7 Ways to Use Body Powder for Sports

A good body powder can really be an essential component of a young athlete’s sports bag. Why? Because it can be used for so many things! Here’s a handy list of our favorite ways to use it:

1. Deodorize stinky feet

As most parents will attest to, foot odor can be a big problem for kids and teens, especially when they’re involved in sports. Their feet enter their shoes smelling like roses, and come out smelling like hot garbage.

Body powder can help curb this problem, as long as it’s one that contains deodorizing ingredients, of course (like our 4-in-1 Body Powder). Simply rub it generously on clean, dry, bare feet before putting on socks.

2. Keep feet and shoes dry

Continuing for a moment with the foot theme, another problem young athletes often experience is their feet getting excessively sweaty. Besides leading to foot odor, this can cause their feet to slide around in their shoes, impacting their performance in the game.

Powdering their bare feet, as described above, will help tremendously with this problem. For a bit of extra moisture absorption, it can also help to shake some powder inside their shoes before sliding them on.

3. Keep hands dry and improve grip

Of course, feet aren’t the only extremity to get sweaty! We’ve all had that feeling of our hands suddenly getting overly moist in moments of pressure or concentration. It’s not just annoying and distracting, but can also cause us to lose our grip and perform below our best.

Rubbing body powder on their hands can help your kids and teens keep their grip on the ball, bat, stick, or racket. Additionally, sprinkling it inside baseball and softball mits, and hockey and lacrosse gloves, can further help keep the moisture to a minimum.

4. Strengthen underarm deodorant

For kids and teens with very mild body odor, using body powder alone under the arms can be enough to keep the B.O. at bay. For most though, they’ll need to use a proper kid-safe deodorant (such as our Natural Sport Deodorant).

However, if it’s been a while since the deodorant was applied, as might be the case for an evening game or practice, adding some deodorizing body powder under the arms can help strengthen the deodorant and provide additional odor protection for the period of heavy activity ahead.

5. Prevent chafing

One of the biggest problems for athletes of all ages is chafing — that annoying (and painful) skin-on-skin or fabric-on-skin rubbing that often occurs during heavy activity. But, it can be avoided!

Rubbing body powder over the areas most susceptible to chafing can cut down on the friction and stop chafing before it starts. These areas typically include the thighs, the chest, the sides of the torso, and the waistline.

6. Soothe irritated skin

Chafing leads to red, sore, irritated skin, which can get aggravated even more with additional activity. This is a painful experience that can be very distracting during the game, and can even make your young athlete want to sit things out on the bench.

If your child has existing chafed spots, have them rub plenty of body powder on those areas before participating in sports. It’ll help soothe the skin and protect it from additional rubbing and pain.

7. Keep things comfortable “down there”

As most of us know, sweat isn’t limited to just our hands, feet, and armpits. When we exercise, our “special areas” downstairs can get a little swampy, too. This can be uncomfortable and, for athletes especially, lead to irritating conditions such as jock itch.

Applying body powder liberally to the nether regions helps prevent this by absorbing the sweat to keep your young athletes dry and odor-free.

Considerations

If your child’s experiencing any of the above issues, whether on or off the field, consider picking up a good body powder for them to try. There are lots out there, but we made ours a little bit different — and more appropriate for use by kids and teens — in a few ways:

1. No Talc: Talcum powder, although effective at absorbing moisture, is a suspected carcinogen. Instead, we use safe, all-natural kaolin clay and tapioca starch to soak up the sweat.
2. No Artificial Fragrance: Most commercial powders, even baby powders, are loaded with synthetic scents that are among the most common irritants for kids. We use only natural essential oils in very small quantities to scent our powder.
3. Double the Deodorizing Power: Knowing that we were making our powder for athletes, we formulated it with two safe, potent deodorizers: zinc oxide and magnesium hydroxide. Unlike other deodorizing powders, we don’t use baking soda, which is another common skin irritant.