Engaging in good penis care is important for a man, and that can be especially true for athletes, who often find dry penis skin to be a recurring issue. Running, biking and other activities can result in a chafed penis, which can be both painful and unattractive. So what can an athletic man do to deal with dry penis problems?
Why does he get it?
A dry penis condition is hardly limited to men of an athletic nature. Even couch potatoes can come down with this affliction. But men who are on the move do seem to be more likely to develop an unfortunately chafed penis.
What causes dry penis skin? Basically the answer is friction. For many men, the cause of the dryness is related to sexual activity, in which a minimum degree of friction is necessary to bring about appropriate stimulation of the penis. However, often men experience far more than the minimum amount of friction; this is especially true when there is an imbalance between the degree of friction applied and the degree of lubrication available.
With athletic men, the sheer amount of and intensity of movement recreates the friction situation that can occur during sex (although often without the accompanying arousal response). In addition, the lack of lubrication becomes a factor here. (Sweat, while wet, does not tend to provide much lubricating relief.)
Fabric
While sexual activity creates friction through the skin-on-skin contact, athletic-based friction is more typically the result of skin-on-fabric contact. This can create a dry penis skin issue in two ways:
(1) First, the roughness of the fabric can play a big role in the amount of friction created. A coarse fabric will be more abrasive and more quickly bring about a roughening of the skin. Although underwear is often cotton-based, over time it can still become irritating. Moreover, often the penis escapes from the folds of the underwear and comes into direct contact with the rougher fabric of the pants. Even when there is no direct contact, the thinness of most underwear means that the rougher pants fabric can often be felt through the underwear.
(2) Second, beyond the roughness of clothing fabric, there is the issue of reactions to cleaning products used in the fabric. Penis skin is very thin and very sensitive and it can react strongly to fragrances or chemicals used in laundry detergents. This problem can be exacerbated when sweat is added into the equation.
Prevention
Athletes can take several steps to help lessen the likelihood of a chafed penis, including:
– Staying hydrated. This can go a long way to keeping the skin all over the body from drying out.
– Avoiding a too-loose fit. When involved in athletics, clothing that is too loose can increase the likelihood of chafing. Very snug fitting bike shorts increase the contact with fabric, but do so in a manner that may decrease the actual chafing.
– Changing clothes. Getting out of sweaty gear and into fresh gear as often as possible will decrease the likelihood of irritation.
– Airing out. Giving the penis time to air out is crucial, so a guy should build in some “alone time” when he can hang out unclothed for a decent period of time.
Applying a crème. Dry penis skin and a chafed penis need proper care, and that care should include the use of a superior penis health crème (health professionals recommend Man1 Man Oil). That dry skin needs immediate relief, and this is best achieved by regular use of a crème that contains a powerful combination of moisturizers. Ideally, a man needs a crème with both a high end emollient (soothing shea butter is an excellent choice) and a natural hydrator (vitamin E is choice) so that a “moisture barrier” can be erected that traps moisture into the dehydrated skin. While he’s at it, he should see that the crème also contains vitamin A; all that sweat tends to create a rank penis odor, and vitamin A is supreme at fighting those odor-causing bacteria.
