Sweating and body odour – aka B.O
As kids, our bodies usally smell good. During puberty, people may start sweating under their arms more, and some of them will to smell. We call sweating ‘perspiration’ and those funky smells ‘body odour’.
The reason for this change comes from testosterone (T). When T in the blood reaches the skin, those skin cells (called “sebaceous glands”) mature and (just like the oil that causes pimples) they produce body odour and sweat.
If your body doesn’t have much T or cannot react to T, your skin cells will likely not make much BO (body odour) or sweat.- If your body can react to T and has a lot of it, your skin cells may mature and make body odour and sweat.
- If your body can fully react to T and has a lot of it, your skin cells will probably mature and make body odour and sweat.
If you do have body odour or sweat, showering and washing daily, and an antiperspirant deodorant are both easy ways to take care of it. It is a normal body function and nothing to worry about, but it does mean learning to take more care of yourself.