Your “aroma” is one of the things that can make or break you. If you’re average-looking, but you smell good, you’ll notice that women will come over and compliment you on how good you smell. If you’re blessed with good looks, but you smell like stale cheese, women will be turned off completely. There are some people who hop out the shower, but still have a bad odor only after a few hours. You may think you’re clean because you stepped out of the shower, but you’ll be surprised how much dirt is in your pores and hiding in the folds of your skin. The main places for your bacteria to collect and cause odor is in damp, warm places where there isn’t much air circulation. So your underarms, your mouth, your crotch, your feet, even under the breast (this is mostly for women and guys with “man boobs”). If you’re not confident with your smell, keep reading. If you’re confident, but still want take extra precautions, keep reading.
Bacteria is not only on the surface of the skin. It’s also in your pores. When you take a shower, you clean the surface of the skin with soap and water. If you use a wash cloth, you wipe the surface of the skin clean. This is why after you get out the shower, you smell fresh, but after hours of sweating, your deodorant may start to give up and you start to smell the onions you’ve been hiding under your arms. In order to get a good clean, you need to exfoliate the skin to get rid of the dead skin along with the bacteria sitting on the surface of your skin. You also need to clean the pores so your can get the bacteria hiding beneath the surface.
The advice you’re about to receive is not to weird you out. It’s only to help you. Here’s what you do:
- Take a shower as usual. Get a scrub brush or loofah to exfoliate the skin with soap and water. Not too hard, you’re not trying to break the skin and make yourself bleed. You’ll notice you’re seeing a bigger ring around the tub. Why? You’re getting a deeper clean. Do this all over your body.
- For your hard-to-reach places (genitals, the area between your legs and your scrotum, armpits, butt crack, etc), use a soft-bristle toothbrush. Just make sure it’s not the one you use for your mouth. Have a toothbrush specifically for this task. For places with looser skin, like the scrotum, gently pull the skin so the skin will stretch and tighten. Clean in a circular motion. If you’re uncircumcised, pull the skin back and clean the head of our penis. If you’re circumcised, you still want to clean the head of your penis. Clean the shaft too. Being that toilet paper doesn’t clean everything you want to clean your butt crack as well. Clean the surface. Do not stick the toothbrush into your butt hole. Whatever you see on the toothbrush is not your fault. You can only get what the toilet paper allows.
- Once you are thoroughly cleaned, dry your whole body with a towel. Get some cotton pads and 50% rubbing alcohol. Do not soak the cotton pad, but use enough so that the area you wipe will be getting cleaned. Wipe your genitals, under your arms, and wherever you have folds of skin that may be causing an odor (If you’re a little overweight and you have folds of skin in certain areas, clean those areas too). Do this daily. If your skin is burning, this is a sign that you may have a lot of bacteria build-up. The more you clean, the less it will burn, but it will have a cool sensation. If alcohol is too harsh, use an astringent called Witch Hazel. You can get this from Walmart or a local drug store.
- Once the alcohol is dry, spray some cologne or body spray in some of these areas. Make sure you spray the cologne or body spray under your armpits. Then apply your deodorant of choice. Lightly spay the underarms of your tee-shirt as well. You don’t want to overwhelm people with your cologne or body spray.
After doing this for a few days or a few weeks, you’ll notice that your deodorant may hold longer. After doing this for a few weeks to a few months, you may notice that even after sweating all day long, you’re not giving off a bad odor. If you are lounging around the house and haven’t showered in a few days, you’ll notice that you won’t have a strong odor. If your skin start to get dry from the alcohol, use olive oil or coconut oil to moisturize the skin. These oils are naturally anti-bacterial. When your skin is no longer dry, you can continue using the alcohol.
If you don’t smell good, it’s very hard to socialize with confidence. The purpose of this post was not to make fun of you if you do suffer from body odor, and it was not meant to creep you out talking about something personal like taking a shower. If you follow the advice, you’ll notice that your body is cleaner and the body odor is no longer a problem.
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