Bacteria are to blame, and there are at least three places where you could be missing them even after the shower: your skin, your hair, and your clothing.
Body odor is caused by a mix of bacteria and sweat on your skin. 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.
A scented bar of soap, body wash, or shower gel offers up just a hint of fresh fragrance. Unscented body wash and soaps without added fragrance do the trick, too. Lingering in the shower for an extra minute or two after you lather up is all you need for all-day freshness.
Generally, she said, "you should be showering, bathing or cleansing yourself every two to three days." Though, if you're working out or engaging in an activity where you are sweating a lot, you may have to shower more often.
Smell every part of your clothing and look for wet spots where you've been sweating. Sweat usually means you've become a love environment for bacteria growth, and bacteria is what gives off the stench. Go by the golden rule of body odor: If you can smell any odor on yourself at all, others can smell it a lot more.
The bottom line. Smelly armpits occur when bacteria break down the otherwise odorless sweat on your skin. Some people sweat more than others and have a condition called hyperhidrosis. This excess sweating can lead to body odor.
Applying antiperspirant straight after showering
It makes sense to put your antiperspirant on as soon as you're clean to prevent any rogue sweating. But the problem is, your pits might still be damp. "To get the best results you apply antiperspirant to completely dry skin," says Dr Dawn.
Less body odor
When you remove hair under the armpits, it reduces trapped odor. A 2016 study involving men found that removing armpit hair by shaving significantly reduced axillary odor for the following 24 hours. Similar results were first found in a 1953 paper .
It would be amazing if you could sniff yourself and immediately pick up on any emanating odors, but alas, life isn't so simple. According to Lifehacker, it can be quite difficult to detect your own body odors because the receptors in your nose shut down after smelling the same scent for too long.
Trimethylaminuria is a rare disorder in which the body's metabolic processes fail to alter the chemical trimethylamine. Trimethylamine is notable for its unpleasant smell.
In fact, according to research published in Nature, your nose can detect about one trillion smells! But your own underarms could reek and you might not be able to tell: Humans are prone to what scientists call olfactory fatigue; our sense of smell just gets plain tired out by familiar odors and stops detecting them.
Heat from hot water combined with soap will soften your skin and slowly strip away its natural, oily protective barriers. Some of this can good like removing dirt, sweat, or body odor. However, we want to keep in the skin's natural moisture where possible and prevent dry or irritated, itchy skin.
You'd smell
Unsurprisingly, a person would develop quite a funk after 365 showerless days. Rokhsar said your stench likely would come as a result of the bacteria and dead skin accumulating on you. After a year, he said, you'd have a build-up of skin stratum corneum, or dead skin on top of your skin.
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Trimethylaminuria is a disorder in which the body is unable to break down trimethylamine, a chemical compound that has a pungent odor. Trimethylamine has been described as smelling like rotten or decaying fish.
Body odor is caused by bacteria breaking down the sweat from the apocrine glands in your armpits, groin, and pubic area. You may be more prone to body odor if you are overweight, eat certain foods, have certain health conditions, or are under stress. Genetics may also play a role.
A stale beer-like or vinegary odor coming from the breasts is a telltale sign of yeast overgrowth on the skin. The problem can cause itching or peeling, and it's more common in the summer when high temperatures make the undersides of the breasts warm and damp, which creates an ideal environment for yeast growth.
Citrus fruits like lemons, oranges, and grapefruits are loaded with vitamins that are quickly absorbed by the body, boosting immunity and body odor. You can even use lemon when you're out and about and need to freshen up those underarms.
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!
Body hair exacerbates the unpleasant aroma in a couple ways. First, it provides extra surface area for bacteria to cling to, creating more opportunities for a nasty stench to develop. Second, it absorbs the foul odor, allowing the smell to stick around long after it should have packed it in and gone home.