2y ago

does anyone else find that deoderant/antiperspirant makes them sweat more?

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?

34 comments

Deodorants don't reduce how much you sweat, it just masks the odor. Antiperspirants reduce how much you sweat.
In the summer, I get sweaty anyway and take 2 showers if I can: a rinse before bed and a full cleaning shower in the morning. I would get smelly quickly if I did not use deodorant.
- Antiperspirants don't really reduce how much you sweat.
  They just reduce how much you sweat at your armpits. They use aluminum to essentially clog your armpit sweat glands to keep them from sweating too much. But you are sweating for a reason - because your body thinks it is hot, so you just end up sweating more in other parts of your body. It isn't some magic no-sweat medicine.
  
  There's a bunch of people here saying that in a confident tone, but not a single source. You got a source you can cite for that claim, or are you just repeating what you've heard other people say?
  
  Yeah this is what I imagine is going on with my body and hence the post. Never heard anyone else talk about it or seen a real source.
  For me, I feel like sweating from my pits localizes the smell and thus no one really smells it. Again, I barely sweat anyway. But when I do use antiperspirant (deodorant does the same but to a lesser extent), then I sweat everywhere and find it easier for people to smell and I just feel more gross.
- Yeah, most people buy whatever product they see first or smell nice but they most probably are buying a deodorant.
  When I noticed this and started looking for antiperspirants, it was a game changer, my days were more comfortable.
  
  Might cause some cancer tho just fyi

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.

Yes. I stopped using antiperspirants altogether, just regular (ideally unscented) deodorant. On over-the-counter (even "prescription-strength") antiperspirants, I was getting so upset by the never ending pit sweat that I kept an actual full size towel nearby, and a few times rubbed my pits raw out of intense frustration that it wouldn't fucking stop.
I actually looked into botox treatments for it, and there's some treatment that microwaves away your sweat pores altogether, but I spent a year or two using Qbrexa (glycopyrronium) wipes, which while outrageously expensive even with insurance, amd require a prescription, worked very very well for me. I have a bunch of them left but I haven't used them in awhile, just some plain deodorant. Honestly not sure if they had some long-term effect or if I've just become accustomed to my regular perspiration without using any sort of antiperspirant.
- Same experience, I used to get so much pit sweat just sitting around in the office, and the residue from antiperspirant would destroy my shirts, too. Stopped using antiperspirant, started using regular deodorant, and my body re-calibrated very quickly. I don't get pit sweat at all unless I'm actually working out.

I've found that Lumē works really well for me... Technically I think it's intended for women (they do actually have a "men's version" now too) but the scents are pretty neutral actually (I'm fond of the tangerine).
Its "active ingredient" is mandelic acid and I've never used another product that worked as well for me...
However, some people (in online reviews) say that they absolutely can't stand the smell (even after trying various scents)... I think it must just not interact with everyone's body the same way.
It is pretty darn expensive but they claim it lasts 72 hours... I find that I can definitely feel pretty comfortable without reapplying for 48 hours if I don't shower every day but for me 72 hours feels like a bit of an exaggeration.
All the aluminum based anti-perspirants give me a terribly painful and itchy rash and Gillette stopped making the gel deodorant that I used to use several years ago so I'd been on the hunt for something good for quite some time.
They also make body wash, soaps, and body wipes. The body wash and soaps are also great (though again, expensive) but I haven't tried the body wipes yet

Idk, I always wear deodorant so I don’t have enough data to compare.
Maybe you lack the body odor gene and that makes you sweaty when you use deodorant? Or maybe it’s a reaction to the specific brand you use?
- Oh that's super interesting. I wonder if there's an easy way for me to test it out. I'm definitely of European decent, so it sounds unlikely that I wouldn't have the gene. Smells are very interesting, I wonder if the study is looking at a complete lack of scent, or just a significantly reduced scent. I'd imagine sweat still has an odor even without the bacteria.

Not all deodorants and antiperspirants are created equal. There are plenty of different compositions and active chemicals used for different purposes that get lumped into the same category. I would also find a neutral third party to judge your stinkyness, since significant others and ourselves are notoriously bad judges of smell. We get accustomed and even consider pleasant things that others would consider rank and disgusting. Also take into consideration that bad body odor is categorically not caused by the sweat itself but by bacteria eating a component that is particularly concentrated in armpit's sweat. Those people that don't sweat much or don't have the genes for extreme body odor, they do smell. Just not stinky like the rest of us, just a general smell similar to how baby skinfolds get smelly but not stinky, but still pretty obvious that they need a wash.

No, I've never heard of anyone like you OP. My sweat doesn't change because I add deodorant, it just smells less. Antiperspirants are irritating to me and not very effective so I avoid them.

Dove deodorant makes me feel like I sweat more. It also actually somehow makes me smell worse than if I were wearing none at all. Maybe it’s a body chemistry thing.
- I used to think it was mostly the anti-perspirant I was using that caused me to smell worse when I used it but I found out later on that it's all about giving it time to dry before getting dressed. It made a noticeable difference just spraying about 3-4 mins before putting my shirt on and not spraying with my shirt already on. Turns out, anti-perspirants on fabric can provide places for bacteria to grow.
  Also, making sure you apply it to dry skin helps a bunch. If you're already sweating when you apply it doesn't help a whole bunch.

Antiperspirant made me stink, oof. Deodorant without antiperspirant does help. I'm also like you though, run cooler than most.

I feel like zinc based deodorants activate my sweat glands

Yeah but only because I don't exercise without it on. It's an if then thing.
There's this one brand of spray deodorant that doesn't have antiperspirant in it and hoo boy does that get the pits dripping. I can use that stuff like once.

It seems to work for me. But I do sweat. I was under the impression that body odor and the amount of sweat varies and depends on your genes. And things also vary with ethnicity.

Deodorant makes me smell better for a little while but after a few hours I am left with a distinct odor that is worse than my regular body odor.

Try using drysol. It's a really effective way to stop perspiration
- They said they don't really sweat...
  
  Oh sorry I missed that part
- That's the thing, i don't sweat (or rather notice I'm sweating) unless I use deodorant/antiperspirant. I have no need or desire to change my habits. Was mostly just curious if I was the only one
  
  I had the opposite problem lots of sweat but little smell. It's called hyperhidrosis

34 comments