Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works hy brain Stuff.
Speaker 1: Lauren voc Obam Here, I've got a classic brain Stuff
Speaker 1: episode for you today, How do anti purse Prince Work?
Speaker 1: I wrote this one in the way back and it
Speaker 1: was performed by our previous host, Christian Saker. Here we go, everyone,
Speaker 1: I'm Christian and you you stink? I mean, don't take
Speaker 1: it personally. Pretty much everyone stinks, and pretty much everybody
Speaker 1: sweats too. There's nothing inherently wrong with these natural body processes,
Speaker 1: but in modern society we don't want to be at
Speaker 1: the whim of evolution. Who wants to spend all summer
Speaker 1: covered in sweat stains or show up at a job
Speaker 1: interview looking like you ran two miles to get there.
Speaker 1: Sweat can affect the way other people view you. A
Speaker 1: study conducted by the International hyper Hydrosis Society explored the
Speaker 1: social stigma of sweat, with sixty six percent of respondents
Speaker 1: claiming that visible sweat made them think a person was nervous,
Speaker 1: while believed those showing excessive sweat to be overweight. If
Speaker 1: you want to avoid excessive sweating, or if you're a
Speaker 1: naturally heavy sweater, then you probably need an antiperspirant it's
Speaker 1: pretty amazing stuff. You just take a quick roll and boom,
Speaker 1: your sweat problem is salved. But what is this stuff
Speaker 1: and how does it actually work well? First, we have
Speaker 1: to make a distinction between deodorant and antiperspirant. Deodorant targets
Speaker 1: bacteria under your armpits, making the skin. They're too salty
Speaker 1: or acidic to support bacteria responsible for your body odor.
Speaker 1: Antiperspirants can cut down on body odor two, but they're
Speaker 1: primarily made to keep you from sweating. You have two
Speaker 1: types of sweat glands all over your skin, and they're
Speaker 1: most concentrated in your under arms. The ekrene glands are
Speaker 1: the most numerous. They kick in to cool you off
Speaker 1: when you're hot. So when you're exposed to heat, physical exertion, stress,
Speaker 1: or nervousness, these sweat glands are stimulated. The cells secrete
Speaker 1: a fluid that travels from the coiled portion of the
Speaker 1: gland up through the straight duct and out onto the
Speaker 1: surface of our skin. These ecrine glands excrete, water, and salt,
Speaker 1: and for the record, have nothing to do with your
Speaker 1: body odor. The apocrine glands, on the other hand, those
Speaker 1: carry secretions of fats and proteins along with your sweat.
Speaker 1: Once this hits the exterior surface of your skin, those
Speaker 1: fats and proteins react with bacteria to create odors. Antiperspirants
Speaker 1: have an active ingredient that gives them sweat blocking power.
Speaker 1: Typically it's an aluminum based compound like aluminium chloride or
Speaker 1: aluminium chlorohydrate. When this ingredient gets into the duct leading
Speaker 1: to each sweat gland, the aluminium ions enter the cells
Speaker 1: lining the ecrine gland ducts. As the ions enter, water
Speaker 1: passes into the cells with them. As more water enters,
Speaker 1: the cells around the duct begin to swell. These cells
Speaker 1: can swell enough to squeeze the ducts closed. At that point,
Speaker 1: sweat can't get out and you're staying free for a while.
Speaker 1: Each cell can only draw in a certain amount of water,
Speaker 1: so eventually the concentrations of water outside and inside the
Speaker 1: cells reach equilibrium. When this happens, the water inside the
Speaker 1: cell begins to pass back out of the cell through osmosis,
Speaker 1: and the cells swelling goes down. This is why people
Speaker 1: have to reapply antiperspirant. An average over the counter antiperspirant
Speaker 1: might have an active ingredient concentration of fifteen. If you've
Speaker 1: got a real sweating problem. Doctors can prescribe much stronger
Speaker 1: products for you, but will you want to take them?
Speaker 1: You see, antiperspirants aren't perfect. Some studies have claimed a
Speaker 1: link between breast cancer and antipersper rents, although for now
Speaker 1: that link remains inconclusive. There's another concern to people without
Speaker 1: fully functioning kidneys should be wary of using antiperspirant. In
Speaker 1: the US, the Food and Drug Administration requires a warning
Speaker 1: label on all antiperspirants, stating that people with kidney disease
Speaker 1: should consult a doctor before using them. If you're not
Speaker 1: comfortable using antiperspirant, then hey, no worries, just go for
Speaker 1: an aluminum free deodorant. It won't stop the sweat, but
Speaker 1: it will knock out that odor. Today's episode was produced
Speaker 1: by Tyler Clang. If you miss Christian and want to
Speaker 1: hear more from him and check out his new podcast,
Speaker 1: super Context, available wherever you get your podcasts, and of
Speaker 1: course from lots of boy topics that are so fresh
Speaker 1: and so clean clean, visit our home planet, how Stuff
Speaker 1: Works dot com.