So firstly, I don’t sweat a lot to begin with. I’ll go for a run and I’ll be at a mile before I feel sweat beading up. I’ll get a little clammy throughout the day, but rarely have whole body sweats. As a result, I have very low body odor. If I don’t shower, it’ll take several days before my significant other will notice.
But I don’t wear deoderant or antiperspirant. If I do, then its like the rest of my body decides it needs to sweat. Anyone else out there with this experience?
Not all deodorants and antiperspirants are created equal. There are plenty of different compositions and active chemicals used for different purposes that get lumped into the same category. I would also find a neutral third party to judge your stinkyness, since significant others and ourselves are notoriously bad judges of smell. We get accustomed and even consider pleasant things that others would consider rank and disgusting. Also take into consideration that bad body odor is categorically not caused by the sweat itself but by bacteria eating a component that is particularly concentrated in armpit’s sweat. Those people that don’t sweat much or don’t have the genes for extreme body odor, they do smell. Just not stinky like the rest of us, just a general smell similar to how baby skinfolds get smelly but not stinky, but still pretty obvious that they need a wash.