Who wouldn’t want to smell nice and who would want to deal with those wet stains in the armpits that would almost always make you stink? In an attempt to battle body odor and also to get rid of sweaty stains, we resort to a plethora of products. We tend to use perfume, deodorant, cologne, soaps, flavored gels and antiperspirant among others. All these products are given different names for a reason. A perfume is not a deodorant, cologne is not an antiperspirant and talcum powder or any kind of cosmetic powder is none of the above. They are all different with specific purposes. In here, let us explore the difference between deodorant and antiperspirant.
Deodorant
Deodorant is a kind of perfume but in the form of liquid and gas combine that would get rid of your body odor and make you smell good. Antiperspirant is specifically designed to prevent sweating. Deodorant doesn’t prevent you from sweating. You would sweat, as naturally as you should, and yet you wouldn’t smell bad because the deodorant would work its magic. Antiperspirant doesn’t want to deal with your sweat and instead averts the primary cause of body odor.
Let us get into the details. When you sweat, your body loses water through the pores in the skin. This is a natural way for the body to cool down. This water which will also include salt from the body doesn’t smell. Sweat is almost odorless. However, sweat would also carry fats and proteins from your body that would seep out of your skin and then there are the bacteria on your skin which react with the fats and proteins, water and salt. That causes the foul body odor. You would notice that a bit of sweat after you have just showered wouldn’t cause any body odor. That is because the skin is cleansed and you don’t have to worry about the bacteria working hand in glove with other bodily secretions to produce the odor.
Antiperspirant
Antiperspirant would simply block the pores in your skin and prevent sweating. In a way, this is an unnatural way to get rid of body odor. You should not avert sweating because it is a way for the body to get rid of many toxins and you would have better blood circulation, cleaner skin and also a cooler body temperature.
Deodorants may contain a lot of ingredients depending on the manufacturer. Materials like propylene glycol, water, sodium stearate, herbal or floral extracts and various other fragrant ingredients are used. An antiperspirant may use Aluminum Zirconium Trichlorohydrex, Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone and Tribehenin along with some fragrant ingredients to block the sweat and to induce a certain pleasant smell.
Antiperspirant will solve the sweaty armpits or sweat stain problem but it has a few health risks.
