How To Prevent Chafing At The Beach This Summer

Think you can’t enjoy sun, sea, and sand because of your fear of chafing at the beach? Think again! The thought of putting on a swimsuit come summertime can be terrifying. So many women suffer from summer chafing, and the beach can be their worst nightmare. They have good reasons - the beach is one of the worst possible places to get chafing! The combination of hot weather, sea salt, and sand is a friction nightmare. Many chafing solutions such as creams or powders are useless at the beach or pool. Thankfully, we’ve discovered solutions for beach enthusiasts that truly work to reduce or even altogether prevent beach chafing. This guide will help you prevent chafing at the beach, making your vacations or beach and pool days more enjoyable this summer.

Rinse and Dry Your Skin Regularly

Long days spent playing in the water and sand at the beach or pool can put you at high risk for chafing. Unfortunately, salt water and chlorine are both irritants to the skin. This can make water an irritant when legs rub against swimsuits or against another. As you can imagine, sand only further aggravates the situation. One of the easiest ways to prevent chafing at the beach is to rinse and dry yourself as soon as you get out of the water. If the beach has no showers or rinse stations handy, bring bottles of water or baby wipes and use them to rinse. After rinsing, be sure to dry completely with a towel. Moisture has always been a key issue when it comes to chafing and letting saltwater sit on the skin is even worse than your own sweat. Keeping skin clean and dry when not in the water can greatly reduce discomfort associated with chafing.

Wear Shorts Over Your Swimsuit

Another way to prevent thigh chafing at the beach or pool is to bring a pair of casual shorts with you. After drying your skin you can slip the shorts over your swimsuit. The fabric of the swimwear and shorts will rub together instead of the fabric of the swimsuit and your skin. An alternative to shorts is to try thigh bands with your swimsuit. Bandelettes unisex thigh bands are perfect to wear with swimsuits for a modern sporty look. Not sure how to style the look? Check out these thigh bands worn with swimsuits on the Chromat runway for inspiration. It’s especially important to prevent thighs from rubbing together at the beach if you already have chafed thighs. Rubbing raw chaffed thighs together with the addition of sand is a recipe for infected or bleeding skin.

Keep Skin Well Hydrated

At the beach and in humid climates it’s common to become quickly dehydrated. Hot temperatures cause you to sweat more and this leads to dehydration. This results in a higher concentration of salt in your sweat. Salt can be very irritating to the skin and leads to friction that causes chafing. That’s why it’s important to stay properly hydrated at the beach and drink lots of water! Now that you’ve got your beach chafing sorted, check out our full guide on How To Wear Bandelettes for tips and tricks for every outfit situation!