Chafing claims are all the rage, from anti-chafing apparel brands like Shapermint and Baleaf to chafe-preventing whole-body deodorants from Dove and intimate deodorants from O Positive. Here, author Nancy Trent looks at chafing concerns and how one brand, Body Glide, has tackled the issue for nearly 30 years. -Editor
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Chafing claims are all the rage, from anti-chafing apparel brands like Shapermint and Baleaf to chafe-preventing whole-body deodorants from Dove and intimate deodorants from O Positive. Here, author Nancy Trent looks at chafing concerns and how one brand, Body Glide, has tackled the issue for nearly 30 years. -Editor
Body Glide, as its line becomes a daily routine, is approaching 30 years of business, and amid other products and innovations in clothing and footwear to minimize rubbing, Sternoff observes, “It’s a faster growing market, and it’s not going away!”Body Glide
One of the earliest mentions of chafing can be found in a translation of the Old Testament, “Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, made his army labor strenuously, and every shoulder chafed.” Many years later, Marco Polo came across a jelly for the treatment of chafing. Yet these were far from commonly discussed issues.
While our grandparents chafed mostly in silence, today’s shoppers demand more.
And, as body shape diversity acceptance rises, everyday chafe has emerged as common talking point and focus of solutions.
As a result, anti-chafing is quickly becoming part of a daily routine along with cleansing, moisturizing, deodorizing and changing clothes—presenting an “aha” moment.
Brands are bolting-on products to address the discomfort and consequences of rubbing. On shelves and online, you see solutions claiming relief of trouble for vulnerable underarms, groins, chests, inner thighs and feet impacted by irritation from undergarments, clothes, shoes, or effects of seasonal heat and humidity.
Beyond Basic Anti-chafing Personal Care
Dove's Whole Body Deo Anti-Friction Stick is a "dermatologist approved 2-in-1 skin-loving, friction fighting deodorant stick designed for the whole body, anywhere you feel chafing or experience odor," per the brand.Dove
Bill Sternoff, who launched Body Glide in 1996, is a pioneer in the anti-chafing space, a first mover who introduced a reliable, dry, never wet, invisible balm that grew to anchor a new anti-chafe retail category.
Sternoff says, “As recently as 1996 when we introduced our first technically advanced Body Glide Anti-Chafe Balm, there was petroleum jelly and not much else. Within months, our first Body Glide product was quickly embraced by retail stores and shoppers coast-to-coast and beyond. It was the dawn of a new age.”
He adds, “Chafing had been dismissed as irritating, an occasional inconvenience, or a painful disruption to work, play, and doing what people want or need to be doing. But not so much anymore.”
Chafing Concerns Go Mainstream
You can increasingly read about chafing issues in the media, including at outlets such as Glamour, People, New York Magazine, CNN and NBC News, and see the topic covered on Instagram and TikTok, reflecting a cultural shift toward frank body positivity and inclusivity, where open conversations normalize the troubles of chafing, a once unmentionable topic.
Dove's Men+Care Whole Body Deo Stick is designed to prevent chafing.Dove
Cultural transformation has created a safe space for brands to engage with target customers, and as Sternoff shares: “People in need are born every day, and there’s no end to skin damage caused by size and shape, clothing, footwear, work, sports and, often, one thigh rubbing the other. Online is where millions of people feeling embarrassment, shame and pain from chafing are finding there are other people with similar experiences, and offering personal advice about products that provide them with daily comfort and confidence.”
Asked how Body Glide approaches chafing as an everyday concern, Sternoff says, “Regardless of body type, lifestyle, and level of activity, folks everywhere, have the same wants and needs for comfort, and we relate. Our products are genuine, reliable, effective, protective, work for people of all ages, and they’re not copy-cats.”
He adds, “An anti-chafe industry didn’t exist, and websites were message boards when we started in the 1990s. We needed to decide where to introduce our revolutionary solution to an age-old problem, how to succeed in a market where nobody really wanted to talk about chafing. We chose specialty run stores because, sooner or later, runners need the quality of protection we offer, and the choice proved right.”
Trends Sternoff watches include a sharp fall-off in traditional advertising through print and over-the-air radio and TV. He notes, “More than any time in recent memory, influence comes from all sizes of social media audiences, including micro and micro-mini where you can find your own places that form, inform, and support your values and needs, and help you choose your path to what you buy. ‘The medium is the message,’ as communication theorist Marshall McLuhan wrote in 1964.”
Anti-chafing Market Continues to Grow
Self-care as a whole is experiencing an upsurge that benefits consumer needs and mirrors changing perceptions of body shapes and lifestyles. Where decisions are made online in a fraction of a second, the relief people seek is as close as a click or touching a screen.
Body Glide, as its line becomes a daily routine, is approaching 30 years of business, and amid other products and innovations in clothing and footwear to minimize rubbing, Sternoff observes, “It’s a faster growing market, and it’s not going away!”
Nancy Trent (nancy@trentandcompany) is a writer and speaker, a lifelong wellness activist, a globe-trotting trend watcher, and the founder and president of Trent & Company, the leading wellness PR firm. Trent & Company, which launched many health and beauty brands, grew out of Nancy’s personal and passionate commitment to helping people live longer and healthier lives. A former journalist for New York magazine, Nancy has written seven books on healthy lifestyles, serves on the editorial boards of several magazines and travels around the world speaking at conferences and trade shows on trends in the marketplace. She is a recognized expert in PR with more than 30 years of experience creating and managing highly successful campaigns.
