The accumulation of perspiration and bacteria causes body odor. Ordinary deodorant or plain old glycerin soaps usually work. But if you have an overactive body chemistry, you may need antibacterial soaps to knock out the bacteria that thrive on sweat.
Next to your body, your clothes are the worst offenders, particularly in warm weather. Do your laundry carefully, and try to stick to natural fabrics, such as cotton, which absorbs the sweat better than synthetics and allow it to evaporate more easily.
1 Watch what you eat
What you put in your body is almost as important as what you put on it. Some people with chronically strong body odor may love garlic, onions, curry, and other spicy dishes a little too much. Oils from these may linger for hours and produce offensive odors when your body sweats them out.
2 Use Deodorants and antiperspirants as temporary remedy
If you reach for commercial underarm deodorant products to fight body odor, use antiperspirants. Deodorants alone just mask the odor, without necessarily fighting the bacteria that cause it. Most commercial antiperspirants have deodorants in them, but they also reduce the amount of perspiration produced by the body.
3 Baking soda and Cornstarch
For those of you who aren’t happy with these products, there are still the old-fashioned methods that our grandparents found just as effective.
Try dusting yourself with a mixture of one part baking soda to two parts cornstarch following a bath. A light sprinkling under the arms and in the crotch area with baking soda itself is an effective deodorant.
4 Zinc Supplement
You can also take zinc supplements for persistent body odor. Nobody knows exactly how that works, but many people swear by it. Of course, the addition of any supplements such as zinc should be with a Doctor’s approval.