Speaker 1: Welcome to brain stuff from how stuff works. Everyone, I'm Christian,
Speaker 1: and you you stink? I mean, don't take it personally.
Speaker 1: Pretty much everyone stinks, and pretty much everybody sweats too.
Speaker 1: There's nothing inherently wrong with these natural body processes. But
Speaker 1: in modern society we don't want to be at the
Speaker 1: whim of evolution. Who wants to spend all summer covered
Speaker 1: in sweat stains or show up at a job interview
Speaker 1: looking like you ran two miles to get there. Sweat
Speaker 1: can affect the way other people view you. A study
Speaker 1: conducted by the International hyper Hydrosis Society explored the social
Speaker 1: stigma of sweat, with sixty six percent of respondents claiming
Speaker 1: 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. Pretty
Speaker 1: 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 ecrine 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 ap acrine glands, on the other hand,
Speaker 1: those 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 aluminium 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 ecrene 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, antiperspirance aren't perfect. Some studies have claimed a
Speaker 1: link between breast cancer and antiperspirance, although for now that
Speaker 1: link remains inconclusive. There's another concern to people without fully
Speaker 1: functioning kidneys should be wary of using antiperspirant. In the US,
Speaker 1: the Food and Drug Administration requires a warning label on
Speaker 1: all antiperspirants, stating that people with kidney disease should consult
Speaker 1: a doctor before using them. If you're not comfortable using antiperspirant,
Speaker 1: then hey, no worries, Just go for an aluminum free deodorant.
Speaker 1: It won't stop the sweat, but it will knock out
Speaker 1: that odor. Check out the brainstuff channel on YouTube, and
Speaker 1: for more on this and thousands of other topics, visit
Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com.