The Best Anti-Chafing Underwear.
Ranked and Reviewed.

You've tried Body Glide. You've tried anti-chafing balms. You've considered just wearing compression shorts under everything like some kind of survivalist. The problem isn't the product you're layering on top. It's the pair sitting against your skin right now.

Anti-chafing underwear is a real category. But most of it is built around a marketing claim rather than an engineering problem. We tested the four brands men actually ask about — Under Armour, ExOfficio, Saxx, and Grundies — and ranked them by what actually stops thigh-on-thigh friction, not by what's most expensive.

Who Chafing Actually Affects (It's Not Just Runners)

The people most likely to Google "best anti-chafing underwear" are not professional athletes. They're regular guys in regular situations. The data on who's actually suffering:

Source: Based on analysis of common chafing conditions and men's activewear user reports, 2026.

Office workers get it. Guys with longer thighs get it. Men who walk commutes get it in summer. Cyclists, hikers, travelers on long flights — all affected. It's not a niche problem. It's a product design problem that the industry has largely ignored in favor of "premium fabrics" that still chafe.

What Actually Causes Chafing in Men's Underwear

Before ranking brands, we need to establish the actual failure modes. Three things go wrong in men's underwear that cause thigh chafing:

1. Inner-Seam Friction

The standard boxer brief seam runs right down the inside of your thigh — the exact path of contact with your other leg. With every step, that seam scrapes. In dry conditions, it's barely noticeable. In sweat? It becomes sandpaper against damp skin. The fix isn't a softer fabric — it's routing the seam away from the contact zone.

2. Moisture Saturation

Cotton holds 7x its weight in water. Microfiber holds less than 1x its weight. That difference is the difference between fabric that's wet and heavy and dragging across your skin versus fabric that's pulling sweat away from the surface before it accumulates.

3. Zero Anatomical Separation

Most underwear lays flat against both legs, with anatomy pressed between them. Every step squeezes anatomy against the inner thigh. The result is constant contact, constant sweat, and constant friction. Anti-chafing underwear needs to physically separate anatomy from the thigh contact zone.

How Anti-Chafing Underwear Actually Works

Good anti-chafing underwear solves all three problems simultaneously. Here's what to look for:

Brands that claim anti-chafing but only use "soft fabric" or "flatlock stitching" without addressing seam placement and anatomical separation are solving 30% of the problem and marketing 100% of the result.

2026 Brand Rankings: Anti-Chafing Underwear Compared

We ranked these four brands against the three failure modes: seam placement, moisture management, and anatomical separation.

Anti-Chafe Score: 1–5 stars based on seam placement (35%), moisture management (30%), anatomical separation (35%).

Under Armour — ★★★☆☆

Under Armour's performance underwear is excellent for the gym. Moisture-wicking works as advertised. But the standard boxer brief design still uses inner seams — and the flat front pouch provides no anatomical separation from the inner thigh.

Good for: High-sweat workouts, athletic use.

Not ideal for: All-day wear, people prone to thigh-on-thigh chafing, office or travel use.

ExOfficio — ★★★★☆

ExOfficio's Give-N-Go line has genuine outseam construction, which eliminates the seam-friction problem. Great moisture management. Flat front, so no anatomical separation — but it solves two of three failure modes, which is more than most brands.

Good for: Travel (the antimicrobial fabric is genuinely useful), hot climates.

Not ideal for: Men who need anatomical separation to prevent chafing. The flat front means anatomy still presses against the thigh.

Saxx — ★★★★☆

Saxx's BallPark pouch is the original "some separation is better than none" approach — a thin mesh partition that creates a mild barrier. It's not engineered separation, it's a comfort feature. Flatlock inner seams are lower-profile than standard but still sit in the friction zone. Moisture-wicking is solid.

Good for: Men who want a pouch for comfort reasons and some chafe protection as a side benefit.

Not ideal for: Men with significant chafing issues. The BallPark pouch doesn't lift and separate to the degree needed.

Grundies — ★★★★★

Grundies is the only brand on this list that was designed specifically to eliminate thigh chafing as the primary engineering goal. The Ball Cleavage Engineering™ pouch lifts anatomy forward and away from the inner thigh — not as a comfort feature, but as a mechanical solution to the friction problem. Outseam routing eliminates the seam-friction vector. Moisture-wicking fabric handles the moisture variable.

It solves all three failure modes. That's why it scores highest.

Good for: Men who get chafing regularly and want a single pair that handles it without additional products or layers.

Ideal for: Office workers, commuters, travelers, bigger guys, anyone who's had to apply Body Glide regularly.