How to Prevent Butt Breakouts !

I’ve been telling you for a long time now, dear readers, that body breakouts are usually caused by friction and/or pressure.  Ill-fitting clothes, sitting for long periods, textured fabric rubbing against sweaty skin, long term exercise with no skin protection.  How much more is this true of butt breakouts??

There are actually two issues with breakouts on the behind, as well as the backs of the thighs.  


One is the aforementioned pressure and friction from sitting for long periods.  The other is pore clogging from dryer sheet residue and body lotions (or worse, body butters).  It’s admittedly hard to prevent the sitting for long periods thing when you’re at a job that requires it.  But does it really require that you don’t get up and walk around for a minute or two every hour?  We’re beginning to find out how unhealthy sitting for long stretches at a time is for our bodies in general.  We need to move around, so get up and get moving !

Friction and Pressure

It may seem like there should be no friction on your bum when sitting for long periods, but textured fabrics, ill-fitting clothes and uneven surfaces can actually create friction as you sit, fidget, get up and walk around, and sit in a moving vehicle.  It’s also important to keep in mind that the type of fabric you’re sitting on for all those hours can make a difference.  

Satin or polyester can trap heat and moisture like Saran Wrap, mesh and lace can be like sitting on gravel, and thong underwear leaves your skin at the mercy of whatever fabric your skirts or pants are made of.  Smooth 100% cotton that covers everything is best. 

To absorb excess moisture, soothe inflammation and prevent the ravages of friction and pressure on your skin, my FerroRosa FrictionFix® has become a favorite must-have for hundreds of women this last year!

Pore Clogging

Contrary to what many blogs and websites say about body breakout and ingrown hair issues, it’s very possible that a body lotion is the last thing you need on your nether regions.  We have enough moisture there under normal circumstances.  More importantly, too many body lotions (and especially body butters) are pore clogging, which causes more problems than almost anything.  I’m not saying no one gets dry skin down there, but the likelihood that someone who is really dry suffers from regular breakouts is not very high.  In the case of dehydration, not letting the skin dry out from harsh body washes and alcohol-heavy ingrown hair remedies is really how we keep skin from needing any kind of lotion. 

As for dryer sheets and fabric softeners, they work by leaving a film on all your laundry so the fabrics slide past each other instead of sticking together to create static, which happens to also make clothes softer.  However, this film is quite pore clogging.  Many body breakouts start to clear up almost immediately after stopping dryer sheets, fabric softeners and pore clogging body products.

Having said alllll that, breakouts on the backs of the thighs that are prickly as well as pimply can extend upward to the lower part of the behind, and there are lotions that address that kind of problem.  Which leads me to say…

Let’s Not Forget KP!

KP = Keratosis Pilaris.  The skin cell dying process gone haywire.  When skin cells mature and start to die, they move up to the surface of your skin to become the layer of dead skin cells that make up the protective barrier that protects your body.   Granules of protein start to accumulate inside skin cells, making them suffocate.  After a while, dying cells get flat as they get pushed up to the surface by new cells growing from the bottom layer.  Now, at the beginning of this process, the cells look kind of prickly.   Eventually the cells smooth out and flatten as they move up.

However, in a case of Keratosis Pilaris, too many protein granules make the cells too prickly, so pores get a little clogged and irritated with all of this, and oils and dead skin cells can't come up to the surface of the skin the way they're supposed to.  This is why the skin is not only bumpy, but also quite dry.

The Solution?

The solution to both KP and body breakouts is exfoliation from both inside pores and on the skin's surface with BHA and/or AHA, a non-clogging, hydrating and exfoliating moisturizer for the KP, and exfoliating spa gloves or exfoliating cloth with a non-drying acne body wash with AHAs like Mandelic Acid and Glycolic Acid.

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