Hi there! I'm new here as of this morning, but finding a women's-specific forum for cycling is simply fantastic!
I'm riding without underwear more often than not lately because I need to preserve my poor skin! I don't have real cycling shorts with a chamois, only a pair of Danskin shorts that they inappropriately call bicycle shorts. They are exercise shorts made of cotton with the sewn triangle in them- made to be worn without underwear. My regular underwear is just cotton Hanes I think- a low-rise bikini version and then some regular ones.
I ride my bike for commuting to work. Go to work twice a day and the distance one-way is 4.6 miles (I tend to just tell people 4 and a half). So I go 18 miles a day. Just a few days ago I extended the ride home to be 8.5 miles, so a round trip is 13. I'm working up to trying to be able to do it once a day every day, and then maybe that will become my new route home from work both am and pm.
My poor crotch area simply cannot stand up to the abuse! My regular underwear causes the crease where legs meet genitals to hurt so much. The low-rise versions are slightly gentler on me than the regular ones. My "bike" shorts are even better, but the seams of that stupid triangle even become irritating after a while, just in a different spot. To make matters worse- everything is cotton, so during the summer I was especially concerned, but even now with cooler weather- the slightest bit of sweating I do makes leg creases sweaty and uncomfortable and they stay that way for a while.
So lately I've opted for wearing nothing but my tights and pants. The weather has been chilly in the mornings so this works I suppose, but the tights are just regular stockings, nothing special. They don't absorb anything, but I tend to dry better anyway I guess since they are more breathable. There is still a middle seam through the crotch (and one pair has an oval in that area instead of a triangle) that I suppose could become problematic if I wasn't already wary of the potential issue.
I wear regular clothes on my bike because that's what I have and for the most part I'm comfortable that way, but I really need a solution for my poor seat-area.
I've been told that boyshort cuts might be better, and I obviously need something other than cotton. Most searches for seamless boyshorts turn up results that are NOT in fact seamless. Also I've been seeing some pretty high prices, just for a single pair of undies! I'm still looking.
Do you ladies have suggestions?