Body Odor

Body Odor

Smell Sweeter, No Sweat

What woman hasn't given a surreptitious sniff to a just-worn sweater before deciding whether to stow it in the closet or the laundry. Her mission, of course, it to detect lingering scents of body odor in the sweater, to avoid offending others when it's worn.

Most people develop a body odor--or B.O., as many of us called it in junior high--sometime around puberty, says Dee Anna Glaser, M.D., assistant professor of dermatology at St. Louis University School of Medicine. It begins when a surge of sex hormones in both men and women cause the apocrine glands--a particular type of sweat gland found in hairy areas under the arm and around the genitals--to secrete an odorless milky goo that, when combined with bacteria on the skin, raises a pungent scent.

Apocrine odors may be particularly intense during ovulation, says Dr. Glaser. And they shift into gear when you're angry, fearful or excited. But the apocrine glands aren't the only glands that play a role in generating sweat. The rest of your body is home to some two million or more eccrine glands, responsible for a salty liquid sweat that cools you down when you get hot. That liquid is odorless, but it creates a moist environment in which bacteria grow and thrive. Once the bacteria mixes with apocrine gland secretions, the resulting liquid creates body odor.

MORE THAN JUST A SHOWER

For most women a daily shower followed by a deodorant is all that's needed to keep body odor in check. For women who need extra help, women doctors offer these suggestions.

Grab a baby wipe. If a tense encounter of some sort gets you so steamed that your apocrine glands start to squirt, step into the bathroom and wipe your odor-prone areas with premoistened towelettes, sold as feminine hygiene wipes or baby wipes, says Dr. Glaser. Then toss your odor problems away.

Wash with two kinds of soap. Since B.O. occurs only when a secretion from the apocrine glands mixes with bacteria under your arms and around your genitals and anus, wash these odor-prone areas with an antibacterial soap once a day, suggests Mary Lupo, M.D., associate clinical professor of dermatology at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans. To avoid the drying side effects of antibacterial soap on other areas of your body, use a milder all-purpose soap like Cetaphil.

Use an antiperspirant. Once you've reduced the numbers of bacteria on your skin, apply an antiperspirant-deodorant that contains aluminum chlorhydrate under your arms, says Karen S. Harkaway, M.D., clinical instructor of dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and a dermatologist at Pennsylvania Hospital, both in Philadelphia. The antiperspirant will reduce the moisture on which bacteria feeds.

Sprinkle a little cornstarch. You can also reduce the amount of moisture that normally develops over the course of a day by sprinkling odor-prone areas with cornstarch, says Dr. Glaser.