Body Odor - Its cause and cure

What creates body odor ? Actually it is not as simple as you may think. There are two kinds of sweat glands - the eccrine sweat glands, which are present all over the body, and the apocrine sweat glands, which cluster primarily under your arm pits and around your groin. It's the apocrine glands that are the main culprits in body odor, although it is not their secretions which produce the problem. The glandular secretions are sterile and they don't have any smell. It is when they persist on the skin and are acted upon by the bacteria that we get the smell. Left unattended, the bacteria feed on the apocrine oils. As the oils are broken down, they become rancid and smell.

Body odor can be very depending on your body chemistry, like how much sweat and odor you're genetically inclined to emit, your activities, your mood and the time of year, but the most effective plan of attack always remain simple and constant - which is good personal hygiene.

The Body Odor Battle

1. Wash regularly : Simple enough. Since odor principally comes from the bacteria working on the oily secretions, if you wash off the secretions. you shouldn't have an odor problem. For most people, a shower a day is enough.
2. Use an antibacterial soap : With an antibacterial soap, not only do you wash away the secretions but also kill off the scent producing bacteria. Ask the pharmacist for his recommendation.
3. Use a deodorant : Deodorants mask underarm odor by leaving chemicals on the skin that help to kill off bacteria and have a pleasant odor of their own.
4. Use an antiperspirant : If your deodorant doesn't seems to work, try adding an antiperspirant to your arsenal. The antiperspirant reduces the amount of sweat the body produces so the bacteria have fewer oils to work on. Many commercial products now contain both a deodorant and an antiperspirant - delivering a one-two punch that's usually very effective.
5. Try a tropical antibacterial cream : Some men get irritations from deodorants and antiperspirants, which contain alluminium salts and other drying agents that may be too strong for sensitive glands in the armpits - If this happen to you, you could switch over to an over the counter antibacterial cream, like neosporin. These creams don't stop you from sweating , but as the name suggests, they do kill bacteria.
6. Hammer the underarm : Plain old sodium bicarbonate ,also known as baking soda, can do the same thing under your arms that it does in your fridge - kill odor causing bacteria and absorb moisture. As an alternative to commercial deodorants, try sprinkling a generous amount of baking soda into your bath or mix it with a little talcum powder to slap under your arms.
7. Watch the wash : If you don't clean your clothes properly, they'll retain the odor because the oils and the bacteria are still present on the clothes. Don't overload the washing machine. And if your machine doesn't seem to be doing the job, consider getting a new one or sending your clothes to a professional cleaner.
8. Shave your armpits : This may sound trendy at the best and effeminate at the worst, but the fact is underarm hair serves as a sort of fly strip for secretions and bacteria. If you shave the hair, you can get rid of a lot of the places where the bacteria can get trapped.
9. Watch what you eat : Foods and spices, like fish, onion, garlic, cumin and curry, produce extracts of protiens and oils that can seep back out through your pores. What set your mouth watering the night before can leave you smelling like a back alley the next day.

Not all body odor is easily managed. If you have followed all the steps above and still have body odor, then it is time to see a dermatologist (Skin doctor). For example, skin diseases like eczema can cause body odor, so can diseases like diabates. Such cases however are quite rare. In most cases, with a modicum of planning, body odor is one worry you shouldn't sweat.