[WTF?] Balla Powder: Scented Scrotum Talc for Men

Saw this via BoingBoing today: Balla Powder: Scented Scrotum Talc for Men

$15 gets you 3.5 oz. of the stuff, but whatever happened to Arm and Hammer? Admittedly I tried that once, wasn't as pleasant as I had hoped, but I thought a lot of guys use that anyways.

The product description is good for laughs:

Does anyone know what the hell "bat wing syndrome" is?

It's your scrotum sticking to your thighs. I just use regular Gold Bond. Works fine for me.

Ah, that's not what I thought it meant at all. I thought it had something to do with Batman and that fighting crime in a rubber suit all day.

somewhere in here there's a joke with 'yo! that's straight up balla, son!" ...

too tired to finish it :)

Hmmm... looks like Miss Tony managed to get through to some of those boys on the dance floor after all!

Bat wing syndrome or Tinea Cruris

(warning, the pic is a little gross)

This may be more sharing than people want from me, but a couple of years ago I had exactly what is shown in that picture. The tinea cruris was a nuisance but tolerable. The anti-fungal cream would relieve the discomfort in a day or two, and clear up the rash in a couple of weeks. The problem was that it kept coming back. After trying many different things, I switched from corn starch powder to talcum powder, and the rash hasn't returned since. But it's only been a few months since my last outbreak, so every time I feel a little bit itchy down there, I wonder if it's coming back again.

The intertrigo, on the other hand, was excruciating. It felt like I'd spilled acid on my inner thighs. My underwear felt like it was made out of sandpaper, and I had to wear it inside out because my skin was so sensitive the stitching felt like hot razor wire cutting into me. Even walking a short distance was intolerably painful, so doing routine tasks (e.g., going grocery shopping) became an ordeal, and it pretty much became impossible to go out and have fun. The dermatologist I was seeing could offer me nothing for the pain. Every time that rash started to clear up, something would make it flare up again. It took over a year to get rid of, and my dermatologist warned that the inflammatory cells would still be present for a couple of years after the rash was gone, and could be triggered at any time during that long healing period.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Industrialsize Bat wing syndrome or

Ick! So what causes that?

More importantly, where and what are the fudgies referred to in the advertisement.

The rash in the crotch area is more commonly known as "jock itch" and is caused by the same fungus that causes athlete's foot and ringworm. It's similar to a yeast infection in women. The antifungal medications used to clear up the rash (e.g., Lotrimin, Lamisil) are similar to the medications used to treat a yeast infection (e.g., Gynelotrimin, Monistat).

The rash on the thighs, intertrigo, is basically just a chafing rash--like an adult version of diaper rash. Men are more prone to it than women because we have hairy legs. The friction of the hair and fabric against the skin, especially when you're sweaty from physical activity, or just hot humid weather, can trigger skin irritation. Once the skin becomes sensitized, any friction exacerbates the problem. My case got much worse than the picture. The skin on my inner thighs turned bright, almost fluourescent reddish-pink and...well, I won't gross you out any further. As I said earlier, the pain was excruciating. It was similar to the time I spilled boiling-hot water on myself, except when I burned myself a cool cloth and some burn ointment relieved the pain. Nothing relieved the pain of that rash.