small phrase that dominates my thoughts every summer. The dreaded moment when, stuck in a hot, humid, albeit stifling summer temperature I decide to brave the conditions and wear, shorts. Or a skirt. Or a dress. Really anything other than full blown pants that cause my not-model thin thighs to touch as I walk and inevitably result in the discomfort of chub rub.
Now if Chub rub is term you’re not familiar with, let me brief you with this definition from Urban Dictionary: Chub rub – “When your thighs love each other very much and touch each other when you walk. Also known as ‘chaffing’”
Yes, my thighs love each other very much, and yes, the chaffing that forms from this love is THE.ACTUAL.WORST. but alas there’s not much I can do about the act itself happening.
But what I can do is make it less unpleasant for me in my day-to-day endeavours. So, for the last week I’ve been testing out a Chub rub hack, the Body Glide for Her Moisturizing Anti-Chafe Balm Stick. Basically it’s fancy deodorant looking stuff that you apply before you do just about anything to help those thighs glide.
Knowing that it’s summer, I tried a multitude of use cases for you to make it easier to decide if you want go the glide route. And with that being said, here are 3 situational chub rub moments that I evaded.
The Work Skirt/Dress Day
If you’re like me and work in an office with sub-arctic air conditioning temperatures, you might be asking why you could even need this. But what about those lunch time walks when you try to soak in as much sun as possible? or perhaps when you head out for the day to hit up a patio? At this point you’re already in the skirt or dress you wore to work and now you’re stepping out into chub rub territory. Well, I tell you having the Body Glide stick with me made the transition easy. It’s small size made it easy to pop into my purse or work bag for those mid-day applications or after work galavants to happy hour.
And, having a full five work days to test it out. I think I perfected the strategy. I applied it first thing before I left my house because I often ride my bike to work so the initial few moments of my morning are already a chub rub nightmare waiting to happen. The Body glide for Her has added coconut and almond oils for a smooth application and it tends to last me the entire day. I would then apply it after work right before I left if I had any events that evening like drinks or dinner so I wouldn’t have to think it about it all night.
The Swimsuit
If ever there was a use case for the Body Glide by Her it would be the summer swimwear dilemma. There’s rarely an unforeseeable future of this use case that doesn’t involve your thighs rubbing together unless you’re in a full wetsuit. So, it had to be tested. For best results, I found applying sunscreen first, followed by Body Glide was the way to go. While Body Glide for Her has vitamin F to protect skin sensitivities, it doesn’t have any sun protectants in it.
Additionally, one of the few downsides is the initial application feels a bit sticky, especially with the added layering of sunscreen, bathing suit, shorts and coverup situation, but after about 5-10 minutes, you really can’t tell it’s there.
As a hack for a long time, I’d been using a mini-deodorant as a chub rub stick, but that comes with it’s own myriad of issues like white transfer to black clothes or bathing suits and more. With the Body Glide for Her stick, it doesn’t visibly transfer to your clothes so you can rest assured that there won’t be white smears along your bikini line. Trust me, I tested it with black bathing suit bottoms. It worked.
Side note: if you’re going in and out of the water you don’t have to reapply it everytime, but you will have to apply it more than just the once for optimal glide.
Finally, The Party
One of the best parts about summer is the parties. Concerts, festivals, patio nights, and more, I find myself partying increasingly more during the summer months. And that means lots of hot, cramped people dancing and drinking in a tight space. This is the breeding ground for chub rub. Never is there a situation that better incapsulates the prime variables needed to cause the worst chaffing possible. And I’ll have you know that a single application of Body Glide for Her lasted me the whole night.
I was actually pleasantly surprised about it, mostly because I was in a rush to head out the door and forgot to bring it along in the event of required reapplication, but in the end I didn’t need to. The single application managed to get me from dinner to the concert to the bar and home into the wee hours of the morning without so much as a hint of chaffed thighs.
Parting Thoughts
All-in-all, if you find yourself frustratingly trying to avoid to chaffed thighs, dealing with ointments to treat chaffed thighs, or are just plain and simple done with the discomfort, I highly recommend this. I mean as I’m writing this it’s packed in my weekend bag for a trip to Blue Mountain, I’ve declared it my new bag buddy.
Happy chub rub free summer to everyone!
