BodyGlide Anti-Chafe Review

BodyGlide resembles stick deodorant and claims to prevent any chafing or irritation from long distance running.  Unlike deodorant or antiperspirant, BodyGlide has very little scent.  Unlike other products, BodyGlide won’t stain your clothes and doesn’t leave any residue on your skin.  To use, simply apply to any area of skin that is susceptible to chafing or rubbing.  If you’re a long distance runner or triathlete, you’ll know plenty of places that this happens.  Though designed for your body, BodyGlide can also be used on your feet.  BodyGlide also has a special product just for feet, BodyGlide Foot Formula.

Initial Impression of BodyGlide AntiChafe Stick:
Not too much to say.  There’s not really any scent to BodyGlide and it really looks like a deodorant stick.  It goes on easily and after a few seconds, you can’t feel any residue.  There’s no petroleum and it also doesn’t clog your pores like antiperspirant.  I generally have some irritation around my nipples on long runs, so this was a logical place to start.  Also, for runs longer than 8 miles, I generally get some chafing on my thighs.

After about 7 miles, my nipples started to get a bit irritated.  I don’t know if this was because the BodyGlide started to wear off or if I’m just a bit sensitive.  However, I was able to run upwards of 10 miles with absolutely no problems with any other hot spots.  I’m not going to fault BodyGlide on the nipple thing because it was effective elsewhere.  I’ll chalk that up to being a bit more sensitive than the average user.

Final Review of BodyGlide AntiChafe Stick:
After talking to a few other triathletes, I’ve heard that many of them have very good results using BodyGlide to prevent chafing under a wetsuit.  I think this is a significant testimony to the effectiveness of the product.  I’ve also talked to a few other runners who have similar nipple irritation and report that BodyGlide has solved the problem for them.  In preparing for this review, I read what other folks were saying on different sites and noticed that many average users compared BodyGlide to a standard antiperspirant and were unimpressed with the performance.  I have to caution you here: if you’re a casual user, you might be better off using standard antiperspirant.  You will probably not be impressed, since you’re not pushing the limits of antiperspirant.

Overall:
You can do well without BodyGlide.  Before I started using it, I’d simply put on a compression shirt and compression shorts and run as far as I desired.  The shirt and shorts prevented all chafing, but it did add a layer to my running clothes and in the balmy south, this can be an issue.  I still haven’t gotten away from wearing the compression shirt and I doubt I ever will.  But with BodyGlide, I leave the compression short at home for my longer runs.  BodyGlide does what it claims.  It prevents chafing and hot spots.  It doesn’t get sticky or stain your clothes.  Of course, you can easily do without BodyGlide, but it’s pretty inexpensive, lasts a while, and is much cooler than wearing compression shorts.