There are endless hacks, tips and tricks for how to improve body odor circulating on social media, but are they actually helpful?
For instance, a recent video by beauty TikTok content creator @bambidoesbeauty recommends washing armpits with benzoyl peroxide cleanser, a powerful antibacterial gel that is sometimes prescribed to treat acne.
In the video, Bambi said: “I don’t know who needs to hear this, but the secret to getting rid of body odor isn’t deodorant,” claiming that the benzoyl peroxide hack would “change your life” by making sweat smell completely odorless.
However, Professor Gavin Thomas, a microbiologist at the University of York, England, told Newsweek that humans should smell—at least a little bit.
“Biologically, all humans will produce odor, derived from the microbial conversion of chemicals we secrete from our sweat glands into volatile chemicals,” he said.
In other words, there are microorganisms such as bacteria living on our skin and these convert our sweat into other chemicals that …