A combination of bacteria and sweat on your skin is what gives you body odor. When your sweat comes into contact with the bacteria on your skin, body odor results. Although sweat itself has no smell, when it comes into contact with the bacteria on your skin, it does. Body odor might have an onion-like, sweet, sour, or tangy smell.
There is a possibility that you will develop an offensive body odor whenever you sweat. Some individuals are more vulnerable to unpleasant body odor than others. Exercise, stress or worry, hot weather, being overweight, and genetics are additional factors that can cause body odor.
The armpits and groin are particularly prone to the quick emergence of body odor due to the high number of apocrine glands in these regions. But body odor can appear pretty much anywhere on the body of a person.
The following actions may help manage body odor, despite the fact that there is no cure for it:
- Regular bath and shaving: Take a regular bath or shower with antibacterial soap to keep your skin clean. Pay attention to the places where you sweat the most, such as your groin and armpits. Maintain a clean shaven appearance in your armpits to ensure that sweat escapes rapidly and has less time to interact with bacteria. Viruses and bacteria thrive in hair.
- Use of Antiperspirant: By adjusting sweat volume and the quantity and activity of bacteria that produce odor, topical antiperspirants can lessen the intensity of a person’s body odor.
- Wear loose-fitting clothing made of cotton. This allows your skin to breathe. This rule also applies to underwear and bras. Moisture-wicking (fabric that can pull moisture away from your skin) clothing is also helpful.
- Dry yourself completely after a shower, paying special attention to any places where you sweat a lot. It’s more difficult for bacteria that produce body odor to grow on dry skin.
- Body odor is influenced by what you consume. Foods like chili peppers and other spicy foods, which make you sweat more, may also cause body odor. Additionally, your sweat may contain food aromas like that of onions or garlic. You might sweat more if you consume alcoholic or caffeinated beverages.
- Wear clean clothes and wash your clothes frequently.