Malodorous armpits

Ever wondered why armpits are smelly, even when using a luxurious and fabulous fragranced deodorant? 
 
The answer might be in your skin’s pH value. Sweat secreted by the glands under our armpits increases local skin’s pH value. This negatively influences it’s microflora, also called skin’s microbiome. A high and unhealthy pH value encourages certain odor-producing bacteria to flourish. Hence, a more alkaline (high) pH value due to (excessive) sweat, does cause smelly armpits or other malodour in other body areas. No fragrance can mask or does counteract this process effectively. That's why we can still suffer from smells armpits while using deodorant.

What you can do to balance pH and keep armpits dry
Opt for a skin pH friendly deodorant (~5) which reduces perspiration. With less sweat and by maintaining skin’s optimal pH balance, you will automatically reduce nasty bacterial activity.

Keep armpits clean
Regularly wash away the alkalising sweat and bad bacteria with their smelly by-products.

Some skin experts recommend using antibacterial soap. It will reduce all bacterial activity, good and bad. I would rather target only the unwanted bacterial activity with a more skin-flora friendly approach by using gentle cleansing products with a pH value ~ 5. This keeps good bacteria on the skin (we need them for balance) and discourages growth of overly active odor producing bacteria. Make sure that your armpits dry down properly before and after applying a thin layer of deodorant.

Shaving
Reserve shaving armpits or the use of other hair removal devices for night-time. Gently cleanse and dry your skin prior. Removing hair in the evening and postpone using a deodorant till the next morning will allow your skin to recover a few hours. Mild abrasive hair removal methods can cause micro-injuries to the skin barrier which makes our skin more prone to irritation. Anyway, most of us are less bothered by odor, or at least less aware while sleeping, and we depend more on our pH friendly deodorant to do a good job during day time.

​Use all skin care products with modesty, except sunscreen!

Hope you will enjoy a great summer without malodorous armpits.

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