Beating The Heat While Fat: Torso Skin Folds
Being fat in summer is hard for a lot of reasons, and one of them is skin folds. This is because skin folds love to trap moisture, and moisture+heat=bad. And moisture+heat+friction=worse.
When you have skin folds, summer can really suck. I'm not going to touch on any of the mental and emotional issues that come from the way fat bodies are treated- I'm talking about the physical issues that come from heat. Fat people sweat more! Our body fat acts as an insulator, meaning that we have to put out more sweat for evaporative cooling to be effective- and trust me, it's not always that effective.
There are lots of places skin folds develop, but the two I'm going to focus on today are abdominal and chest skin folds, and give you some specific information and recommendations for what you can do about them.
The abdominal skin fold, also known as apron belly, is tissue that hangs down over your abdomen and upper pubic area. The more technical term for this is a pannus. This tends to be a skin fold with a lot of surface area, since it usually goes from hip to hip, the whole length of your front. Pannus can also develop after a pregnancy, or after weight loss (and weight loss surgery). The principle is the same- the area under it needs to be cared for no matter how it develops!
Chest skin folds are probably the most common type of skin fold because most people with breasts has them. But you don't need mammary tissue to develop this skin fold! Anybody, regardless of sex, can develop overlapping skin on their chest. There's many more protective products available for people with breasts, due to the cultural expectation of bra wearing. But for folks with gynecomastia or pseudogynecomastia, there's less information and resources out there.
By the way: gynecomastia is excess breast gland tissue that develops in men/AMAB people. Pseudogynecomastia is when the glands don't develop but the fat deposits do. Externally and visually, they're very similar, but there are some physiological differences that... don't matter for this piece honestly. Whether it's glands or fat, the tissue is still there, and still needs to be taken care of!
Nobody teaches you this stuff, so don't feel bad if you don't know it. When you're fat, nobody ever tells you how to take care of your skin, unless they're shaming you for it. Usually the only people who care about fat people's comfort are other fat people. So let's talk about how to take care of your skin folds in the summer.
The key elements to skin fold care and comfort are keeping the skin dry, but also keeping it hydrated. Sounds a little paradoxical, I know, but when I say "dry" I'm referring to the surface of the skin. You have sweat glands all over your body, and when you sweat on the surface of your skin, it evaporates or it's wicked away by your clothes. But when air can't get to it because it's under a skin fold, the moisture just stays there. And that's not good!
Moisture trapped between skin folds can lead to a few things that aren't a lot of fun. It can promote skin yeast infections and bacterial infections. It can lead to intertrigo, a red bumpy friction rash. Heat rash is more likely in the summer... because, well, it's hot.
One of the best things you can do is introduce a barrier between the sides of the skin fold. This can be barrier cream (my least favorite, it's messy), body powder, friction gel (like the kind of thing you use for chub rub on your thighs- think Gold Bond or Bodyglide sticks, or Monistat anti-chafing gel), or a physical barrier made from soft cloth.
For a pannus, you can get these things called tummy liners that are a crescent-shaped band of cloth. You lift up the pannus, lay the band against your upper pubic area, and let the skin fold hold it in place. Some people will tuck the front of their underwear under the skin fold, but for others this is less comfortable. And this whole thing is about keeping you comfortable, so do what feels right.
If you have breasts, a bra with cups is a great way to help keep them dry. A bra without cups will often squish them together, and while it can still keep the area under your breasts dry, it can promote moisture between the breasts. For some people, this isn't a problem- it all depends on the size and shape of your body. The cups don't have to be wired- they just need to keep your breasts separated so that they're not rubbing against each other.
If you don't want to wear a bra with cups, or if you don't like the feeling of wearing a bra at all, or if you want extra sweat protection, you can get cotton bra liners, just like the tummy liners. They work the same way- lift your breasts or chest tissue and put the liner in the fold beneath. If you have a small skin fold that doesn't come down very far, this might not work so well, but if you have a larger skin fold that's got more than half an inch or so of overlap, this should stay in place just fine.
You can also of course wear bra liners with with bras. The band will hold it the liner in place, adding an extra layer of padding and sweat protection. But if you don't wear a bra, if your breasts or chest tissue is substantial enough, it will stay in place.
Bra liners are flat. If you wear one, unless you're shirtless, nobody will know. They can help keep you dry, even if you don't have developed breast tissue- like think about the skin folds that fat people without breasts get.
Even if you're not getting a shower before bed, it's a good idea to take a gentle wipe and swipe in between the skin folds. It'll help soothe the skin and prevent bacteria or yeast from colonizing the surface. Be sure to wash the folds with a gentle, ph balanced soap or cleanser. And when you get out of the water, whether that's a shower, bath, pool, lake, whatever, take some time to dry your skin folds. Don't rub- pat them dry. Rubbing can irritate them. It's easy to forget, but you'll be glad you did. This kind of hygiene practice makes the skin feel nicer, calmer, and less irritated, and you deserve to be comfortable!
When you're fat, you need to drink more water than smaller-bodied people. We sweat more and we have more surface area to our skin, which means more sweat glands, which means we lose more water. The best way to do this is simply to drink more. Drinking will help keep you cool and replenish the water lost to sweat anyways, so it's really important to keep that up in the summer, when it's hot!
If you don't like plain water, no worries! All liquid counts! I drink a lot of iced tea- even though it has caffeine and caffeine is a diuretic, the net effect is not dehydrating. And everything with water content counts, including the food you eat. Watermelon is 92% water. Cucumbers are 90% water. Popsicles are almost entirely water with some sugar in there. Get them at the store, or make some ice pops in the freezer with your favorite fruits. Freeze grapes, they're super delicious when frozen, and grapes are like 82% water. Try to think about your daily snacks and meals in terms of water, and see where you can add a little more hydration!
Now, you may want to know, how much is enough? The old 8 glasses a day adage isn't really accurate. The current science suggests 3,000 ml for men and 2,200 ml for women, but where do these numbers come from? The fact that there's a sex difference suggests that this is based on average body size- and it turns out these numbers come from European population studies that did not include a lot of fat people. So I did some more hunting and some reliable, but not peer-reviewed sources, suggest that you should drink about half an ounce of water per your weight in pounds. That's an easy enough metric to understand! And you can always drink a little more. While you may have heard of people becoming sick from water intoxication, that's extremely rare.
So in conclusion: drink lots of water and keep the area underneath your skin folds dry. Allow yourself to prioritize your comfort and don't feel bad about the skin you're in. Eat a popsicle.
Feel free to add on with any additions and other helpful tips, but remember: fatphobic commentary is not welcome here, and mean comments will be removed. Advice to lose weight is not helpful- even if someone is losing weight, they still have to live in the body they have now. And that body deserves to be cared for.
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