I never had BO growing up… even when I was dancing (6 hours of sweaty work) I could go without deoderant and still not smell bad. The “sniff test” didn’t work to see if a shirt was dirty… I could wear it a few times and still just smell laundry soap.
Then I got pregnant.
My whole body chemistry changed.
And now I stink. I can take a shower, scrub really well with soap (Ivory) get out and put on deoderant (I’ve tried small amounts and mass quantities) and 10 minutes later I can already smell it in my underarms. That particular smell that is so unique to BO. After several hours, it gets really bad.
I don’t eat a lot of garlic or onions… I don’t know what other foods can cause this… but I don’t eat anything regularly enough to explain the constant presense of body odor.
I don’t know if Ivory is a deodorant soap or not but you might try one of those. Maybe switch deodorants…keep your house nice and cool, wear cotton, give yourself a nice dash of baby powder under the pits after you put on deodorant.
Also, sometimes it is in the clothes. You might want to try some new t-shirts or something.
If none of that is working for you, I’d suggest visiting a physician who might be able to help you out.
Mitchums is great. You can also get near-prescription strength deodorant from the chemist. Also the “natural” crystals - the alum ones - are v v strong. So strong they can make your underarms totally dry, red and itchy though.
Other things you might try are using some essential oils. People in this region have traditionally used oil-based perfumes as deodorants, (a) because they’re alcohol free so OK for muslims, and (b) because they are very strong and effective, even in burning heat and humidity. So maybe an oil perfume would work to mask odour for you? Many essential oils are also anti-bacterial, with calming effects.
However: there could be a psychological component to your odour. Ie the fear/stress of potentially smelling is making you nervous enough to emit more sweat. I read somewhere that heat-sweat and stress/fear/nerves-sweat have some different chemical make-up, and the latter is more smelly.
My hubby had a similar problem while receiving cortizone shots–the steroid made him smell particularly funky.
He ended up resorting to using alcohol on his armpits, which did indeed help, but only for a small amount of time. Rather than becoming stinky in about 2 hours, it would take 5-6.
My only other suggestion is to experiment–try different soaps and deodorants. For years, all I used was Lady Speed Stick. Then my body chemistry changed somehow and it no longer worked for me, so I’ve been a Secret gal ever since.
I don’t want to cover the odor with another smell. I don’t (won’t) wear perfume and I only wear the tiniest bit of oil on those rare occassions when I actually want to smell like something. In general though, I intensely dislike smelling like something. I hate people who smell like perfume or aftershave or wahtever. Gross. Besides, anything strong enough to mask pit-funk is way too strong to be bearable by other people.
This is the same reason I don’t want to use a deoderant soap… I don’t want to smell like something.
I already keep the house so cold that my mom wraps up in a blanket when she visits (in summer) in addition I always have a fan on. I don’t think it’s sweat because I can stinkwhen I’m ice cold. Heck sometimes I stink coming out of the shower, even after scrubbing (SCRUBBING) myself clean. It’s sort of like skunk funk… you can wash and wash but the smell is still there.
I’ll try the alcohol thing… and I used to have one of those crystal things ages ago… I should pick up another one and give it a try…
I once worked with woman who stank. She was a very clean person but just had horrendous B.O. that wouldn’t go away. Her lab coats stank even after being laundered. She eventually had some kind of arm-pit surgery. I’m thinking they removed some sweat glands??? Anyhow, it worked wonders and she was yippy skippy with the results. So if it’s really bad you might want to check into this.
What do you think is causing the smell? If you’re showered up and clean, it’s gotta be something coming from your skin, I’d think. Hmm…I’m going to reiterate my suggestion to see a physician on this. I hope it helps!
Very high powered hot showers will blast away the armpit funk until about 3 PM but your going to have to ditch the clothes you’re already stunk up as they are beyond salvaging and will simply re-stink with very little encouragement.
Have you tried removing meat from your diet? Also it might not be hormonal, you might simply have an infection of some kind. Have you been feeling especially run down since this BO scenario began?
get “certain dri” its available at cvs or other drugstores i think its the most powerful antiperspirant you can buy without a prescription plus its non scented
Your body excretes toxins out the pores that are located under your arms and behind your knees. Some of the lymphatics in your boobs lead to you armpits. Since your musk didn’t show up until after your pregnancy, maybe you have cysts in your boobs, caused by clogged up mammary glands. This would certainly explain your new found stank. It’s worth looking into. Feel any lumps? Get it checked out! PS IANAD.
