Body odour seems to be a phenomenon of great importance to modern men and women, and particularly to those youngsters who are just emerging into physical adulthood. By body odour, we of course mean the unpleasant smell from underarms, groin, feet or scalp, although the latter two are usually thought of separately.

Cause

Body odor is produced when the bacteria that normally grows on skin decomposes sweat. Human skin produces two kinds of sweat, the cooling watery liquid produced by the eccrine glands and the milky secretion of the apocrine glands. We have two or three million eccrine glands that cover our body, and eccrine sweating starts from birth. The skins of infants are also covered with apocrine glands, and are responsible for that distinctive baby smell. Most of them stop working several months after birth, however, and remain shut down until the onset of puberty, at about eight years old for girls and nine years old for boys, when stimulated by the hormone testosterone. In adults, apocrine sweat glands number a mere 2000 or so and are concentrated in the groin and armpits, although there are also some on the scalp and a few other places. Apocrine secretion is stimulated by hormones and also by fear and stress. Stress sweating occurs mainly in the underarm areas, feet and palms¹.

It’s the apocrine secretion that causes the odor problem. Certain anaerobic bacteria (corynebacteria and micrococci) feed on this stuff and produce the pungent odour we have been taught to fear in ourselves and abhor in others for its social consequences.

Control

Body odor can be controlled effectively by good personal hygiene. Wash at least once a day and after exercise. Bacteriocidal soaps may help. Change clothes often and wash them well to kill the bacteria that transfers from your skin and remove the sweat. To get you through a stressful day, however, you may want to use commercial products. Deodorants cover up B.O. with more pleasant fragrances. Antiperspirants act to control the sweating itself. Most modern products combine the two effects. Neither is a complete or lasting solution, however, as the bacteria grows back quickly and the sweating is not entirely stopped.

In history

The ancient Egyptians were apparently the first to come up with combinations of citrus oils and spices that could be applied to mask body odor without adding to the problem by turning rancid. They also discovered that shaving armpit hair reduced odor. (The hair provides a large surface area for bacterial growth.) Until the 19th century, perfume was the basic way to deal with body odour.

In the 1800s, effective commercial products for dealing with body odor appeared, but the market really skyrocketed after the turn of the century when American advertising convinced people that social success was not to be had unless body odor was controlled. The euphemistic "B.O." was first used in ads for "Odo-ro-no", a product for women, in their "always a bridesmaid, never a bride" campaign. (Listerine, the mouthwash producer, soon jumped on this bandwagon as well.) At the time, even that was a somewhat shocking marketing innovation, because body odour had always been one of the unspeakables, only very indirectly hinted at in advertisement. Since then there’s been no looking back by the deodorant industry.

Economic significance

The top six deodorant/antiperspirant products in the U.S. grossed nearly a billion dollars in sales in 2000. Worldwide sales of these products totaled 8.5 billion in 1999. Building upon growing public concern over chemical effects on [health], the new wave in marketing is the ‘natural’ product that may include aloe, coriander or pick your favorite natural-sounding thing. Alum, a mineral crystal, is also being sold in various sizes and shapes as 'deodorant stone' or 'deodorant crystal'. It is supposed to work by killing the bacteria.