Healing a Boot Chafing Rash

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Do you struggle with rashes left behind from your boots during winter months and rainy seasons? Learn how to Heal a Boot Chafing Rash easily and naturally!

Do you struggle with rashes left behind from your boots during winter months and rainy seasons? Learn how to Heal a Boot Chafing Rash easily and naturally! #naturalremedy #bootchafing #winter #winterproblems #healing

Healing a Boot Chafing Rash

In early December I noticed pain in my legs and redness right on my mid-calf. It took me about a day to figure out that it was coming from wearing my mud boots! All I ever wear in the winter is boots so this presented a problem.

I started by just using a bit of lotion thinking that would do the trick. Not so much! The pain and redness continued and just got worse.

Even thru socks and pants, my boots still caused that awful pain on my legs. Plus, once it got worse it began to hurt when I would wear jeans or other rough fabrics that rubbed against the rash.

Healing Boot Chafing Rash

Has that ever happened to you? There isn’t much you can do when you need to wear boots during the winter like I do (either for the mud or for the snow!).

After a few weeks and some trial and error I was able to come up with a pretty good boot rash remedy to solve my boot chafing problem so I thought I should share in case anyone else is going through the same issue!

How to Heal Boot Rash

First, every time I was in the bathroom I grabbed some of my Homemade Coconut Oil Lotion and put it all over the rash. This helped with the pain and inflammation from my clothing during the day.

At night, I went a step further and slathered on a thick layer of my Homemade Lotion Bars around the affected area. This lotion is much thicker than my regular daily lotion and helped with the healing process all night long.

On nights when the rash was really painful, I would place a very thick amount of the Lotion Bar on my leg in the affected area then I used first aid gauze and tape to help keep the extra moisture in.

Healing a Boot Chafing Rash

How to Stop Boots from Rubbing Your Calf

Finally, to make sure it would never come back, I added an extra layer of protection as a preventive measure. I took an old, thick sweater and cut the sleeves off to make a boot cuff. (I cut about half the sleeve since my legs are pretty short, you might want to cut more or less).

I made the cut with my pinking shears to help it resist fraying. You could sew the end you cut to have a little hem if you really wanted to.

Now when I go outside in my boots I slip on the sweater arms over my legs (either under or over pants) and it keeps the boot from rubbing against my legs. And as a bonus, it’s a nice leg warmer too!

Now let’s tackle some other winter problems and projects!

Ways to Keep Your Mind Busy Through the Rest of a Long Winter – If you’re struggling with long, dreary winter days, check out this post with some projects or activities that can keep your mind occupied during winter.

Homemade Hand Scrub for Gardeners – The winter cold can completely wreck your skin. No need to invest in pricey lotions and potions with unknown ingredients. This easy scrub will bring a bit of glow back to your skin!

Cinnamon Vanilla Bean Homemade Body Scrub -This is the perfect recipe to warm up and refresh your hands during the cold winter months.

Homemade Vanilla Lip Balm Recipe – Your hands aren’t the only thing that dries out during winter. Make some of this delicious lip balm to moisturize your lips.

Saving Money and Eating Healthy- If you’re used to fresh garden veggies in the summer, you may see your grocery bill rise during the winter months. Check out this post to get some money-saving ideas for winter grocery shopping, without using coupons.

Canning Dried Soaked Beans – Are you dying to scratch that canning itch? There may not be any fresh veggies to can, but you can still break out your canner and put away some dried soaked beans to save money!

Preparing for Canning Season – Maybe you aren’t quite ready to break out the canner just yet.. you can start preparing for next year instead.

How to Grow Fresh Produce in the Winter – If you can’t wait until summer to get your garden going again, check out these winter garden ideas.

Have you had any trouble with this issue this winter? What other winter issues do you struggle with?

This Boot Chafing Rash Remedy was originally published on Little House Living in January 2014. It has been updated as of January 2020.

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11 Comments

  1. That is a great remedy. I have had that happen to me from time to time.I didn’t know what to do about it so I just suffered through. Thank you so much.

  2. This sounds like a great remedy. I am working at UPS through the holiday season and the first day I wore my new work boots, even with a layer of thermals on, I came home with a horrible rash that burned badly. That night I suffered in the warm bath, then slathered on some body butter made of coconut oil, shea butter, and cocoa butter. It felt a little better in the morning, but was still really red and sore, so I wore a pair of long thick socks for an extra layer for protection against the rubbing. Slowly it has gotten better, but I now have this scaly skin where it has healed, but it doesn’t hurt anymore, thankfully!

  3. Oh my goodness, I wish I’d had this a few years ago! I used to wear gum boots all. winter. long. and had the boot chafing rash so bad. Thanks for the info!

  4. Great tips! I don’t wear boots, but my hubby does, and I know he deals with this. I will be sure to recommend this to him, next time he needs it. Thanks!

  5. What a great idea with the sweater arms! I will have to remember this. After moving to Alaska in December, I have been wearing boots and rain shoes non stop.

    Erica

  6. You are so smart! As soon as I read this I was going to suggest leggings, but I never thought of making them out of sweater sleeves. Another idea is knee high socks with the toe half cut out, or wherever it would be too tight in your boots. But again I would suggest hemming them or you would never be able to launder them.

  7. A quick way to get rid of the chaffing rash is diaper cream and baby powder. I also use the sweater sleeve solution and sweat shirt sleeves if you need a thinner solution. Remember to allow your boot sleaves to dry completely so you don’t get a fungus. Note: I warned my daughter but at 16 she knew everything…until she was in pain …athletes foot.
    Sorry- I am mother henning.

  8. I always buy boots in the boys or men’s department. They seem to bigger around the calves and fit better for me as I really muscular legs.

  9. Love the picture super cute. We have to wear winter boats in winter but I have made it a point to make sure my kids wear “tall socks” when they wear boots just for that reason. My son had blisters on his legs from wearing boots a year or so ago.