TRACE I'm perspirin'' like a pig!
Do people even say that anymore?
JACKIE *gagging* No.
No they don't.
TRACE Salty.
JACKIE So gross.
TRACE Hey there sweaters, Trace and Jackie here
for DNews!
Welcome Jackie!
JACKIE Thanks!
Deodorant, the bane of the absent-minded person's existence.
How many times have you left the house and forgotten to put on deodorant?
All good?
Gross.
The antiperspirant-deodorant market topped 18 billion dollars last year.
That's a lot of pits.
Including yours.
But do you really know what you're slathering on your skin?
TRACE The first deodorant was patented in 1888,
with a goal to help uptight Victorians stop worrying about their body odor.
But the odor wasn't really their fault.
It was BACTERIA!.
Lemme back up though.
On your skin, you have between two and five million sweat glands; they come in two flavors:
eccrine and apocrine.
Sweat is mostly water, but not entirely. JACKIE
The eccrine glands excrete primarily H2O, but the apocrine glands (located on your scalp,
in your crotch, and under your arms) put out a thicker fluid with fatty acids, urea and
ammonia (protein byproducts).
TRACE Once the sweat is on your skin, bacteria go
to town on it, chomping and eating up all those proteins and pooping out stinky chemicals
like trans-3-methyl-2-hexenoic acid -- which is the main chemical that makes humans
stank.
Most animal funk is used to tell other animals different things.
For example dogs can be trained to smell low blood sugar in diabetics, people can tell
what you've eaten by your sweat, and chemosignals can reveal emotions, like if you're stressed,
or happy.
JACKIE But, at some point, we decided we wanted to
cover up the sweaty informational smell.
Even before deodorants as we know them, people would perfume or cologne up to cover their
distinctive odor!
TRACE The first deodorant, called Mum, is from the
late 19th century and it allegedly used zinc oxide -- a byproduct of zinc smelting to
control bacterial growth.
Fewer bacteria, less smell.
JACKIE Antiperspirants were also invented in the
early 1900s and used alcohol and aluminum chloride.
The alcohol would evaporate leaving behind Al-Cl-3, which, according to the American
Chemical Society, would stop up those eccrine glands, cutting sweat production.
TRACE But remember, it's the apocrine glands that
excrete the stinky, bacteria-buffet.
Which is why most products combine antiperspirant and deodorant.
JACKIE They plug the eccrine and keep the bacteria
off the apocrine!
But, like anything, there are consequences for messing with bacteria in our underarms.
TRACE Deodorants and antiperspirants control bacterial
populations.
Some contain the now-enemy-of-the-FDA: triclosan; an antibacterial agent that's helping cause
the rise of superbugs.
JACKIE Others contain preservatives called parabens,
which, if they get into your bloodstream through razor nicks or other open cuts, have possible
estrogen-like properties, and are connected to breast cancer tumors.
TRACE All-natural deodorants cover the little buggers
with essential oils, salts, or alum, but whether they work depends a more on the person, and
their situation.
JACKIE But, before you say, YOU FORGOT.
No.
Antiperspirants themselves do not cause breast cancer.
No.
Nope.
No.
TRACE A study of nearly 1600 people in the Journal
of the National Cancer Institute, found no evidence whatsoever of antiperspirant or deodorant
increasing the risk of breast cancer.
JACKIE What they can do is alter your microbiome
-- the bacteria that live on us all, sometimes helping us live healthier lives.
A study in PeerJ looked at the microbiome of a small number of people who used deodorants
and antiperspirants, and found people who used antiperspirants were altering their armpit
microbiome!
TRACE Once people stopped using antiperspirant or
deodorant, the number of staphylococcal bacteria skyrocketed!
JACKIE … In comparison to those who didn't use
any Anti-Ps or Dee-odes, I'm still working on that.
TRACE I don't know what to think about that.
What does that mean?
No idea.
The study was ridiculously tiny, but it does show daily hygiene can mess with bacteria
in unknown ways.
JACKIE The researchers said, quote "We have no idea
what effect, if any, this has on our skin and on our health.
Is it beneficial?
Is it detrimental?
We really don’t know at this point."
As you all like to say, more research is needed.
The thing is, you don't actually need deodorant.
Some people don't produce the chemical that bacteria eats to make smelly by-products!
And you'd never know if you're one of those people, unless you stop deodorizing.
TRACE Or if you have dry earwax.
JACKIE What?
TRACE Of the two percent of the human population
who don't have the gene for stinkiness, that same gene gives people "wet" earwax.
If you have dry, flaky earwax, you probably don't need deodorant.
JACKIE I have to go find a cotton swab.
Look, everyone wants to smell awesome, but
what about pheromones…
These incredible chemicals allegedly tell people all about you… through the power
of smell.
This is assuming humans can sense pheromones at all.
Have I incited enough excitement and doubt?
Click here to watch the video explaining it all.
TRACE Are you one of those two percent that don't need deodorant?
JACKIE Or do you just think you are?
Have you asked your best friend?
Let us know down in the comments make sure you subscribe
for more DNews and thanks for watching
Also, tell us your thoughts over on Twitter
or Facebook I'm @jackiekoppell and he's @tracedominguez .