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in a smell Or better yet, picture this… you’re lugging your weary bones back home by bus and throughout your ride home are faced with the daily ordeal of being squished against hoards of others facing a similar plight. To get a clearer image, envision being one in a can of sardines, if you like. Now think what could possibly make this already unpleasant experience worse still… Say what? I hear you say? Well let me explain myself a bit better. In this day and age I think it’s safe to say that most of us would be aware of the term BO (or body odour). Although always associated as something repulsive or nasty, we must not forget the reality that BO is a natural, inevitable part of life, and more importantly, that it can be kept under control. These two vital factors are very often overlooked by most people. The first thing that needs to be understood is that BO should not be considered a social taboo. It should not be a matter that needs to be hushed up or swept under the carpet. It’s something that everyone, from housewives to teenagers, to fathers, to top-rung businessmen to manual workers need to deal with on a day to day basis. This phenomenon is an ideal example for cutting across all man-made barriers such as status and strata, as it can affect anyone coming from any walk of life. Let’s see… how can we learn a bit more about BO without getting too scientific or technical? Well, it’s an established fact that everybody sweats. Our bodies produce two kinds of sweat, namely eccrine and apocrine. Actually, neither of them have an odour. Eccrine is found all over our bodies as it helps to regulate our body temperature. Apocrine which is the main body odour culprit is usually found along our groin, underarm and foot areas. That well-known sweaty smell emanates when sweat from apocrine glands react with the bacteria on our skin. Logically, therefore, the problem of body odour can be tackled in one of two ways, or even both. One, by reducing the amount we sweat and two, by treating the bacteria that produce the odour. Some of us have bigger and more active apocrine glands than others and some of us simply aren’t as successful as others in getting rid of the bacteria on our skin, then is that the end of the world? No, of course not. It just means that you need to nip it in the bud by doing everything in your power to keep your BO problem under control. Another thing that you often think is that you tend to sweat only if you’re running around in the sun. This is not so. You could as easily sweat seated in an A/C room due to worry, tension or anxiety caused by work pressure or even emotional sweating just thinking about a big date in the night. So don’t become complaisant by assuming that by simply avoiding the sun you’ll have no BO troubles. Far from it actually. You too could easily be a victim of BO. Strange as this may seem, it has been scientifically proven that most people with bad BO are unaware of it. People are unaware about the problem, because their noses get used to the odour, just as your nose gets used to a perfume you are wearing after some time. The pity is that for the majority of us, we are all too aware of their embarrassing problem. But that does not mean that nothing can be doneabout the problem. So, gone are the days of being at the brunt of office jokes. Gone are the days of being shunned and ridiculed. There’s good news on the horizon... |
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