It's a bit long winded so please bare with me on this. I shower every morning before work around 6am. I always use deodorant and aftershave. For a good few hours or so I smell great and feel fresh.
The office where I work doesn't have air conditioning and I find that by mid morning (say 10am) I start to develop an underarm odor. It's not terrible, you can just about make out the smell of my shower gel, but it just smells a bit off.
I also wear white t-shirts underneath my work shirts really just to prevent any embarrassing sweat stains appearing on my shirts. I've wondered whether this off smell might be coming from the t-shirts which in turn affects the smell from under my arms.
It's started to make me paranoid at work as I have overheard people talking about me in the office. It makes me feel useless because I'm aware of the slightly off smell.
Is there anything I can do to stop this slightly off odor I develop whilst at work? Any help would be really appreciated.
By JakeP
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I sweat profusely during warm months and understand how you feel. What works for me is reapplying deodorant through out the day. Sometimes I find that I have to change shirts midday which might be something you may want to consider. Also, make sure that your deodorant states it is a combination of antiperspirant & deodorant.
The best thing I've found for underarm odor is Milk of Magnesia. Buy the generic kind and put some in a small bottle with a twist cap or a small jar with a screw-on lid. After bathing, put a small amount on your finger and rub it on your arm pit. It works all day for me. I am super sensitive to deodorants with aluminum salts, but this works wonders! This can be used anywhere on your body for odor control.
I find that if one wears natural fibres -- ie, cotton , rather than polyester or a poly/cotton blend, you will find that your clothes smell less. Just about everyone who wears polyester shirts or blouses will have smelly armpits by the end of the workday. Switch to cotton, and you will have less of a problem. If you wear a cotton undershirt, I believe you will have fewer odor problems, even if your dress shirts are part polyester, which is preferable, because they don't require ironing!!
I had underarm odor for many years. I was finally diagnosed with hyperhydrosis (excessive sweating) disorder. I take prescription meds (robinul) for this and my odor is not gone completely but it has improved dramatically. Good luck to you all.
It may have to do with some chemical compound found in the shower gel. I had a similar problem and I noticed the following: when I wore a new t-shirt, just bought from the store, I never had the bad odor. When instead I wore one of my other t-shirts (ore the new one after washing it) then the bad odor started soon after I reached work (strangely enough never at home - probably related also to stress). You may ask, what does this have to do with the shower gel... well it could be that the chemical compound in the shower-gel reacts with that in the soap used to wash the clothes and with sweat.. producing an environment where bacteria can florish..
If it's your clothes wash them twice. First with baking soda - 1 cup per wash. Second time with vinegar - 1 cup. I noticed my clothes and towels smelled musty and if the shirts got hot, smelly shirt AND me.
Your shirt could be contributing. Try washing them with some baking soda, or vinegar to kill the order/ bacteria in your clothes.
Folk Remedies:
Alcohol/witch hazel. Wipe your armpits with alcohol, white vinegar or witch hazel instead of deodorant.
Alum. Try using a crystal rock made from the mineral salt potassium alum instead of a deodorant. It won't keep you dry as an antiperspirant will, but antiperspirants clog your sweat glands and contain aluminum chlorohydrate, which may lead to future health problems.
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