Real men hike in a pink camo banana hammock….

Seriously though I like the merino stuff, the poly pro stuff is nice but disgusting after a couple hours like most have said. So Ice breaker, first lite, helly, mec, etc, it's more about how you like your ginch to fit. The gold bond thing has been part of the routine for at least 16 yrs, pretty common with military folk. As a couple have mentioned gold bond is preventative, if there is skin damage DO NOT apply gold bond as it will feel more like A535 at that point.
Chamois buttr is a good product, but penaten diaper cream is more readily available at the same places you can get the pampers wipes . The nice thing about penaten cream is it tends to stay put better during heavy activity, and I'm not talking about just around the gear. If your a guy that gets upper thigh chafing this may well be your answer, it can be used both preventative and post incident.

As for smelly sock, outside of a 2 part sock system and foot powder swap out your sock soon as you hit camp a quick soak and let'em dry other than that wash your feet. Not much point in doing the other to only to put a smelly foot into a clean sock.

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