Why this endurance swimmer covered herself in diaper cream and bag balm

Completing the Double Seven Challenge – an epic years-long quest to climb the Seven Summits and swim across the Seven Oceans – requires a finely tuned gear kit with stress-tested equipment, backups of supplies, and a surprising amount of liquid food. But when Rob Lee completed the challenge on June 30, it was partly thanks to something you’re more likely to find in a diaper bag than a professional gear kit: diaper rash cream.

Why is swimming in the ocean cruel to the skin?

Water can be reflected even on cloudy days More than 20 percent UV raysand those rays can penetrate below the surface of the water. At the same time, water drops on skin This can have a cascading effect, making UV exposure even more dangerous. The cherry on top? spend hours in salt water Removes your skin’s natural protective barrier, leaving you with an even More sensitive to UV damage.

Even the damage caused to the skin by all this is not known. In abrasive salt water conditions, the human body can quickly break down. Sea salt, like its kitchen table counterpart, is hygroscopic, meaning it draws water from the outer layer of your skin. If you’ve ever spent a blissful afternoon swimming in the ocean, you felt like you had crocodile skin that evening – this is why.

Research has shown When skin comes in contact with salt water, that skin becomes almost twice as hard as skin immersed in fresh water. Additionally, skin treated with salt water experiences more drying stress (think: it feels tight, cracks, or develops small wounds) and may be more susceptible to bacteria.

So, what’s an open water swimmer to do when they have to spend 12 hours in the ocean? It all starts with diaper cream.

Diaper Cream Fix

Lee’s skin protection strategy needed to be two-pronged: She needed to protect her wet, vulnerable skin from sun damage, and she needed to strengthen its protective barrier to prevent friction and irritation. And before you ask, wetsuits weren’t an option — Lee was only allowed to wear a swimsuit, hat, and goggles to stay within the rules of the challenge.

So Lee and his partner, professional ski mountaineers Caroline GleichThought outside the box. one in behind the scenes instagram reels That was originally “Get ready with me to swim across the Tsugaru Strait”, the audience can see Glitch rubbing the gloves Desitin Maximum Strength Diaper Rash Cream On every inch (and we mean *every* inch) of Lee’s exposed skin. Gleitch writes in his voiceover that the diaper rash cream contains 40 percent zinc oxide, and it provides a physical barrier between Lee’s skin and the sun, which lasts for up to 12 hours and seals out harmful moisture.

Lee put it on his face zincA similar reef-safe zinc oxide cream that smells a little better than diaper cream.

With the sun protection investigation out of the way, Lee and Gleich moved on to skin protection. “Once he’s covered in (zinc oxide) from head to toe, we apply bag balm to his armpits, neck, and all other high-friction spots,” explains Gleich. bag balm An all-purpose ointment that was invented 125 years ago to soothe irritated, cracked cow udders on a dairy farm. Now, you’re more likely to see it in ski jacket pockets and high-altitude hiking daypacks as a cure for windburn and cold temperatures, or in the bags of open-water swimmers.

“More than eleven hours of salt water will sand down your skin, so (bag balm) is our anti-chafe insurance,” says Gleich.

One spot that could use more TLC? The inside of her mouth, which was “raw and swollen” after swimming. “The salt water eats away at the inside of my mouth,” he said. Outside. “It’s like canker sores all over my mouth.”

Although Lee still experienced a few scratches and scrapes in some missed spots, he crossed the Tsugaru Strait in just under 12 hours, thus completing the final leg of the Double Seven Challenge. We assume he’s healing by applying luxurious lotions and hydrating body wraps.