So firstly, I don’t sweat a lot to begin with. I’ll go for a run and I’ll be at a mile before I feel sweat beading up. I’ll get a little clammy throughout the day, but rarely have whole body sweats. As a result, I have very low body odor. If I don’t shower, it’ll take several days before my significant other will notice.
But I don’t wear deoderant or antiperspirant. If I do, then its like the rest of my body decides it needs to sweat. Anyone else out there with this experience?
If you don’t want to smell, yet don’t want to use a deodorant, I highly recommend using a salycitic acid (SA) product on your armpits. It will kill the bacteria that causes body odor, prevent ingrown hairs, help with inflammation and hyperpigmentation, and it is inexpensive (you can find it in a lot of acne products aimed at teens and young adults, so they are affordable). I use a SA bar soap on my pits in the morning and use a Stridex pad in the evening. I have no armpit odor anymore after making these changes. I use deodorant occasionally for the scent, but the SA is doing the heavy lifting. It won’t stop you from sweating, however,.since it’s not an antiperspirant but I find i don’t mind so long as I smell good.
I go mostly without deodorant but smell here and there. Thank you for suggesting that. I’ll give it a try.
Please post your results!
I found your comment interesting because I hadn’t heard salycilic acid mentioned for this purpose in the past but as I mentioned in my own reply to this post , I recently started using a deodorant product that relies on mandelic acid and it’s been extremely effective for me (but relatively expensive).
I may also have to look for an SA bar soap to try at minimum.
Thanks for the info!
I can’t remember where I first heard about using SA to help with body odor but at some point I found this article. I’ve occasionally used acids that I had on hand like lactic, mandelic, or glycolic (I use then to exfoliate my face or body periodically). But SA works so well and is gentle enough to use twice a day, so I stick with it.
I currently use Dermaharmony 2% SA soap (@$7 on Amazon) and Stridex XL pads for face and body (@$4 also on Amazon, 90 pads IIRC) - I picked the cheapest products that work for me. I’ve used Cerave SA face wash, Alba Botanica SA face and body scrub, different kinds of Korean facial toners, and different brands of SA treatment pads. I think any SA products with 2% SA will work.
Please reply in the future to let me know if it works for you. It’s certainly cheaper than Lume! ETA: If you want to stick with mandelic acid, you could buy a bottle of it from The Ordinary and use a few drops a day. It would be much cheaper. Other companies probably also sell mandelic acid serum.
Right on… Thanks for the reply