Unpleasant Body Odor: Natural Remedies

Heat, excessive sweating, wearing too thick clothes or socks that are not made of cotton, and excessive physical exertion — all of these can cause our body to smell bad.

The good news is that we have many natural remedies to remove unpleasant body odor. In the following we present some of them.

Unpleasant body odor: what are the causes and what regions can be affected?

Although the unpleasant odor can affect any part of the body, some regions are more vulnerable than others. These are the armpits, legs and genitals. The reason they are vulnerable to odor is the predilection of certain microorganisms for moisture.

When the three regions just listed begin to sweat, the temperature at their level rises. Then the microorganisms installed in them begin to reproduce. In this process, they emit gases that cause unpleasant odors.

The armpits and legs are regions where there is a particularly large number of sweat glands . The role of these glands is to eliminate water in the form of perspiration when we are hot or training.

In this way the body temperature should drop and avoid certain complications. This is why we sweat excessively when we have a fever.

Sweating plays a very important role: it removes toxins from the body.  In this natural process, small drops of water are discharged from the body through the pores. This facilitates the removal of harmful elements that have accumulated in the body.

The connection between sweating and unpleasant body odor

When we sweat, the smell of our body becomes unpleasant. As I explained before, you can’t avoid this process.

We sweat when it is hot outside or due to certain hormonal changes. Examples are those produced by menopause or certain phases of the menstrual cycle or those that occur during puberty.

Another time when we can sweat excessively is when we are overwhelmed by worries, stress or anxiety. And overweight is a possible cause of excessive sweating.

The situation can be aggravated by wearing low quality shoes, made of synthetic materials. They do not allow the feet to breathe. Such footwear prevents the evaporation of sweat accumulated on the feet. This creates an environment conducive to the multiplication of fungi and bacteria.

An equally bad habit is to wear socks that are not made of cotton, such as those made of lycra or spandex. This type of material cannot absorb perspiration, which is why our feet often emit an unpleasant odor.

Clothing choices and unpleasant odors

Other regions of the body can also become vulnerable to this problem if we only have clothes made of synthetic materials in the closet.

As already mentioned, the armpits and genitals are two of the most vulnerable regions. To avoid their unpleasant smell, we advise you to wear clothes made of cotton or made of other natural fibers.

Did you know that diet can also affect body odor? If we frequently consume refined sugar, fried foods and meat or other processed foods, our body will have to eliminate a much larger amount of toxins.

To avoid this problem, it is ideal to adopt a healthy diet, rich in meaty fruits and raw vegetables, whole grains, dried fruits, legumes and beans, but also to drink at least two liters (64 ounces) of water daily.

A natural solution to prevent or reduce unpleasant body odor is to improve your personal hygiene. If you already wash once a day, try, for example, to increase the number of daily showers to two during the summer.

Moreover, try to regularly wash the most vulnerable regions with soap — first with a neutral one, then with a fragrant one (if such a product does not irritate you).

Try not to apply spray or antiperspirant creams on the armpits as these products tend to close the pores in this region, which aggravates the unpleasant odor. Every time you apply antiperspirant, your pores become clogged, your armpits start to smell bad, you have to apply antiperspirant again and so on.

Home remedies for unpleasant odors

We advise you to opt for a natural deodorant or one prepared at home. You can prepare such a product yourself if you mix:

• 5 mint leaves
• 5 rosemary leaves
• 1 cup (250 ml or 8.5 ounces) of boiled water

Allow the mixture to cool, strain it, then pour it into a jar. Every day soak a stick of cotton wool in the mixture and apply it on the armpits and legs.

If you are away from home all day, another useful trick to avoid the unpleasant smell is to take some change of clothes with you. And certain essential oils (such as lavender, for example) can help prevent this problem.

Two very effective natural products to eliminate the unpleasant smell of the body are chlorophyll and green tea.

Chlorophyll supports detoxification of the body and elimination of toxins. You can buy it in the form of capsules from plafar, but a more natural option is to put a little wheat in the corner on a tray. Cut the sprouted shoots and squeeze them into a food processor to obtain a smoothie.

As for green tea, this drink is also a wonderful detoxifier, having the ability to raise our body temperature so that we can burn fat and eliminate excess toxins. Drink one or two cups of green tea every day.

If your armpits give off an unpleasant odor because you use too much deodorant, you can exfoliate the skin in this region using a solution of baking soda and lemon. Be careful, because by exposing your skin to sunlight, the acid in the lemon used to prepare the mixture can cause blemishes.

You can try mixing baking soda with water until you get a paste. Use this paste as an antiperspirant and do not hesitate to apply it even on your feet.