During summer as the temperatures rise, so too does the perspiration on your skin.
Sweating is an inevitability, and from the early days of Odorono deodorant, people have been worried about sweating, its effect on skin and its contribution to body odour.
Some will go as far as to go to a laser hair removal clinic to get rid of hair in patches where they sweat the most in order to reduce the amount they sweat or as part of a treatment for hyperhidrosis.
However, whilst a lot of people worry about looking and feeling sweaty, there is far less consensus on whether sweat is actually good or bad for your skin.
It is an essential bodily function for regulating body temperatures, but does sweating affect your skin’s appearance, and is that in a good or bad way?
What Is Sweat?
Sweat is a simple but vital bodily function where the body secretes water mixed with a few minerals, salt and fat from the up to 3m sweat glands all over our bodies. This fluid helps cool us down and creates a barrier from the sun.
However, there are actually two types of sweat glands that produce two slightly different types of sweat. Most sweat glands are eccrine glands, which appear pretty much everywhere on the body and are the most effective at cooling you down.
Apocrine glands, on the other hand, are the ones you find in the armpits, breasts, genitals and to a lesser degree the ear canal and eyelids, and are the ones most commonly blamed for causing body odour.
Does Sweat Cause Acne And Body Odour?
There are two main reasons why people do not like sweat, besides just not liking the feeling of dampness; sweat is blamed for body odour and breakouts of dermatitis.
In practice, neither are entirely caused by sweat, at least on its own.
Sweating helps to flush out impurities, dirt and bacteria, but if sweat is left to linger on the skin, it can cause skin irritations, which is a cause of rashes, dermatitis, acne and other skin conditions.
This is why it is so important to at least wash your face after an intense cardio workout.
As for body odour, this is also caused by bacteria lingering on the skin, which reacts to the sweat expelled by apocrine glands and causes that familiar smell that people worry about.
In other words, sweat is not the cause of skin irritation and smelly armpits, but its lingering on the skin can be, and a lot of people who remove the hairs around their apocrine glands
Is Sweating Good?
Sweating is good for its obvious purpose, but it also contributes to healthy, youthful-looking skin, to the point that immediately after an intense workout, some people enjoy a healthy, beautiful glow to their skin.
Despite being misblamed for causing dermatitis, building up a sweat purges your pores of dirt and dead skin cells that linger on your skin, and the salty fluid also forms a natural exfoliant, which is why a good workout can lead to an immediate youthful result.
It can also be good for helping deal with the effects of dry skin, which can often contribute to signs of ageing.
