For the upcoming summer months:

How to stay sweat free

"access denied"

can you summarize?

When Degree and AXE want to put their antiperspirants to the test, they round up a few dozen guys and stick 'em in the "hot room" in Trumbull, Connecticut. With its observation window and its stark plastic chairs, the place looks like an interrogation room. After [censored] up the temperature to 100 degrees, the men in lab coats kick back and watch the poor saps sweat for 80 minutes. But you don't have to be a scientist—or a sadist—to know that pit stains (what marketers call "sweat events") can strike under far more humane conditions. (Consider the monthly budget meeting or the office picnic.) The question is: What can you do to turn off the spigot? Here are some answers.


WHAT MAKES YOU SWEAT

When your temperature rises, your body starts shedding water to cool itself. But a body at 98.6 degrees can also sweat, in response to stress—even while you sleep, depending on how much you buy into that nightmare about the ex who keeps ringing your doorbell in the middle of the night. "It's a primitive part of our physiology," says Jay Gooch of Procter & Gamble.


WHAT MAKES YOU STINK

Human beings have two types of sweat glands: the eccrine, which can be found almost anywhere on the body, and the apocrine, which are confined mostly to the armpits and the groin. Eccrine glands secrete water and a trace of salt, which have almost no smell but do provide a nice, wet environment for skin bacteria. Apocrine glands spit out a thicker fluid of fats and proteins—otherwise known as an all-you-can-eat buffet for those bacteria. You start to smell like twice-worn athletic socks when the bacteria ingest that food and—more or less—poop.


HOW TO STOP IT

Deodorants: These conquer the smell, not the sweat. About 25 percent of men prefer this means of attack, according to Gooch. "Some guys think it's manly to sweat," he says. With antibacterials like alcohol or propylene glycol, deodorants inhibit unwanted guests—preventing them from making much of a stink. They also provide a cover-up fragrance. The scentless so-called natural deodorants (better known as "the crystal" or "the rock") often rely on an antibacterial mineral called alum. (If this approach still sounds overaggressive, try using an antibacterial soap, like Dial, in the shower.)

Antiperspirants: In addition to perfuming your pits and repelling bacteria, antiperspirants temporarily—and safely—gum up some of the waterworks. (Your armpits house only about 1 percent of your sweat glands. "You would never be plugging 100 percent of them," says Richard Korb, an antiperspirant expert with Unilever.) Most antiperspirants use aluminum salts such as aluminum chlorohydrate or aluminum zirconium tetrachlorohydrex gly, which can aggravate some guys' skin. If that's you, try switching to a product with a lower concentration of aluminum (it generally ranges from 8 to 20 percent). The figure is listed on the back label under active ingredients. Sprays, roll-ons, and wax sticks are all effective, but for guys with thick hair under their arms, the gellike stuff works best. Just resist the urge to sculpt.


ARMPIT MYTHS

It's unhealthy to block the sweat glands under your arms.
You perspire not to get rid of toxins but to regulate your body temperature, and you have more than 2 million sweat ducts from head to toe to help you do that. So the tiny fraction under your arms aren't crucial. They're concealed from the air—especially when you're trying to hide pit stains—which makes the area hard to chill via evaporation.
Fat guys sweat faster.
Guys like Jonah Hill get drenched after five minutes on the treadmill, right? Not true. The better your health, the sooner you start to sweat. When your body's in top form, it's primed to dissipate heat. When it's prone to lounging, it needs time to start the pumps.
The ingredients in antiperspirants are bad for you.
According to the National Cancer Institute, there's no proof that the aluminum salts used to block the sweat glands in your armpits cause breast cancer. They don't even get through your hide. But, along with the glycols used in certain deodorants and antiperspirants, they can irritate skin, causing temporary reddening, stinging, or swelling.

HOW TO AVOID LOSING YOUR SHIRT

At Work: When the first line of defense—your undershirt—fails you, bring on the underarm shields. The adhesive cotton absorbs sweat, so your colleagues don't see watermarks when you raise your arms—and your dry cleaner doesn't see your face as often. The thin beige pads are so discreet no one will know you're wearing them. Try: Garment Guards ($11 for five pairs), drugstore.com.

At Home: Those yellow half-moons beneath your T-shirt sleeves don't come from your antiperspirant: They're a by-product of the sebum and sweat in your armpits. When mixed with sweat, however, the synthetic wax in some antiperspirants can make the stains worse. Look for it on the ingredients list or change your plan of attack. According to Jay Gooch of Procter & Gamble, deodorants are a little less troublesome. Try: Kiss My Face Liquid Rock ($6), kissmyfacewebstore.com.

At the Gym: Synthetic T-shirts and workout clothes designed to wick sweat from the skin also tend to act like petri dishes—incubating odor-causing bacteria. Halt the invasion with a heavy-duty, battle-tested, antimicrobial laundry detergent—say, perhaps, one strong enough to take on the U.S. Olympic team? Try: WIN High Performance Sport Detergent ($22 for four), sportdetergent.com.

I personally like to sweat when I am working outdoors.

I sweat when I eat

this thread is about to expire, forget perspire!

good thing you're the "happy, old Republican"


::rolls eyes::

why is this thread expiring? did i miss something offensive?

"pre-mature expiration" if you ask me

<------- hasn't taken off his shirt, so not offensive yet

how's this

hmmm.... typical?

No, you didn't miss anything. It's cause I posted it. Even though there's nothing even 'questionable' in the article, the threat of being axed is implicit.

a little sweat never hurt anybody

OOOOOHHHHHHHHH. k. i thought i had blacked-out again.

I think y'all have built up enough sweat equity!

c'mon...don't sweat it!



<----- laffs at herself

^^^^ Sweatin' with the Oldies!

<<<---- laffs at herself.

<-------- full of blood, sweat and tears from the cooler....

My dad has never worn deodorant (or antiperspirant), and he never, ever stinks, and I've never noticed him in a sweaty shirt.

^^^^ stinky

::holds nose::

My mother is the same way. I wonder if it's a genetic thing. Some people have the stank gene and some don't??

Freak, you count the swipes??? Then yeah, you can join the OCD club right along with me. I must do 11 swipes of deodorant, 6 pumps of soap when washing my hands, exactly 2 paper towels when drying them, 6 bottles of water a day...

AG - this reminds me, while talking about sweat, it's also important to talk about the danger of not sweating. When the bear was on prednisone, she could not sweat and frequently overheated - VERY scary in the summer. If you're not sweating, get thee to H2O post-haste!

Just some warm weather advice from this moderator at BOL.

I avoid sweating by simply refraining from any and all physical activity. Of course, it is a bit of a workout to push the buttons on the microwave, so I make sure to leave the refrigerator door open to keep me from overheating.