Top 12 Chafing Creams Tested and Reviewed in 2023

Jump to a Section

Warm weather may bring about many mood-approved wins (looking at you, Vitamin Sun). But as anyone who’s ever had a swim-suit induced yeast infection knows, it can also bring with it some body-made bummers — chief among them, chafing.

“Chafing is a common skin condition that occurs when skin repeatedly rubs against other skin, or against your clothing,” explains Miami-based board-certified dermatologist Dr. Anna Chacon, an expert with My Psoriasis Team. This skin-on-skin or skin-on-cloth friction can lead to areas of irritation, she explains. “In mild chafing cases, the skin may become red and tender, but in more severe cases, the constant rubbing can cause the skin to break down, resulting in rawness and even wounds,” she says.

The good news is that you don’t have to swear off physical activity, warm-weather states, or booty shorts to stop chafing in its tracks. “The use of lubricant, and other anti-chafing products, can help reduce your risk of chafing,” says Dr. Chacon. These anti-chafing creams and products protect the skin from chafing by increasing glide and decreasing friction. “When you decrease friction against the skin, you reduce the risk of chafing,” she says.

To keep your skin from rubbing, we tested 20 popular anti-chafing products during the hottest, sweatiest days of the year to find the absolute best chafing creams.

This oh-so-popular option is often sold at the counters of sports goods stores — for good reason: it works. BodyGlide For Her Anti-Chafe + Moisturizing Balm goes onto your prone-to-chafing spots much like deodorant does on your armpits. But unlike most deodorants, which become ineffective after just a few hours out in the wild, this chafing cream stays and stays and stays. Even when we put the balm on our thighs before work at 8 a.m., our thighs stayed chafe-free nine hours later when we were walking home from work.

Some of us even used the product on beach days and noticed that our thighs stayed protected even after a dip in the ocean. In other words, the balm doesn’t just say it’s sweat-resistant and water-proof, it really is!

BodyGlide For Her Anti-Chafe + Moisturizing Balm is an excellent option for anyone looking for an anti-chafing thigh cream that lasts all day long.

Type: Balm Vegan | Intended Use: Thighs, the underside of arms, on heels and toes | Petrolatum: No

As anyone with a gym boyfriend knows, Gold Bond has earned its reputation as the best brand for preventing sweat ~down there~. But swampiness isn’t the only exercise-induced woe that this brand has a solution for. Enter: Gold Bond Friction Defense, Moisturizing Stick, which is made to combat chafing.

Another product that applies similarly to deodorants, this moisturizing stick is designed to both relieve chafing and prevent it. Notable for how creamy it is, this chafing cream softens, repairs, and protects your skin in equal parts.

We tested this product on our underarms and thighs and can honestly report that it seriously protected those sensitive areas all day long. As a bonus, product reviewers report gliding it along their feet and heels to effectively prevent blisters and blemishes.

Type: Stick | Intended Use: skin-on-skin or skin-on-clothing friction | Petrolatum: No

Hate to break it to you but a waterproof speaker isn’t your beach day must-have, Beach Gladiator is! Why? Well, because it is resistant to sweat and water! In practice that means your cheeks and chest, thighs and toes will be totally protected whether you spend the day sunbathing, walking on the sand, or learning to surf.

A roll-on formula, this rash and chafe guard is incredibly easy to apply to your easy-to-reach areas. (Admittedly, roll-on formulas are a little trickier to apply between your bum cheeks.)

Another perk of Beach Gladiator is that it does NOT get melty when left outside on hot days, the way chapstick does, for example. So while this product will last you all day long, it is safe to pack in your beach bag in case re-application is necessary.

Type: Roll-on | Intended Use: Walking, running, biking, fitness, or even bodybuilding| Petrolatum: No

Bodyglide is the brand that makes our gold medal chafing cream has another product we are heart-eyes for: The Original Anti-Chafe Balm. Another roll-on option, this balm is lightweight, easy to apply, and fragrant-free.

No doubt, this option works well as an anti-chafing cream during physical activity. However, of all the options on the list, this is the one that we’d recommend wearing during work events, parties, and weddings. It didn’t leave a residue on any of our clothes. Actually, it is so transparent that we had a hard time seeing where on our skin we’d already applied it.

Type: Balm Vegan | Intended Use: Thighs, neck, feet, arms, or anywhere your skin is rubbed the wrong way | Petrolatum: No

Chamois Butt’r is well-known among cyclists for its ability to safeguard your sensitive spots. Most notably, your bum. After all, cyclists are particularly prone to chafing between the cheeks, due to the friction of the bike seat on their, well, seat.

But cyclists aren’t the only group of athletes who might benefit from this anti-chafing cream. Incredibly smooth and creamy, without being greasy, we found this product was effective for protecting thighs, nipples, and underarms from chafing during a wide variety of activities, including running, walking, hiking, and rollerblading.

The one potential downside is that it comes in a tube (like toothpaste). You’ll need to squirt it onto your fingers, then rub it into the area in question. This means it’s less accessible for application in the middle of a race or ride.

Type: Cream | Intended Use: Cycling | Petrolatum: No

Hands down, this chafing cream wins the award for best packaging. But this anti-friction body stick doesn't just look good — it works well, too.

Made primarily from starch and essential oils, the Cremo Astonishingly Superior Women’s Anti-Friction Body Stick is a fragrant, roll-on option that eliminates stench and irritation at the same time #multitasker.

While this product works well during exercise, we were especially impressed by its ability to protect us during day-to-day activities and special events. Actually, one of our editors has stopped wearing shorts under her dresses to work and weddings in favor of this anti-friction balm.

Type: Stick | Intended Use: Minimizes friction and improves glide in skin contact areas (e.g. between thighs) | Petrolatum: No

If you’re looking for a chafing cream that works double-duty protecting your thighs and helping you smell good, look no further! Made with ginger root extract, grape seed oil, and pomegranate seed extract, Megababe Thigh Rescue is an anti-chafe product with a light citrus scent.

While the product smell is apparent, the fact that you’re wearing it won’t be. It doesn’t leave any sticky residue behind on your skin, nor any marks on your clothing.

Worth noting: The chafing cream can apply a bit crumbly, so while it is designed to be hands-free, you may need to get your fingers involved and rub it into your skin. While this is NBD in the grand scheme of things, it’s not ideal for people who are applying out of the house or on the go and don’t have access to a sink.

Type: Balm-like Stick | Intended Use: Thighs, toes, shoulders, elbows | Petrolatum: No

If you’re a winter sport athlete you don’t leave home without hand warmers, and if you’re a water sport athlete, you don’t leave home without sunscreen. Either way, you shouldn’t leave home without SBR Skin Slick All Sport Spray.

Designed to act like a second skin, this spray can help ease entry into wetsuits, techsuits, shoes, and ski boots, and then prevent chafing once you’re in. Simply spray it on your often-problem areas, then continue sweating, skiing, swimming, and surfing as usual.

During the off-seasons training, you can also apply this to your inner thighs, underarms, neck, and feet to prevent irritation from occurring.

Type: Spray | Intended Use: Swimming, cycling, running | Petrolatum: No

That’s right, the brand responsible for the do-it-all petroleum jelly makes a product specifically for healing and preventing chafing! The Vaseline All-Over Body Balm is a petroleum-based product that you can slather onto your target areas much like you’d apply chapstick to your lips.

While the product itself is fast-absorbing and fast-acting, it is greasier than some other options on the list. Any residue the product left on our run-shorts came off in the laundry (phew!). But if we looked closely at our light-colored shorts after application, we were able to notice some left-behind residue — especially when we globbed a lot of it on. That said, 10/10 would recommend Vaseline All-Over Body Balm to any athlete with a collection of black sports shorts looking to prevent thigh chafing.

Type: Dry stick TSA Friendly | Intended Use: Areas affected by dryness and friction | Petrolatum: Yes

If you’re covered head-to-toe in tattoos, you know that Vermont Bag Balm is a favorite amongst those who treat their skin like canvas. Incredibly moisturizing, this petroleum-based balm effectively infuses the deep layers of your skin with moisture.

Individuals who use their hands for work are also familiar with this product. Woodworkers, fisher people, artists, and carpenters, for example, often use this product as part of their hand-care practice.

But Vermont Bag Balm isn’t just good for your hands and fingers — it’s good for your feet and toes, too. When we applied it to our feet before hiking, the moisturizing jelly helped prevent hot spots and blisters. Plus, our feet were smoother than smooth when we took our shoes and socks off at the end of the day.

For the sake of transparency: We noticed that our toes were less polished after use than before. We're not 100 percent sure if it was the jelly that impacted our pedicures or running and hiking shoes, but you may want to avoid this chafing cream if you have a fresh pedi.

Type: Balm | Intended Use: Dry, chafed or chapped skin, paws, dry noses and other animal care, calluses, cuts and scrapes, cracked hands, split heels, sunburns | Petrolatum: Yes

Road riders know about this Zealios product — but athletes of all types should! An all-natural, vegan anti-chafing product, this creamy product can safely go anywhere on your body that is prone to chafing. That includes butt cracks, feet, nipples, underarms, and more!

Much as its name implies, this product is as creamy as a regular ‘ole face or body lotion is. That means you’ll need to have a sink nearby if you use this product so that you can wash the cream off your hands. If you don’t, your hands will be a little sticky, which isn’t ideal (or safe) for activities like holding handlebars or clanging and banging around weights.

The good news: Once you apply for it, you won’t need to re-apply. This anti-chafing cream stays and stays and stays.

Type: Skin lubricant & chamois cream Vegan | Intended Use: Any body part | Petrolatum: No

We may be big sighing over the use of the term ‘chub rub’ in the branding, but we’re big smiling over just how effective Zone Naturals Chub Rub All-Naturals Chafing Stick is at protecting and healing chafing wounds.

For the record: Chafing doesn’t discriminate based on body shape or size. It can happen to people of any weight or shape wherever their skin meets their clothes, or their body parts rub up against each other, Dr. Chacon says. “Chafing isn't a symptom that an individual needs to lose weight or change their body shape,” she says. “People of all sizes and shapes can experience chafing.” Not just those with so-called chub.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s talk about this moisturizing stick. Formulated primarily from coconut oil and cocoa butter, Zone Naturals Chub Rub All-Naturals Chafing Stick helps your skin glide over itself wherever it is applied. We noted it was especially effective at presenting against thigh chafing during long, summer runs.

Other perks? The product goes on and dries totally clear (not white!) which means you can wear it no matter the color of your rub shorts.

Type: Chafing stick | Intended Use: Inner Thighs | Petrolatum: No

Aquaphor has become a household name for good reason: They make amazing, healing products. The Aquaphor Healing Balm Stick is no exception — this moisturizing balm went on quick and clean. Ultimately, however it didn’t last as long as we would have liked, making it suboptimal for endurance athletes.

The moisturizing anti-chafe stick effectively coats your chafe-prone areas, preventing friction-induced blemishes and blisters. The only tick in the con column of the pro/con list for the Hiki Anti-Chafe Stick is that the container wasn’t super well-made. One of the Shape testers reported that the dial knob on the bottom broke off after a few weeks. Could it be a fluke? Of course! But ultimately, that’s why we didn’t award this gender-neutral option any prizes.

This silly-named product is easy to apply and incredibly portable, making it a great option for chafees on the go. We opted out of giving the Squirrel’s Nut Butter Anti-Chafe Salve Stick an official trophy because it smells, well, nutty. (That’s because it has a cocoa nut butter and coconut oil base). It was also a tad stickier than some of the other options. Still, it might catch the eye and thigh of people looking for a scented, portable product.

Simply, through a whole lot of trial and error. Our testers tested 20 top-selling chafing products through over 2,356 hours of testing. ICYWW, testing chafing creams entails slathering some chafing cream on body parts most prone to sweating, then moving and grooving, making gains, and going in the sun.

After each use, we took copious amounts of notes on things like how easy the product was to apply, its staying power, blend-ability, and absorbability. We also made sure to mention anything future buyers would want to know, such as if the product was greasy, took a long time to dry, left residue on shorts, or smelled funky.

Chafing cream might have the word ‘cream’ in it, but don’t be confused: There are chafing creams that aren’t creams at all but powders, butters, oils, or jellies!

“There are lubricant-type chafing creams that work to reduce friction by making the skin slippery and creating a barrier between the skin and whatever is chafing it,” explains Dr. Hari Kiran Chekuri, a certified skin specialist and the medical head of ClinicSpots. Any petroleum jelly-based product above falls into this camp.

Meanwhile, there are powder-based products that function by absorbing moisture, which prevents sticking by keeping the skin dry, explains Dr. Chekuri. These powders typically have a talcum powder, cornstarch, or baking soda base.

There are other products that are thick-thick-thick (think: balm). Made from shea butter, cocoa butter, or coconut oil these balms nourish and repair the skin by providing hydration and antioxidants, he explains.

Finally, there are aerosol lubricants that can be made of any kind of thin base and sprayed directly onto the body.

Worth mentioning: The base that best serves you may vary from body part to body part. For instance, while powder may work well for butt check and ball sack chafing, thicker balms and jelly-based products tend to work better for armpits, nipples, and thighs. 

Typically, how the product is applied will depend on what the main ingredient(s) of the product are. To state the obvious: You’re going to have to apply powder differently than how you apply jellies. You’ll shimmy and shake the powder onto your body right from the bottle, while jelly-based products often have to be slathered on with your fingers. There are, however, some chafing creams that come in stick form and are applied much like deodorant. There are also chafing creams that roll on, which offer a similar hands-free option.

The application type doesn’t determine its effectiveness, necessarily. So, you should choose the application type based on how often your lifestyle requires re-application, when and where during your day you plan to apply the product, and whether or not you plan to share the product with your friend.

Point blank, powders are the trickiest and messiest to apply. So, these are best for people who work out at home, exercise early in the morning, or are looking for a little extra protection during their work day.

Aerosols, sticks, and roll-ons are easy to re-apply… even in public! So, these are the better options for people who have physically active jobs, or who are training for an endurance event and need to re-apply mid-way through a run, ride, or climb. 

When buying a chafing cream, it is important to look for ingredients that are gentle, natural, and effective for your skin type, says Dr. Chekuri.

Some ingredients that you may want to look for, according to him include the following: 

Gabrielle Kassel (she/her) is a freelance fitness journalist with nearly a decade of experience writing about CrossFit, strength training more broadly, and exercise equipment. (FTR: Chafing creams count as a type of exercise equipment). In addition to Shape, her work has appeared in publications such as Health, SELF, Women's Health, Men’s Health, Greatist, Bustle, and more.

She is also a CF-L1 certified CrossFit trainer who coaches at her local affiliate and a regionally competitive CrossFit athlete who is always looking for gizmos and gadgets to make her lifting sessions, training runs, and HIIT training more comfortable.

For this article, she chatted with the 19 product testers, read online product reviews, and interviewed a handful of dermatologists about what causes, prevents, and heals chafing.