We’ve certainly already all been there: that embarrassing moment when we notice that we smell unpleasant. At worst, it’s accompanied by extreme sweat stains to make the embarrassment even worse. First of all, let’s realize that sweating is just a natural occurrence. Sweat serves to keep our body temperature down and to remove toxins. Unfortunately, sweat contains fats and proteins that react with natural bacteria under your armpit. And that’s what causes strong body odor when you’re sweating a lot. Check out our solutions for excessive sweating.
1. Shower regularly
The key to preventing strong body odor is to shower regularly – at best once a day and especially under your armpits. Sweat easily builds up under your arms if you sweat excessively. Once it’s washed away, your pores are open and ready to get a layer of clinical deodorant after thorough drying. But try not to have a bath more than twice a day. if you’re showering or washing yourself more than twice a day, you could remove healthy bacteria on your skin. That could make strong odors even worse again.
If it’s hot in your area, you may want to stick to having a shower in the morning and in the evening. Mornings are perfect to apply deodorant for a fresh start into the day. Evenings are the best time to apply clinical deodorants as you sweat less during the night and give it some time to work.
2. Switch to antibacterial soap
The reason for body odors is your sweat reacting with naturally occurring bacteria under your armpit. The fewer bacteria there are, the less embarrassing odors will occur. The main focus should be to keep bacteria under your arms in check. You can achieve this by using antibacterial soap for that area.
Regular deodorants do also have antibacterial properties and mask your odors. When you’re sweating excessively, that won’t be enough. A clinical deodorant will help you deal much better while the antibacterial soap keeps bacteria at bay
3. Dry your armpits well
If you’re applying deodorant, make sure your armpits are properly dry. Neither regular nor clinical deodorant will be effective if applied on wet skin. Both can only work on dry skin or their active components will slip right off your skin again.
At the same time, look out not to get too dry armpits. Regular washing with the wrong soap as well as clinical deodorants can dry out your skin. This, in turn, leads to skin irritations and more trouble when sweating. Apply some moisturizer on your dry skin after showering, leave it to dry as well and then apply clinical deodorant.
4. Use an actual clinical deodorant
There are many deodorants on the market that claim to be strong and effective against strong body odors. The trouble is, the more you sweat, the more strong odors are created. Regular deodorants don’t keep you from sweating and may ultimately fail as they only mask odors. Clinical deodorants keep you from sweating and often come with a nice fragrance to give you that fresh feeling all day long.
5. Wash your clothes well
Sweat does unfortunately cling to clothes like sticky toffee. A simple detergent may not suffice to remove strong odors from clothes. Some people claim adding some vinegar to their wash helps to remove funky smells – it may not always work.
Another good addition might be a special ceramic ball containing silver ions that neutralize any odors even at low temperatures. However, you can also prevent having to wash your clothes more than once if you use clinical deodorant. That way, sweat odors can’t stick to your clothes from the very beginning. If you’re sweating excessively, put your clothes into the wash right after you wore them once.
6. Think about your diet
You may probably not want to hear it, but some foods can trigger you to sweat more than you mean to. This goes especially for spicy foods. But it could also affect other foods if you’re histamine intolerant. It’s probably also a good idea to cut down on garlic, onions and strong cheeses. Their scent will be carried along with your sweat.
Try to switch to more foods that contain chlorophyll, like parsley. If you eat foods rich in chlorophyll, it acts as a natural body odor buster from the inside out. Else, you can still go for a clinical deodorant if you couldn’t leave that extra garlicky garlic bread.
7. Avoid tight clothing
As great as tight clothing looks and as gorgeous as you may feel in it, it’s actually a bad idea if you’re sweating a lot. Tight clothing causes friction under your armpits which then makes you sweat more. Neither can your skin breathe properly in tight clothes. If you still want to wear tight clothes, go for a clinical deodorant on that day.
8. Switch to clothes made of cotton
Synthetic fibers may be cheap and allow you to update your wardrobe more often, but they’re the enemy of your sweat. Those fibers aren’t breathable which means that they’ll trap any odors from sweating. Neither can they absorb liquids too well and you’ll remain wet under your arms. Even in the wash you can’t properly remove strong odors from sweating excessively in synthetic fabrics. You can only prevent strong odors with either switching to clinical deodorant or to fabrics made of natural fibers. Cotton is a highly breathable fabric that can absorb sweat and transport odors away. Linen would be another alternative.
9. Consider shaving your armpits
As already mentioned, your armpits are the perfect home for naturally occurring bacteria on your skin. Only do they feel even more comfortable between your hairs where sweat also likes to build up. You may not stop sweating altogether, but you can definitely prevent strong body odors with shaved armpits. A perfect addition would be a clinical deodorant since it keeps you dry under your arms as well. Goodbye, embarrassing sweat stains!