Keys to preventing body odour

Body odour is a general term for what happens to sweat and other skin secretions when they are acted upon by naturally occurring bacteria.  Sweat or perspiration is a salty liquid, which oozes out of the pores in our skin.

Main causes of body odour are obesity, warm temperatures, synthetic fabrics like polyester that trap sweat, bad eating patterns and tight fitting clothes/shoes, which increase the likelihood of excess perspiration and body odour. Other reasons could be purely “faulty lifestyles” or “emotional stresses.”

How do we then prevent this body odour and live a clean non-embarrassing life?

Wash your body with deodorant soaps to remove bacteria from the skin. Give extra attention to your armpits, groin and feet as this is where you find many sweat producing glands. Antiperspirants and deodorants are effective and should be routine.

Deodorants work by masking the smell of sweat with fragrance, antiperspirants reduce the amount of sweat your body produces while roll-ons are more effective for heavy sweating.

In cases where these irritate your underarms, try dusting with baking soda on the offending areas. Baking soda absorbs moisture, is mildly antiseptic and fights odour. Applying a squeeze of lemon under your arms can also perform wonders to bad body odour. However, ensure that your armpits are well shaved as armpit hair provides surface area for sweat and gives bacteria a fertile breeding ground.

It is also essential to wash the clothes that come into contact with sweaty areas such as socks, underwear and shirts thoroughly and please do not wear yesterday’s clothes as these retain the smell no matter how clean your body may be.

If deodorants or body sprays do not work, the bad body odour indicates that you’re disturbed emotionally or physically and the three different kinds of problems are responsible for this bad body odour:

Hygiene problems; not cleaning up properly, not having proper bath or using clean clothes.

Skin problems; if you have a bit of eczema or psoriasis or allergy problems, it is possible that a skin infection, probably fungal, is contributing to the problem.

Some uncommon genetic conditions are associated with bad odour and methods of dealing with these problems are available. consult your doctor if you feel you have this type of body odour.