While there are numerous advertisements out there offering surgeries and procedures to help alleviate body odor for good, you should only pay attention to them as a last resort. There’s a lot you can do to help prevent body odor without shelling out thousands of dollars or putting your body through unnatural processes. Before you decide to put your body through something that may or may not be necessary, check out some of these preventative solutions to excessive body odor.
Keep Hair Neatly Trimmed
There’s a reason the hairiest parts of your body are also the most prone to body odor: Your hair is porous. In other words, water (read: sweat) easily becomes trapped within hair follicles as you go about your day. While sweat on your forehead or arms is easy to wipe away, the sweat that collects on your scalp and underarms stays there until you’re able to take a shower. For this reason, it’s best to keep your body hair as neatly trimmed as possible. Completely eliminating sweat can’t be done – nor would it be healthy to do so. But by clipping your underarm and other body hair whenever it gets too long, you’ll keep control of how much sweat collects on your body throughout the day.
Maintain Clothing and Shoes
It goes without saying that dirty laundry stinks. The reason for this is, much like hair, most of the fabrics our clothing is made out of is porous and prone to trapping microscopic beads of sweat. But think about that for a second. By wearing clothing made of fibers that absorb your sweat – such as cotton – you deflect the stench from your body onto your clothes. On the other hand, if you choose to wear synthetic clothing that likely doesn’t absorb moisture well, you’ll allow your sweat to stay attached to your hair follicles. So what if your clothes stink? You can always change them. Speaking of that, you shouldn’t be wearing the same shoes day in and day out. You should own at least two pairs of shoes you can use on a rotating basis. That way, you’ll give each pair a day to air out before wearing them again. Not only will this give your shoes time to deodorize, but they’ll also last longer. Your feet have stopped growing anyway, right?
Use Natural Remedies
With so many commercials for deodorants and chemical treatments relating to body odor, it’s easy to overlook the fact that you might already have the remedy you need in your house right now. Though it might sound a little counter intuitive, vinegar is an incredible deodorizer. The reason for this is, due to the acidic content of vinegar, applying it to your skin will reduce your skin’s pH levels. When this happens, the vinegar kills off odor-causing bacteria. Of course, you should be careful not to apply vinegar to broken skin in order to avoid burning or irritating any small cuts or wounds. Furthermore, when first using vinegar as a deodorant, use small amounts to gauge how your skin reacts to contact with the acidic liquid. Similarly to vinegar, witch hazel lowers the pH level of your skin as well. It also is an antiseptic that sterilizes your skin, again eliminating bacteria from the surface. While it doesn’t offer lengthy protection like 24-hour commercial deodorants do, using witch hazel as needed throughout the day is a natural way to stave off body odor without exposing your body to excess chemicals. As far as your feet go, there are two main natural remedies that both act in a similar manner. You can soak your feet in either saltwater or tea for about 20-30 minutes daily to help alleviate chronic foot odor. In both cases, the solution will rid your feet of excess moisture and sweat that has collected throughout your busy day. Just remember to pour the tea out after using it… Featured photo credit: sweat / joe porteous / flickr via farm1.staticflickr.com
