Deodorants & Antiperspirants
Success is a great deodorant - Elizabeth Taylor
image by: Bobbi Raffin
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How dangerous is your deodorant?
Should we worry about the latest news that deodorant kills off natural bacteria under our arms? Or should our greater concern be that everyone else will ditch their deodorants before us? As if rush hour on public transport wasn’t punishment enough. Caution is key here.
The fuss about deodorants is based on a new study that recruited just 18 people for “armpit community sampling”. The researchers analysed the normal bacteria growing on the armpit skin of three groups of men and women. The group that regularly used antiperspirants (deodorants that contain aluminium products to reduce sweat) had fewer bacteria in their armpits. People who usually used them but stopped for a few days developed…
Resources
The Final Word on Whether Antiperspirant Is Safe
Fear-mongering persists despite a lack of evidence. MM
Should I Stop Using Antiperspirant?
Antiperspirant doesn’t prevent you from sweating altogether — it reduces sweat by 20 to 30 percent depending on the strength — and even if our bodies absorb a very small amount of aluminum from antiperspirants, there’s no scientific evidence that it increases breast-cancer risk, says Harold J. Burstein, M.D., Ph.D., a senior physician of breast oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Antiperspirants, Deodorants Change Your Armpit Microbiome
But it’s still not clear what that means for health.
Antiperspirants/Deodorants and Breast Cancer
Because underarm antiperspirants or deodorants are applied near the breast and contain potentially harmful ingredients, several scientists and others have suggested a possible connection between their use and breast cancer. However, no scientific evidence links the use of these products to the development of breast cancer.
Are Antiperspirants Bad for Me?
While deodorant tackles body odor, antiperspirant prevents sweat by blocking the ducts that release it with the antiperspirant powerhouse, aluminum. (Disclaimer: We do not advise wrapping your pits up like they’re leftovers.)
Is Antiperspirant Deodorant Bad For You Or Is It Just An Age-Old Myth?
The myth out there is that putting aluminum on your skin so close to your breasts could increase the risk of breast cancer, and that aluminum can also cause Alzheimer's. In reality, the aluminum actually doesn't enter your blood stream. Your skin acts as a barrier and keeps any chemicals from entering your body.
Is Deodorant Harmful for Your Health?
You’ve probably heard the rumors that certain chemicals in deodorants and antiperspirants could lead to breast cancer, kidney diseases or allergies. But is it truth or speculation?
Should I Stop Using Antiperspirant?
Back when chain emails were a thing, there was a pretty scary one circulating that claimed antiperspirant was a leading cause of breast cancer.
Sweating the Effects of Antiperspirants
Sweat glands do have an important role in eliminating undesirable substances from the body, but blocking “a few sweat glands under the armpit does not have a significant impact on the overall excretion of sweat,” said Dr. Hooman Khorasani, an assistant professor of dermatology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Other organs are involved in eliminating wastes as well, he said.
The effect of habitual and experimental antiperspirant and deodorant product use on the armpit microbiome
Collectively these results suggest a strong effect of product use on the bacterial composition of armpits. Although stopping the use of deodorant and antiperspirant similarly favors presence of Staphylococcaceae over Corynebacterium, their differential modes of action exert strikingly different effects on the richness of other bacteria living in armpit communities.
How dangerous is your deodorant?
A new study shows that antiperspirants can kill off good bacteria in your armpit – but the truth is, we don’t need to can them quite yet.
8 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Deodorant
Sweat isn’t inherently stinky. In fact, it’s nearly odorless. The stench comes from bacteria that break down one of two types of sweat on your skin. Deodorant contains some antibacterial power to stop the stink before it starts, while antiperspirants deal with sweat directly.
Safe Deodorant Guide
Let me start with the bad news: no natural deodorant is going to work like Secret or any conventional antiperspirant you may be used to using. That said, the longer I’ve used natural deodorant, the better it works, and I actually seem to sweat less (a lot of you say this is the same for you).
The 4 Best Natural Deodorants: Hippie No More
With improved formulas and chic packaging, natural deodorant is a blooming and booming category. We tested 11 to find the four best.
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