Underarm Odor

There is a popular belief that body odor is caused by sweat. In fact, this statement is not exact, because virtually all sweat is odorless – it’s composed of water, salt and potassium. It is rather the bacteria that comes in conjunction with sweat secretions that cause the foul smell. There are two types of sweat secreting glands, the appocrine glands and the eccrinee glands.

The first are developed during puberty and are located on genital area, under pits and the areolas, they produce a thicker fluid, prone to odor bacteria. While the eccrine glands are found on the rest of our body, and are active from the day we are born.

Even if the fluid produced by those glands is much lighter it is still exposed to odor causing bacteria. Lack of oxygen in contact with sweat and skin will cause anaerobic bacteria that also causes smell.

Underarm odour is more common in men than in women. One of the reasons, is presence of hair under men’s arms, which once again triggers even more bacteria than already attracted by the appocrine glands.

Because the process of sweating allows our body to eliminate toxins and other waste , your metabolism functioning and eating habits can influence underarm body odor. Undergoing a liver cleansing and kidney detoxification would be a good idea to clean up your system. While drinking lots of liquids and anti-oxidants allows for our body to get rid of some toxins within, and therefore gradually reduce the foul smell.

In lighter sweating cases, underarm odor can be fixed with a little help of a good antiperspirant such as Drysol. It will act as a shield between the sweat glands and the skin surface, to prevent sweat glands from producing any sweat. A deodorant on the other hand will make little difference, as it is a simple perfumed substance that will be applied. It cannot reverse the odor already produced.

Underarm odors are very noticeable, and can considerably affect our everyday life. It is very important to get to the source of the problem and not simply try to mask the smell. I no longer have to sniff my armpits just to make sure I’m ok, or bleach the yellow armpit stains, as I have learned to manage my underarm sweating effectively. I review one of the methods that helped me on the home page.