To wonder how women wear dresses in the heat

I've ranged from a size 8 to a 12/14 and I've never had this problem. It must be to do with shape I guess or maybe skin type or the amount someone perspires? I live in dresses in the hot weather. There's nothing cooler than a floaty cotton dress with the air circulating around your nether regions. They are also a one hit garment. No mixing and matching, layering or faffing. If they're midi length I don't wear pants either. Just one pretty dress and a pair of sandals and you're equally ready for a boozy BBQ or the Royal Garden party. No fuss!

Dresses are cooler. And you don't need shorts - seriously what canny influencer managed to convince anyone to wear another layer when it's melting hot? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?

Roll on deodorant does the job. You're welcome.

Over. They are designed to keep you cool. I couldn’t possibly wear them without pants under. Hideously uncomfortable.

I have thick thighs from cycling that do touch, but I don’t get any rubbing. I properly love the heat, so maybe it has something to do with that? DH suffers from all sorts of chaffing in the heat, despite being quite slim. He uses a cream designed for cyclists called ‘chamois cream’. There are lots of different brands of the stuff, but it’s a sort of mix of sudocreme and Vaseline type ingredients - slippery and antibacterial. He swears by it.

I feel that adding a pair of cycling shorts into the mix would make things worse. I like to wear as little as possible in the heat.

Chunky thigh girl here... (not read everything so sorry if this has alredy been said) I save up all my old 80den tights from the winter with holes/ladders and cut them down to cycle short length the role (not tried the chub rub shorts but imagin they are simmilar) and if I'm wearing a short skirt I can just fold them up on themselves ovously a bit Walmer but not too bad

Sloggi longline knickers.

Cotton so much cooler than the Snags (agreed, not giving Snag any more money after the "choke me" thing, plus the shorts are sweaty like tights)

Sloggi long knickers and obviously no other knickers underneath. Cool as you like.

No. I'm a size 6/8 and I easily walk 20,000 steps a day during term time and I run 3 days a week plus weight lift usually 3 days a week too. My weight is normal, lower side of the normal BMI but I need to go further because of my legs, the fat just won't shift!

Weirdly it started being an issue when I started losing weight for my wedding a few years back. I don't think I was overweight when I started but as I got smaller the thigh rub appeared despite my "child bearing hips"

It's horrible when you want to wear nice dresses/shorts especially for running in. I haveQ to liberally roll body glide over my thighs if I'm wearing really short shorts and still do even if they are a bit longer because longer and faster runs make my shorts ride up and then my thighs rub.

I find for dresses M&S anti chafing shorts are good and body glide is better than lanacane gel but I still carry it with me for my runs incase it needs reapplying. It hasn't done yet during my longest run of 12K but best to take it because I would never be able to finish a run if it wore off.

People are so snotty about it and assume you have to be lazy and overweight to be affected but it's just people's build and natural fat stores.

I’m wearing a dress today. Size 12. No knickers.

My thighs don’t rub together which is more luck than slenderness.

Some women don’t find their thighs rub purely because of their body shape.

I haven't read the whole thread so unsure if this has been already said but I use Dove stick (not roll on) deodorant on my thighs and do not suffer. I would totally avoid dresses before chancing on this solution! Apply once to each inner thigh and it lasts all day.

Same here, can't imagine not having some airflow in this heat! Haven't experienced rubbing either, although a lot of the people I do endurance runs with use an anti chafe ointment and find it helps on long runs- presumably the same would work?

And if someone asks a question which doesn’t apply to you do you think it’s better to:

1. shrug your shoulders and move on
2. fat shame them while smugly proclaiming it’s not a problem you have

Because if you think Option 2 makes you anything other than a dickhead, you have some soul searching to do.

M&S cool comfort clulottes style slip !

Chubbing here as I'm overweight.

Dresses are far more cooling but I also wear sheer tights so definitely no chafing here.

'Better tights' do chub rub shorts and they are cheaper than snag ones but still high quality.
I'm overweight but do lots of walking. I always wear dresses during the summer. I wear chub rub shorts. If I'm wearing a shorter dress I just pull up the shorts a bit. I find the place where my thighs rub is quite high up so it's fine to have the shorts shorter. You can also get bands which are like the top of stockings and just have those at the top of your legs, some people find that cooler.
The chub rub shorts that are made out of tights material don't make me that sweaty tbh so I just use them.
I get nude coloured ones so they are noticeable.
If I'm actually walking over 5miles tho I do just wear cycle shorts

I think it’s to do with the shape of your thighs maybe, I’m a size uk 14 and have no problems in dresses. My daughter is a uk 6 and struggles with her thighs rubbing. There’s nothing of her!

Another one for liquid talc! Never used to be able to wear dresses in the heat and now just apply in the morning and no rub ever! I walk 40-50 mins sometimes in a dress and as long as I've put on liquid talc, I'm fine.

Talc

Better tights a good alternative to Snag

Yep, this.

Pear shaped ladies are going to have chub rub. Apple shaped... not so much. I have known several larger woman who carried their weight all up top, and had skinny legs.
And AFAIK, you can't change your basic shape (or chassis, as my mum calls it 😂).

I think this is something bigger people do experience, from the sounds of it. I've even heard of some people managing to rub through jeans within a few months of wear! I can't imagine there's much you can do about that other than weight loss, but for dresses maybe just biking shorts under?

I’ve been a size 10 - 16 at various times in my life and my thighs have always chaffed.

Even as a willowy teenager the tops of my thighs would be red raw.

Haven’t really found a solution, so I’m grateful for the tips on this thread.

Talc is your friend x

For people saying it’s about your weight I think it’s more just your shape because I’m bigger than the OP at a size 14 and so presumably weigh more and I’ve never had this really. I’ve got a friend who’s smaller than me who says she always has thigh rub and so wears lightweight cycling shorts under dresses. Is a playsuit/jumpsuit with shorts on the bottom part a better option? We got DSD those for school as she loves a dress but hasn’t yet reached the point of not showing her knickers off while doing gymnastics 😅.

https://www.roman.co.uk/border-print-culotte-jumpsuit-14352809

Would a wide leg floaty culotte jumpsuit be any use/more comfortable?