After my workout, I got in the car and discreetly sniffed my pits. There was no smell even though I haven’t used deodorant or regular soap for over a month. 

Sweating-but-not-smelling is a new thing for me; it results from a microbiome-focused experiment that I undertook during the quarantine. 

Microbiome – is a combination of all bacteria that live in and on your body. Most of them are beneficial for your health. But sometimes, things go out of whack, resulting in increased BO, dry skin, and even infections.

This was exactly my case. Before the pandemic, I could not go out without an antiperspirant. While conventional antiperspirants worked great, I was wary of the aluminum salts that they contain. However, natural deodorants didn’t work for me. At best, natural deodorants worked for a couple of hours, leaving me feeling embarrassed by the mid-day.  

While in quarantine, I read about a man who stopped using deodorants and soaps 15 years ago and doesn’t have a body odor any longer.  

This is because most hygiene products contain preservatives and antimicrobials that disrupt your natural skin balance. When this happens, bacteria responsible for BO might overgrow and cause a distressing amount of stench that no natural deodorant could manage.

However, if you stop messing with your skin, your skin microbiome rebalances itself back to its healthy state. As a result, you have fewer bacteria responsible for body odor, and your skin feels better. 

While quitting hygiene products cold turkey is a great free option, not everyone wants to go through this. Especially because there is no way to know how long it would take you to get the results. 

Instead, you can start using zerotaboos WASH that helps to achieve the same in just 3-4 showers. It contains mild amino-acid-based surfactants that don’t disrupt your skin mantle. WASH leaves behind prebiotics and postbiotics that support a healthy microbiome. There is no glycerin, phenoxyethanol, or other chemical preservatives that could negatively impact skin balance.

Once you rebalance your skin bacteria, you can easily switch to any natural deodorant or, in some cases, even go deodorant-free. Results may vary since we all have unique microbiomes.

Natural deodorants do work as long as they do not have to fight an overgrowth of BO-producing bacteria. So if you have been willing to ditch aluminum-based antiperspirants, now you can!

If going deodorant-free is not an option for you, try anti-odorant CREAM, which will make your sweat odorless. Cream has AHA and BHA among the ingredients. These are types of acids aimed to acidify the skin and gently exfoliate its top layer, which, unlike with natural deodorants, will not irritate your skin or make it darker. AHA/BHA antiodorant effectively reduces the skin pH on underarms, promoting beneficial bacteria and decreasing the amount of body odor-producing bacteria. You will notice less body odor in 10-12 days.