The best way to prevent smelly armpits is to wash daily and after sweating. Using antiperspirant or deodorant and shaving the armpits can also help. Avoiding alcohol and certain foods, such as onions and garlic, will also help prevent smelly armpits in some cases.
Your body odor can change due to hormones, the food you eat, infection, medications or underlying conditions like diabetes. Prescription-strength antiperspirants or medications may help.
Apocrine glands are in areas like your armpits and groin. They produce a thicker, milky fluid. Sweat itself doesn't have a smell. The odor happens when bacteria come into contact with the perspiration your apocrine glands release.
In addition to bacteria, oftentimes there is deodorant residue and other impurities that are trapped in the underarm pores and within the hair if you have armpit hair.
By the end of the study, researchers concluded that men who removed their armpit hair by waxing it off or shaving it with a razor had the least body odor. Those who simply trimmed their armpit hair had the next smelliest, with the strongest armpit odors coming from those who left their pit hair untamed.
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.
Studies have shown that body odor is strongly connected with attraction in heterosexual females. The women in one study ranked body odor as more important for attraction than “looks”. Humans may not simply depend on visual and verbal senses to be attracted to a possible partner/mate.
University of Kent research suggests that men can distinguish between the scents of sexually aroused and non-aroused women. The detection of sexual arousal through smell may function as an additional channel in the communication of sexual interest and provide further verification of human sexual interest.
Including fruits which have high water content like apples, grapes, watermelons, pineapples, and oranges will also help in reducing your sweat levels. Additionally natural smell of citrus fruits like oranges, lemons and pineapples is absorbed by the body and will leave a fresh smell on your skin.
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.
“Some girls start shaving their legs as early as age 10 or 11, some girls don't even think about shaving legs up to age 20 and others don't want to shave at all,” Dr. Kronborg added. “The same goes for boys. They may want to try and grow a full beard while others feel more comfortable shaving.”
According to The Telegraph, a survey conducted in 2013 reflected that 95% of all women between the ages of 16 and 24 said that they removed hair from their underarms. Meanwhile, that same survey conducted in 2016 revealed that the number had dropped by nearly 20 points — to 77%.
