This was a bit of an amazing discovery if I’m honest… I was about to give up FitBit, which would have made me very sad.
The strap was just irritating my wrist to the point where the skin was broken, weeping and just not good. I wasn’t sure if I was allergic to the strap and discovered I could wear it over a tubular bandage and it would still work! Amazing right?
But not the best look! A bit scruffy…
As some of you may know, I’ve been cutting out topical steroids so my hands and wrists have been pretty bad. Some days/weeks I’ve had to bandage them and treat weeping and infected areas but I seem to be over that hurdle now (fingers crossed). Wearing a FitBit throughout that peroid was a challenge and I did have to ditch it for a few weeks in the interest of healing!
This made me very sad. And Clare was not happy at all!
And then I discovered that you can get soft fabric FitBit Straps! Click on the link below to check these out, and they only cost £9.99. This is not an advert, I bought this strap myself, but if you use the link below to buy this strap, or anything else for that matter, Amazon reward me with probably about 2p 😉
You can shop around for fabric, leather, plastic straps
Shop around and you will find lots of companies offering straps that are compatible with FitBits. Visit Amazon to shop Fitbit straps.
These new fabric straps don’t irritate my skin at all and have been such a godsend. I can keep in contact with my friends on our FitBit challenges, which are really great for me, especially now I am working from home again and so sometimes need a little extra push to get steps in! It makes me accountable and everyone knows when I’ve not moved all day! All part of my daily self care, getting out, getting active and getting fresh air, whether that’s a run or a walk, this seems to be essential to my mental health.
It’s been challenging some days when my skin has been really sore, but the distraction is always better than not going at all, except the weekend of the pollen bomb… I should have stayed inside! That was nasty…
I would say the only downside is that they get a bit dirty and smelly, especially if you run wearing your FitBit, but it’s easy to clean in a little washing detergent and dries out pretty fast.
Anyone else had reactions either from an allergic reaction or irritation from a hard plastic FitBit strap? What did you do? Stop wearing yours? or experiment with other straps?
Yes I have. I don’t consider that I have an ecsema problem, but very sensitive skin and my wristband – not Fitbit, but a cheaper version of the same sort of thing – caused what you described. I cleaned it well with alcohol and tried on the other wrist. The same thing happened and it was unbearable, so took it off. I put a tissues underneath – that worked for my skin, but can’t get sleep data or BPM with it in place.
Hi Meg, I feel your pain. I’ve had the same problems. I found a tubi grip did work and I did get the sleep stats. I also recently found a lovely company who make leather fitbit straps and I haven’t had a problem since buying one from them. I wasn’t too expensive either. Check out Amazon and look for leather straps by WFEAGLE