Whenever I see a gorgeous plus-size girl sauntering down the street in a skirt or a dress on a hot summer's day the first thought that passes through my mind is always "what's going on underneath?"
"Chub Rub" is one of the great unspoken issues for scores of women who suffer from inner-thigh chafing when they attempt to wear dresses or skirts.
Everyone has their own solution: bike shorts, lotions, creams, baby powder, deodorant, or even eschewing skirts and dresses entirely (quelle horreur!) and let me tell you, I've tried them all.
But nothing's excited me quite as much as a new product that has hit the market this summer called Bandelettes.
Bandelettes look like the lace band at the top of a stay-up stocking – in other words, they're sexy as hell. For someone who's spent the past few summers in cotton bike shorts this is something of a revelation.
I recently bought two pairs, one in black and one in nude. I wore them religiously for two very hot and muggy weeks in New York, and I've come to the conclusion that they're the closest thing to the perfect cure for thigh chafing as it's possible to get right now.
They're one of the breezier options on the market: apart from a strip of lace you don't have an extra layer to sweat through. At US$15 a pair they're relatively cheap and the cost of international shipping is negligible (Just US$3 to Australia). They're also available in the UK from Etsy. From experience I can tell you that the customer service is A+. The size chart is fool-proof: measure where you want them to sit. That's your size. If the measurement falls in the middle of the sizes (as mine did) then size down. You can wash them in the sink, and they'll be dry and ready to wear again within half an hour.
There's a strip of silicone along both top and bottom edges of each band which helps them stay in place without slipping and sliding. I admit that after two weeks of continual wear the sensitive skin between my thighs was starting to react a little to the silicone, but it was a small price to pay for an entire fortnight where I didn't have to choose between either wearing a second layer on a baking-hot day, or ducking into the bathrooms every hour to reapply lotions.
And look, I love the aesthetic of them. Bike shorts are all very well and good, but they're definitely the granny pants of the chub-rub world, and often they're too long to wear with certain skirts and dresses.
You almost want to show Bandelettes off. A cheeky peek of lace under the hem of a skirt... is there anything sexier?
Do you suffer from inner thigh chafing? What is your magic cure?
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