Body odor is one of the more embarrassing conditions a person can experience. There’s nothing worse than meeting that special someone, only to realize that you are emanating some particularly nasty smells from all the wrong places. To make it worse, body odor is actually caused by bacteria. Even more specifically, it’s caused by bacterial waste. Nice thought, eh? So how can you keep body odor under control?
Keep clean
This first tip shouldn’t not come as a surprise. Controlling body odor is a lifestyle, not just a single step. The bacteria that create body odor live in and around the sweat glands, which are more densely packed in areas like your underarms. Sweat by itself doesn’t have any odor – it’s only smelly when it combines with the bacterial waste. Showering regularly, and keeping yourself donned in clean clothes can go a long way to warding off the bad smells.
Dry well before dressing
This is a step that is often overlooked in personal hygiene. Bacteria, particularly the ones that create body odor, love warm damp places. If you get out of the shower and get dressed while your skin is still moist, you are creating the perfect environment for the bacteria to grow.
Make sure you dry off thoroughly before putting clothes on. This may mean you have to walk about in the buff for a few minutes to allow the last of the moisture to evaporate. Simply toweling off well doesn’t make your skin truly dry. Your skin doesn’t have to be dripping wet for it to be a bacteria factory – moist and warm will do the trick as well.
Use a deodorant AND antiperspirant. There are many products on the market today that will serve both of these functions. Find one that works well for you and use it consistently. When you are buying these in the store, be sure to read the labels carefully, as some of them only serve one function – and they all pretty much look the same with only a quick glance.
The chemical that reduces sweating is aluminum chloride – be sure that what you buy has this in it. If you don’t have any luck with the regular products you find in the market, talk to your doctor about prescription strength products.
Find the right (and wrong) foods
There are some foods that have been shown to create excess body odor. Although there is a lot of variation on this issue from person to person, there are some general trends. A lot of my patients will tell me that body odor is made worse when they eat spicy foods and food with a lot of garlic. There is limited evidence that red meat may cause increased body odor – but you’d have to test this out for yourself and see if it works for you.
Those are some basic tips on how to keep body odor under control. There is no single step that is going to limit this embarrassing social problem. Just keep your nose peeled and pay attention to what you smell like and you should be able to keep this problem under wraps.
