How Sweet is your Sweat?

by Let's Get Earthy August 6, 2020

Check out ‘Let’s Get Earthy’ How to get rid of pit stains video here:

OK, we get it that sweat is not a topic people discuss much around the family dinner table.

However, it is an important subject when we look at the overall health of ourselves and our families. Sweating is how our body cools itself. We sweat when we exercise, have a fever, or are anxious.

When your internal temperature rises, your sweat glands release water to the surface of our skin. As the sweat evaporates, it cools your skin and the blood beneath your skin.

Though we, and those close to us, might find it a malodorous irritation, nature is pretty keen to get us sweating. Here are some things you might not know...

1. Everyone has between 2 and 5 million sweat glands spread across our bodies. Women have more sweat glands than men, but men's sweat glands actually produce more sweat than women's.

2. Humans have 2 types of sweat glands. The eccrine glands are distributed over much of the body and are responsible for secreting the watery, brackish sweat most often triggered by excessive body temperature. The apocrine glands are restricted to the armpits and a few other areas of the body and produce an odourless, oily, opaque secretion which then gains its characteristic odour from bacterial decomposition.

3. You are not weird if you have sweaty feet! Eccrine glands open directly onto the surface of your skin, and occur in the highest numbers on the soles of our feet. Apocrine glands open into the hair follicle, leading to the surface of the skin.

4. Stress vs regular sweat. Regular sweat consists of water, salt and potassium, and helps cool the body down as it evaporates. Stress sweat is composed of fatty acids and proteins. Stress sweat doesn’t evaporate as quickly and can develop an odour when it combines with bacteria on the skin.

5. Detoxing is important so we don’t overload our organs with excessive waste products. In a 2016 study, heavy metals (and other chemicals) were found in the sweat and urine with a higher concentration in the sweat, leading to the conclusion that, along with urinating, sweating is a potential method for the elimination of heavy metals.*

6. Sweat itself is virtually odourless to humans. It is the rapid multiplication of bacteria and their breaking down of sweat into acids that eventually causes the unpleasant smell. According to the Urban Thesaurus the top five names for this are: B.O., Bobby Orange, Foist, BOdorant and Sweaty Betty - Nice!!!

7. Why furry friends like to sniff you! Body odour however has a unique smell, influenced by diet, gender, health and medication. It can be used to identify people, especially by dogs and other animals.

8. Most mammals don't have large numbers of sweat glands like humans do. Only primates (such as monkeys and apes) and horses have lots of sweat glands that allow them to sweat as much as we do to regulate their body temperature.

9. Sweat glands play a regenerative role in skin damage. Basically the Eccrine sweat glands and the hair follicles under a wound ‘stick together’ to form new skin - nature is awesome!

10. Deodorants are not antiperspirants, they do not prevent sweating. Their aim is to mask or neutralise the smell produced by sweat-eating bacteria, allowing the detox to happen.

No one likes to smell bad! We associate sweat (perspiration) with unpleasant body odour.

However, clearly we need to sweat, it is how our bodies are designed.

Aluminium-based antiperspirants work by blocking the sweat ducts, thereby reducing the amount of sweat that reaches the skin’s surface. Aluminium salts are soluble as long as the formulation is acidic (low pH). When they are applied to the skin and come in contact with sweat, the pH rises causing the aluminium salts to precipitate out and form a plug over the sweat glands. Sweat continues to be produced by the sweat gland but it just isn't able to reach the surface of the skin, and the intended detox and heat regulation doesn’t occur.

Most commercially available antiperspirants contain aluminium, and deodorants often have a host of other chemicals.

‘When you eat something, it’s broken down by your liver and digestive system,’ says Heather Patisaul, Ph.D., associate professor of biology at North Carolina State University. ‘But when you put something on your skin, it can enter your bloodstream without being metabolized.’

Over recent years, there’s been a lot of press about the dangers of toxic chemicals in our body products. We are careful not to ingest chemicals, and the same care should be taken for what we rub into our skin.

The good news is that we can achieve ‘smelling fresh’ naturally by controlling the bacteria that makes us stink. Your body and those around you will thank you for it!

With all this in mind, the Aunty Amy’s team wanted to do something positive for your pits! You asked for it, so we delivered a deodorant with 100% natural ingredients, and nothing else!

The hard workers:

Bentonite Clay: When switching to natural deodorant, the body goes through a transition stage. Basically, once you stop using aluminium and other blocking agents, which close and block your pores, your body goes into overdrive; releasing waste, sweating chemicals out, and yes - stinking up a storm. It’s not that your all-natural deodorant isn’t working; it’s that your body is, hard! Bentonite clay speeds up this process, drawing out odour-causing impurities including toxins, bacteria, dirt, and oil. Bentonite clay has been used for thousands of years to remove impurities on the skin, such as oils, and toxins from the body. It actually speeds up the detox process. Clever Clay!

Bicarbonate soda: Our balanced low bi-carb formula, combined with soothing Shea Butter, absorbs odours and is used to help eliminate the smell of sweat. If it works for stinky shoes...

Tea Tree, Juniper and Citrus Oils: As well as their refreshing smell, these oils possess antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and antifungal properties.

Clary Sage: Reduces hormonal and excessive sweating.

Calendula: Natures skin soother. Calendula flower petals hold anti-inflammatory properties and are used to improve skin hydration and firmness. A traditional remedy for skin issues like nappy rash, dermatitis and more, it is known for its antioxidant activity, helping to increase blood flow and oxygen to wounds, speeding the growth of new tissue.

Tapioca Flour: PH neutral and moisture absorbing. We use organic preservative free flour only.

Check out our exciting deodorants, including our fun candy scented range designed especially for your tweens. Click Here

*Source: Healthline

How Sweet is your Sweat?

Check out ‘Let’s Get Earthy’ How to get rid of pit stains video here:

The hard workers:

Further Reading

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