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Body odor is not just bad for you; it creates an extremely awkward situation for people as well. While deodorant is often the go-to for most people, the home remedies for reducing body odor does work better.
Deodorant is not just harmful for your body but the environment as well. This is the reason why it is important that you focus on opting for the natural ways to find better recluse and relief from the condition of bad body odor.
In here, we are going to be sharing some of the ways to get rid of body odor with things that are lying around in your home.
What Causes Body Odor?
When it comes down to the causes behind the body odor, the possibilities are quite extensive. It is completely on you to find what the cause is for you and then proceed along accordingly.
It could be because of excessive sweating or even because of the excess buildup of bacteria around the underarms and the area surrounding. This itself is often what causes majority of the problems altogether.
For the most part, it is very important that you focus on everything around, especially when it comes down to the body odor. If you are someone who doesn’t focus much on the hygiene, it is time to bring forth changes.
Some of the common causes of body odor include:
- Excessive sweating
- Excess buildup of bacteria
- Lack of personal hygiene
- Hot and humid climatic conditions
How to Get Rid of Body Odor?
Coming round to the ways to combat body odor, the possibilities are quite extensive. The only thing that you need to do is know what works for you and what doesn’t. This itself does help solve more than half of the problems.
To help you with the home remedies for reducing body odor, we have listed around some of the best possible options that you can look through.
It is true that prevention is always better than cure but if you are already struggling with the body odor, we do have some important insights that can come in handy to mitigate the situation better.
Let us take a look at some of the best ways, shall we?
1. Practice Better Personal Hygiene
As we did mention before, practicing personal hygiene is a need above anything else. If you are personally struggling to control body odor, the same could very well be because of the lack of personal hygiene.
The very first step to getting rid of it is by keeping yourself squeaky clean. This isn’t something very hard and is a necessity for your overall well being above anything else.
Use antibacterial soaps if you tend to have the habit of sweating excessively because that makes it up for a breeding ground for the bacteria.
2. Coconut oil
The main reason why coconut oil is a good option for treating the body odor is because of its presence of lauric acid in it.
The same does impose effective antibacterial properties (R) which come in handy for getting rid of the excessive bacterial growth and tackles the smell accordingly.
What to do?
- Take some coconut oil on your palm
- Rub the same on the area that you sweat the most
- Wait till it has seeped into the skin
- Take a shower and towel dry your body
How often?
- Every day
3. Apple cider vinegar
Apple cider vinegar is yet another one of the best natural ways to remove bad odor from the body. It has potent astringent and antimicrobial properties (R) which reduce the bacterial growth and ensure the maximum impact in reducing the sweat production too.
Make sure that you don’t directly apply if you have sensitive skin. Patch test first and if there is no reaction on your skin, then apply it on the areas that you sweat the maximum.
What to do?
- Start by patch testing it
- Once it’s okay, take some apple cider vinegar on a cotton pad
- Apply the same on the sweat prone areas
- Leave it on for some time
- Rinse off the excess with some water
How often?
- Once every day
4. Baking soda and corn starch
The combination of baking soda and corn starch is yet another one of the ways to prevent body odor. It has been found effective for feet odor too but does wonder for the rest of the body too.
The baking soda and cornstarch both has neutralizing as well as absorbing properties which has been found to come in handy to get rid of the foul body odor that you have been struggling with.
What to do?
- Mix equal parts of baking soda and cornstarch in a bowl
- Add some water to make a paste
- Apply the paste on the underarms and areas you sweat mostly
- Rinse off under the shower
- Alternatively, you can use the dry mixture of baking soda and cornstarch as a powder and apply it on the underarms
How often?
- Once every day
5. Maintain a healthy diet
You would be surprised but one of the best ways of getting rid of body odor is by eating a healthy and balanced diet. There are several categories of food which contribute to making your body smell worse because of the extended digestion process they take.
On the contrary, eating a healthy, light and balanced diet ensures to keep your metabolism in check which comes in handy to keep the bad odor in check.
Even a conducted study (R) has reported that excess consumption of red meat has been associated with bad body odor. So, keep those in check if you don’t want to smell like garbage.
6. Aspirin
Yet another one of the home remedies for reducing body odor that works is aspirin or even cream of tartar. Both of them have similar modes of action, so you can use anything that’s available for you.
Aspirin contains salicylic acid which regulated the sweating and even gets rid of any kind of unnecessary bacterial growth and even helps balance the pH which could often cause the bad odor.
What to do?
- Crush some aspirin tablets in a mortar and pestle
- Add some water or some cream of tartar to it
- Mix everything to make a smooth paste
- Apply on the underarms
- Leave it on till it dries
- Rinse under water
How often?
- 1-2 times daily
7. Tea tree oil
Yet another one of the best ways to get rid of body odor is by using tea tree oil. The primary reason why this works is because of the combination of the antiseptic and antibacterial (R) properties it has.
It helps get rid of the bacterial growth and even helps get rid of the other causes behind the bad odor that could be affecting the condition.
What to do?
- Mix a few drops of the tea tree oil with some coconut oil
- Apply the mixture on the underarms
- Leave it on and let it steep into the skin
- Rinse it off after an hour or two
How often?
- Once everyday
8. Use an Antibacterial Soap
If you have been looking for the best ways to get rid of body odor, using an antibacterial soap does wonder for your skin.
For those who have a bad odor because of the excess bacterial growth, this is actually an amazing way to handle the situation. Just make sure that you get the organic one as well because even that helps keep your skin soft and supple.
9. Lemon and Baking soda
The combination of lemon and baking soda does wonders for your body odors.
Both lemon and baking soda helps in neutralizing the pH which helps get rid of the excess growth of the bacteria on the underarms. If you want to get rid of the smell, the application of this can definitely help out a lot.
It kills the excess bacterial growth, prevents excessive sweating and even manages to spruce up your natural body scent which further manages things well.
What to do?
- Cut a lemon in half and squeeze the juice out
- In a bowl, add 1 tbsp of baking soda and add the lime juice
- Mix till everything is combined to a smooth paste
- Apply it on the underarms
- Leave it on for a 20 minutes
- Once dry, rinse it off completely with some water
How often?
- Every other day
10. Witch Hazel
Yet another one of the best home remedies for reducing body odor is witch hazel. The primary reason why this works is because of its astringent properties.
The main reason why this helps is because of the mild astringent properties along with the antiseptic properties which help manage the smell and even prevents excess body odor.
If you have been struggling to get rid of the smell, the best way to overcome that is by applying witch hazel on the areas.
What to do?
- Take some witch hazel onto a cotton pad
- Dab the same on the underarms and leave it on
- If required, store the witch hazel in a spray bottle and use it as a toner for your underarms
How often?
- 1-2 times daily
11. Exfoliation
Much like your rest of the body, even your underarms need time to time exfoliation to get rid of the excess dead and dry skin cells.
If you don’t do that, chances are that the same will end up affecting the pH around that area and even pose a problem for your body odor. The best way to get rid of the same is by ensuring that you use some kind of exfoliator present in your home.
If that isn’t available, you can simple use some coarse sugar and almond powder to make your own exfoliating mask.
12. Drying properly
If you are taking a shower and not drying yourself up properly, chances are that the same can end up causing issues for your underarms. This is the reason why it is best suggested that you use a towel to completely dry yourself up without any issues.
The moist and damp body is one of the primary breeding ground for the bacteria, making your body smell bad and very disgusting.
For those who have issues with drying their body, you can simply stand in front of a fan and dry yourself up first before wearing the clothes.
13. Lavender Oil
The application and usage of lavender oil is not just good enough to bring you to sleep but also does help in getting rid of body odor. In addition to the amazing smell it has, lavender also imposes mild antiseptic properties which get rid of the excess bacterial growth in the underarms too.
If possible, you can mix the oil with some cornstarch and then get rid of the same effectively for better management of the smell.
What to do?
- Start by taking 1 tbsp of cornstarch
- To that, add a few drops of lavender oil
- Mix everything well
- Apply the mixture on the underarms like a powder
- Leave it on
How often?
- Every day before leaving home
14. Rubbing alcohol
If you ask me, one of the best ways to get rid of body odor is with rubbing alcohol. The main reason is because of the astringent properties that it has.
Not just that, the rubbing alcohol also does help in opening up the closed pores and gets rid of the trapped perspiration that could be causing the bad smell in the first place.
What to do?
- In a bowl, add 1 tbsp of rubbing alcohol
- To that, add some water and mix it through
- Once done, take some cotton pad and use that to dab on the underarms
- Leave it on for some time
- Rinse off with some water after that
How often?
- Once daily
15. Hydration is the key
The excess buildup of toxins in the body is often one of the reasons why the body odor happens. If you do want to get rid of the bad odor and don’t want to get embarrassed, the best way to do so is by drinking more water.
It is best suggested that you do focus on getting rid of the habit of not drinking water from time to time. Make sure that you are drinking at least 8 glasses of water every day.
This regulates the process of perspiration effectively and prevents any kind of unnecessary problems associated with the bad odor.
16. Rosewater
Rosewater is yet another one of the best home remedies for reducing body odor that you didn’t have much idea about.
It is a natural antibacterial agent which gets rid of the excess bacteria buildup and even helps in restoring a fresh scent which mitigates the unnecessary body odor.
If you want better results, mix a few drops of tea tree oil with the rose water and then use that for your underarms because it does help out a lot.
What to do?
- Mix a few drops of tea tree oil to a spray bottle of rose water
- Spray the liquid on your underarms and let it dry
- Once dried, you can get on with your normal work
How often?
- Twice daily
17. Green tea
The combination of the antioxidants with the tannic acid in the green tea has been found to have beneficial impacts in getting rid of the unnecessary smell and the bacterial growth that often causes the body odor.
For the green tea, it also helps in keeping the area dry which ensures to help you around even further. If you don’t want the same to end up affecting your body, just sip on a cup of green tea from time to time.
This is more than enough to keep your system going well. The faster you get rid of the toxins, the easier it becomes for you to handle around the problems of the bad body odor easily.
If you have been looking for the home remedies for reducing body odor, we hope these 17 come in handy for you. Make sure that you test out the ones that you think would work for you and avoid the ones that you know your body won’t handle well.
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