The Best Anti-Chafe Balm for Weddings and Beyond!

Often times, the tools in a stylist's kit aren't actually from the styling world at all! We love a product that can pivot. Introducing....Body Glide For Brides!

Body Glide is well-known by athletes, surfers, and movement enthusiasts world wide. In fact, our COO first came across this magical anti-chafe balm racing triathlons.

Since that amazing discovery, Body Glide has found its way onto our feet to break in new shoes, between toes for sandy beach walks, on location for events, and finally into The Bride Kit so we could share the magic with our brides and their wedding party! We love the brand so much, that we approached them for a collaboration, and Body Glide For Brides was born.

We reached out to our favorite gal Amanda at Body Glide (seriously, she's our fave - she even says butt crack) to get the inside scoop on her favorite way to use the product. Read on for great tips, tricks, an intro to their brand new product, and some super cool stories!

 (Risa + Jess) R + J: Tell us the Body Glide story! How was this amazing product created? 

Amanda: Steve Chance (the creator of the first Body Glide product) was living in Santa Barbara in the early 90’s.  He was passionate about family, software development and surfing, and his boards and wetsuits were tearing up his skin. He decided he had to conquer rubbing, rash, and chafing. But how?

Petroleum jelly was out of the question. It degrades wetsuits, it’s messy, temporary, and some people are allergic to it. Steve looked into plant derived ingredients, blending them with heat from a home appliance, Mr. Coffee®. This is how the brand started. 

R + J: Have you reached an audience that really surprised you? 

Amanda: *Please Note – this answer is just from me, Amanda, not from the company. After working for Body Glide for a couple of years there are not a lot of uses that surprise me anymore. When I first started with the company, however, one of the most surprising was equestrian riders use Body Glide products on themselves and, sometimes, on their horses to help combat the rubbing that leads to chafing, skin irritation, and raw skin.

One of the surprising ones recently is I was speaking with a woman who had an artificial eye. She said that it rubbed sometimes and she had tried a lot of different products, but nothing had worked. I heard back from her a week or two after trying a Body Glide balm and said it worked for her and her eye no longer bugged her.

R + J: Our clients are brides, or professionals who work with them during all of their wedding related events. How would you recommend your product is used in that environment? 

Amanda: Don’t forget about other people in the wedding party. The bride is important, of course, but don’t forget about bridesmaids, the groom and groomsmen. Seams can rub, sequins (or other fabric types) can annoy skin, new shoes can cause blisters or rub marks, ties and collars can rub and chafe, etc.  There are so many areas that can get annoyed by rubbing that it is a good idea to have some extra Body Glide products on hand.   

R + J: Any interesting product tips or tricks that the average person might not know about? 

Amanda: Put Body Glide products on first if you are wearing lotions or sunscreen. 

Foot Glide is great at helping protect your feet from rub marks, chafing, and raw skin (I accidentally did an A/B test with a pair of strappy sandals. I put Foot Glide balm on one foot before I left because it was bothering me, but didn’t even think about the other foot. By the time I got home, the foot with Foot Glide balm was perfectly fine while the other foot had a good rub/raw mark on my toes, under one of the straps.).

Body Glide products are used all over the body from face to toes (yup, even butt crack and groin).

R + J: These are weird, weird times. How (if at all) have you had to pivot or reposition your brand?

Amanda: We were contacted by an ER nurse who uses Body Glide balms on her face to help protect her from the rubbing that is causes by her face mask. With more and more images coming out of people being rubbed the wrong way by their masks and protective equipment we changed our production and created a new product to help the front line workers (or anyone who wears a mask). Within 2 weeks we launched Face Glide balm - it has since been bought by healthcare workers, hospitals, and others who are getting rubbed by face protection.  

R + J: Any interesting stories to share about how COVID-19 has changed things for you?  

Amanda: The one that pops into my head first is the interesting times you can have on conference calls. Each morning the office hops on a Skype call to catch up.  We have had dogs barking in the background, kids coming in and out of the frame, cartoons on in the background, significant others walk through the frame, etc. All in all it makes the team still feel like a team which is great.

It was kind of funny as there are some of us with dogs and one co-worker sent out a video of a dog barking like crazy while its owner was on a conference call.  We were taking bets on whose dog(s) would be the first one to do it on our call.  The very next morning my dogs won the bet and started barking like crazy while we were Skyping. That set off my co-workers dogs and then set off my other coworkers dog. We all started cracking up.

__________________________________________________________________________

An ENORMOUS thank you to Amanda for giving us a peek into the world at Body Glide! 

We loved this interview so much! It is our goal to offer our customers tools that provide solutions, as well as longevity and value. Body Glide not only serves our brides, it serves everyone who gets dressed! A product that goes well beyond the wedding? Yes please. 

xo

risa + jess

image and video credits:

Round Lens Photography, The Good Vibe Media