You’ve probably been hearing a great deal about “whole-body deodorant” as of late.

As a dermatologist, I am thrilled that collectively we have “come out of the dark” about body odor and we all know that it’s not just our underarms that can catch us off guard with moments of olfactory unpleasantness. But, do you really need to put deodorant on your whole body? No. There are smelly bits for sure and there are places on our skin that almost never get your nose’s disapproval. Think about it, when was the last time your elbow or knee smelled bad? 

Did you know that you have 7 places where body odor is most likely to happen?

All of the above spots have these things in common:

• Do not get adequate airflow during the day
• Are skin folds
• Retain moisture all day
• Are typically covered with layers of clothes or socks and shoes all day

Next, what happens is yeast and bacteria (the intruders) can gain access to the skin as the barrier function is compromised (open door) to the otherwise healthy happy skin surface.

Notify your doctor if you have a noticeable change in your body odor

What you can do:

• Make sure your skin is dry right out of the shower by patting dry thoroughly with a clean dry towel and waiting to dress until skin is no longer damp
• Consider air drying your skin with a fan or a hair dryer on the cool setting, to air out places where moisture gets trapped
• Avoid traditional soap which has a pH around 9 and can throw off the skin’s acidity of around a pH of 5.5 which leads to flourishing of odor-causing bacteria
• Avoid perfumes applied directly on the skin especially those which are alcohol based as these can dry out the skin, altering the skin’s natural barrier function and lead to issues like body odor. Also added fragrances while intended to mask odor, can cause something known as contact allergies, where the skin develops a rash and/or itching.
• Change out of damp clothes whenever possible and choose wicking fabric and loose fitting clothing especially in hot environment
• Choose Surface Deep Anti-Odorant Products
• Do not over clean, aggressively scrub or overuse antibacterial washes as these can all alter skin barrier and actually cause body odor when the pH balance and microbiome is thrown off.
• Some foods may contribute to body odor see list*

*An incomplete list of foods that may cause some people to have changes or worsening of body odor. This does not mean you cannot eat these foods, some of them offer excellent health benefits,  but you may notice stinky skin more readily with large consumption of one or more of these:

• Alcohol
• Asparagus
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Garlic
• Onion
• Red Meat
• Spices such as cumin, curry and others