Ahh yes, butt chafe. It is not a pleasant thing to either talk about or to experience, but if it happens to you, then it is important to know what to do about it.

It's easy to do a quick search on the internet and find someone regurgitating some old wives' tales about butt chafing, but how do you know if their solutions actually work?

 Some of these solutions have proven to be much more effective than others, but few of them, if any, are as fast-acting as modern creams and gels.

To deal with butt chafe you need to know what causes it and use proven remedies instead of relying on 3rd hand accounts from random strangers reviews.

What is Chafing?

The easiest way to think about chafing is that it is similar to a rash. It is a redness of the skin that forms because of constant friction back and forth between two spaces. 

In this case, it happens to be the space between your butt cheeks. The way it differs from other types of rashes is that not all rashes are caused by friction; some form even without it.

Sometimes, the fabric of your clothes and the way you wear them can be the culprit, especially if you engage in medium- or high-intensity exercise like hiking and backpacking.

How Should I Wear My Clothes to Prevent Butt Chafing?

One thing that you need to avoid doing when you are on a particularly long hiking, biking, or running excursion is tucking in your shirt.

Tucking in your shirt means you'll be restricting air flow to your nether regions and you'll experience chafing.  Just leave your shirt untucked and you'll get some more airflow to help keep your southern area dry.

Another important thing to consider before you go hiking is what kind of underwear you wear.

Aside from the age-old question of "boxers or briefs," the type of fabric can be the difference between a comfortable hike and a miserable chafing

Remember, "cotton is rotten" and look for clothes made out of synthetic materials that help keep moisture away from sensitive areas that can only make a bad case of butt chafe worse.

Jockey makes both boxers and briefs out of synthetic blends that help wick moisture away. For women, New Balance manufactures panties and thongs that do the same, albeit out of slightly different fabric blends.

This makes it easier to stay dry and thus reduce redness in the thighs. And size does matter; a pair of underwear that is too small can cut off blood flow to that part of the body, but a size too large can find you constantly stopping to pull them up, which can be just as bad for different reasons.

You want to make sure your underwear are comfortable and right in that goldilocks zone between too tight and too loose.  You want it to be juuust right.

What Ointments and Treatments Should I Use?

 Anti-Monkey Butt Powder is our go to solution for treating butt chafe.

Despite the goofy, comical picture of the smiling red-butted cartoon monkey on the bottle, the product is super effective because it contains talc, calamine powder, and fragrance to cure redness and irritation.

Another classic preventative measure is Gold Bond Medicated Powder, which also comes in a spray now. 

If you have an aversion to chemically produced scents, then you might want to try a more natural way to prevent butt chafing, like coconut oil.

That's right — coconut oil is good for your skin in addition to being a great preventative measure for butt chafing.

If you do choose to use coconut oil, make sure you get the cold pressed extra virgin coconut oil. We'd recommend the coconut oil made by Nature's Way.

Another preventative measure is to wash and shave down there. This can be difficult while backpacking but you can take some trail soap or some wet wipes that decompose and use them to clean up.

Wrap Up

Knowledge is power, and now that you have the knowledge to understand exactly what tools you need to help you prevent butt chafe, you can finally go hiking with confidence that your butt will be comfy and dry. Have fun and stay healthy!