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The Dreaded Chafe (The DC) – It’s a Sensitive Area

The Dreaded Chafe (The DC) – It’s a Sensitive Area

So, we are now into month two of our bambams journey and hurtling towards Christmas day.  Here in Australia it is really heating up, and even after 8 years in Sydney this London girl will never quite get used to seeing Christmas trees, fairy lights and Father Christmas in 38 degrees overheating in his delightful red suit (when Nat King Cole sang about chestnuts roasting I am really not sure that is what he had in mind)!!

The first 8 weeks have been so amazing, thank you again for all of your support and positive feedback about our bambams.  As I said in my previous blog this has been a very long term dream of mine, and to have so many ladies coming back to me saying that they are finally able to wear their summer skirts and dresses, in comfort, is all I could ever have wished for.  I really have made them with love and also from my personal experience so it means so much.

I also mentioned in my first blog that even though I am a total over sharer with pretty much everything, for some reason having my thighs rubbed raw by the DC (Dreaded Chafe) was not something I really wanted to talk about.  

We recently did our first bambams stall, and whilst in hindsight it was not the right location for us, (every day is a school day right now) it was really interesting seeing women’s responses.  The nervous eye glances and furtive reading of our banner resulted in our little stand being swerved as if we had a radioactive force field around us.  The ladies that did briefly meet my eyes seemed like they were mentally pleading for me not to speak to them in case I might think they may actually need them!!

And I totally get it, I had a number of flyers to hand out, and in the end I put them all back in the box and took them home. The last thing I would ever want to do is make anyone feel bad about themselves, and to be honest I know if I was handed an anti-chafing flyer I probably would have spent the whole day analysing what I was wearing and why someone had given it to me.

So here are some interesting bambam facts:-

Since we started our biggest selling size is the small (currently 14-16)

We have had as many enquiries about smaller sizes (even from a size 8) as we have had from ladies asking for bigger sizes

We have also had many questions from people asking for their husbands and boyfriends, so it is not just a woman’s issue (in fact one of my best male friends wears his sample pair of pink bams under his jeans to walk to work every day and can’t cope without them!)  and we are working on our Boy bams range as I type so stayed tuned!

Basically, if you have a little meat on your thighs, as most adults do, they flipping well rub in the heat and humidity this is not a fat issue just a fact issue and I just want you to be comfortable and enjoy the gorgeous summer days.

Whilst I have mentioned once on my web site the term “chub rub’ (which I kind of had to as this is the most commonly known phrase around this topic) I will never use it again, because I hate it. I think it is a very negative term and for me it just makes me feel horrible.  I don’t even really like the term chafe so if you have any other ways to describe this little treasure of an issue I would love to hear from you!!

So, ladies (and any gentlemen that may be reading) please be assured that you are in the majority.  Having the DC should not make you feel bad, it should not determine how you dress, it is just a result of hot, sticky, busy humid life.

I wish you and all your loved ones a very Happy Christmas, make sure you put your best dress (or skirt) on and accessorise with your bams so you can be sure that even when it gets hot in the kitchen your thighs will never know!!

Lots of love

Kirsty xx

The beginning of bambams, seam free anti chafing bamboo underwear for women

The beginning of bambams, seam free anti chafing bamboo underwear for women

It has been just over a month since we launched bambams seam free anti chafing bamboo underwear, and we have so appreciated all your support, orders and fantastic feedback, so thank you!

The (seam free) bottom line is that we have made bambams for all you gorgeous ladies, so please keep sharing with us your thoughts, suggestions and any ideas for improvements as we will listen and adapt to your needs where we can.

I am very new to the world of blogging and to be fair I am right now on a bit of a learning curve with Twitter, Instagram, Pintrest, Snapchat, Facebook and anything else “social” you can think of, but I know the only way I can do this is to be honest and speak from the heart as that is how I always live my life. So whilst I hope that through these blogs you can get to know me, I also would love to hear from you and get to know you all too.

I have wanted to bring this product to you for about 8 years now. The idea came to me when I was walking home from dinner, with my best friend and business partner Adam, on a hot and humid night in Sydney. After a “couple” of jugs of Sangria and a delicious paella, Adam decided it was perfect for a 30 minute walk home, which of course it would have been had I not been in a skirt and already feeling the dreaded chafe.

After about 15 minutes into the walk I was not actually sure how I was going to get myself home as my legs were just so sore. I kept stopping to try and discreetly move my thighs apart, for crying out loud they just needed a bit of air time, but I would not, could not, tell him why I was moving at a snail’s pace! I tell Adam pretty much everything, but for some reason this was just not a line I wanted to cross, such is the unspoken rule of the chafe. The next morning in the shower my legs were burning and I was left with a painful rash for about 3 days, glamorous huh!

Anyway, I started to think about what I needed, what would work and what I would feel comfortable wearing, and since that time bambams has been on my mind. I wanted a light, breathable, comfortable, non squishy/suck the air out of your lungs underwear that actually looked OK when I was wearing it, and I believe we have been able to deliver that for you.

There have been so many light bulb moments for me during this process, firstly it has been a real test of my confidence, just being brave enough to get this thing started was a big one!

But I also feel like I have exposed my greatest shame, that I am not the stick thin size ten that I always longed to be. Clearly, anyone who meets me can see that, but announcing to the world that I am not the media’s, and to some extent my, perception of perfect has been very confronting.

So, let me tell you that is my butt large as life on the bambam’s website! I decided to bite the bullet and do the photo shoot myself. As I am the sort of person who you will always find at the back of every group shot with just my head sticking out, or when a camera is being pointed at me will make sure I get full editing rights to delete any picture in which I have more than one chin, you can appreciate it was not my idea of a good afternoon.

After being greeted by a very handsome photographer, in his twenties, who is normally photographing Alex Perry models and the like, all I wanted to do was shake his hand and say “sorry not today!” but such is my belief in bambams I had to go into a cupboard (yes a cupboard, seriously that gig is not as glamorous as you might think) and get my kit off!

He pulled me into all sorts of positions, click click click and then after each shoot I had to review the images, I would say head on but really it was bum on and discuss which ones we could use.

Thanks to his amazing personality he actually managed to put me at ease.

As I left he said two things that really stood out to me, firstly, he said that plus sized models were never really “plus size” that they were just larger shaped ladies (size 12 to 14) and that due to the fact that to be tall, toned, photographic and a slightly bigger size than a “normal” industry sized model they are actually pretty hard to find and very in demand. I will talk more about my new experiences with “plus size” in the media another time

Secondly, and most importantly, he told me that the last two shoots he had done had been with some pretty rude people, that he had loved spending time with me and had really enjoyed our shoot far more.

It’s good to be reminded, that even through the eye of a lens (and a gorgeous photographer) that people do see more than just the shape of your butt or the size your thighs and that actually they really do see what you put out there.

So I say we put on our bambams, get our best dresses on and stop “sweating” the small stuff!

Thank you again, I look forward to getting to know you all, and this really is just the beginning of bambams xxx

www.bambamsint.com