The Horror of Nipple Chafing
Running is not without its hazards. When most people ponder running injuries, they tend to conjure images of shin splints, blisters, and maybe even the occasional scrape from a fall. What most non-runners and even most female runners don’t know about is the dreaded nipple chafing or “runner’s nipple”.
Nipple chafing is caused when the fragile point of your useless male nipples repeatedly rubs against the loose fabric of your shirt. For most women this isn’t a problem because they’re almost inevitably wearing a confining sports bra that holds the gals so rigidly in place that you might mistake them for a guard at Buckinham Palace. The scary thing is that, unless it’s really bad, you probably won’t even notice the chafing until after your run—either when your salty sweat-soaked shirt rests on them for the first time or when you step into a hot post-run shower.
I can assure you that you really don’t want this most intimate of chafing, and thankfully it is possible to reduce the risk of this terrible blight. Just follow these easy steps.
- Buy a shirt made out of CoolMax or similar lightweight wicking/breathable material. Cotton just absorbs sweat and holds it against your skin, and wet skin is more likely to chafe.
- Run without a shirt. With no shirt to rub against you, your nipples will be free and happy. Unfortunately, if you’re like me, your fat-laden obesity just makes you look like an epileptic ameoba when you run topless.
- Buy some athletic tape or other adhesive strips. If you have a layer of material affixed to your nip-nips, they won’t get rubbed raw. The real trick is getting something sticky enough to stay on when you sweat through them but still easy to remove without taking off the very nipples you were trying to protect. I sweat a lot, but I personally have no trouble with Band-Aid brand adhesive strips.