The answer has to do with hormones—specifically, pheromones. “Pheromones are chemicals that animals and humans produce, which change and influence the behavior of another animal or human of the same species,” says Erica Spiegelman, wellness specialist, recovery counselor, and author of The Rewired Life.
Being acidic in nature, lemon can kill the smell-producing bacterias in the body which helps in reducing the bad body odour. Drinking a glass of lemon juice gives you a lot of antioxidants that flush out the toxins from your body.
Stinking Breath and Body Odor
Similarly, water helps release toxins through sweat. If your body is dehydrated, you are unable to release these toxins (bacteria), which when accumulated leads to an unpleasant body odor, especially in the armpits, feet, and groin area.
One way is to take your shirt off and sniff that instead of your skin, recommends Lifehacker. Other ways to check your own scent is to rub your scalp, then smell your fingers; check your breath by licking your arm, waiting a second, then sniffing the spot. Or even quicker and easier—ask your parent to give you a whiff!
"Eating well — lots of fresh food, including fruits and vegetables and clean protein — really keeps the body fresh and running smoothly, thus providing the perfect substrate for fragrance," she says. She adds that alcohol can have an adverse effect on body odor.
While it can change depending on our diet and health, a lot of what makes our smell unique is determined by our genetics. Our body odour is specific enough, and our sense of smell accurate enough, that people can pair the sweaty T-shirts of identical twins from a group of strangers' T-shirts.
Rose oil. In a small, but interesting study published in PLOS One, researchers from the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden found that the smell of rose oil caused study participants to rank photos of faces as more attractive than less-desirable smells, like fish oil.
Eating healthy and whole foods rich in antioxidants can help keep you smell good without cologne. Foods like berries, nuts, seeds, dark leafy greens, and citrus fruits are all excellent sources of antioxidants that help keep the body clean from the inside out.
For the first time, scientists have shown that people recognize their own scent based on their particular combination of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) proteins, molecules similar to those used by animals to choose their mates.
We have now discovered that each person's scent is unique – not even identical twins smell exactly alike. Each of us also has a one-of-a-kind nose for smells.
Throughout modern history, we have associated the softness and sensuality of leather with luxury. Two thirds of respondents to Premium Scenting's recent attitudinal study found that leather was the smell they most strongly associate with luxury.
Go take a shower, watch TV, read a book for a while. Then, collect the clothes and give them the sniff test, especially around the pit area and anywhere you sweat profusely. If you find an odor that is unpleasant, that might be an indicator that you have a body odor problem that is leaching into your clothing.
Oranges, lemons, and grapefruits are packed full of pleasant-smelling oils and compounds, which quickly become absorbed by the body and gently released through the skin. As such, eating such fruits is a quick way to improve your natural aroma.
Showering destroys these happy bacterial colonies; they're completely wiped out by all of our frequent rubbing and scrubbing. And when the bacteria washed off by soap repopulate, they tend to favour microbes which produce an odor – yes, too-frequent showering may actually make you smell more.