Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The Search Is On For The Best Antiperspirant Deodorant

By Alan Baker

Finding the best antiperspirant deodorant can be a big job for some of us because we all have our unique makeups, and what works for one person can fall flat for another. We live in a society where looking good in public goes hand in hand with smelling good, and being human; our bodies do not cooperate when it comes to being sweet smelling and daisy fresh all the time. So we have to compensate by finding a product that can stop us from sweating a lot, and keep our inherent bodily odors down to a minimum.

Because we demand the best in products to do the most effective job possible, scientists have been working for years to come up with the best antiperspirant deodorant to fill that demand and as a result have flooded the market with creams, gels, sprays, roll ons in all manner of containers to satisfy our needs. The deodorants are the most needed part of the equation, because if you can't effectively control all the sweat that is pouring off you; you can, with a good deodorant, control the growth of the bacteria on the skin that are feeding on the sweat and creating the odors that come out from under your armpits. The way that is done is simply a chemistry trick----the bacteria are designed to live and breed in a certain environment, and when that environment is altered, they die. So, the altering in this case, is of the pH of your skin by the deodorant, which when applied to the skin, creates an acidic environment (a lower pH) and the bacteria are done in. The sweat when produced from the body on to the skin's surface is clear and odorless, it is the bacteria feeding on it that produces the smell----so get rid of the bacteria with a lowered pH and the smell is gone. There are natural products that are crystal sticks used as deodorants because they work in a similar manner against the bacteria, only this time, the crystal makes the skin salty and interferes with the bacteria's development.

Let's take a look at the action of the antiperspirants. Their modus operandi is quite different from that of the deodorants in the fact that they are mostly made up of aluminum salts and their action is to plug the pores of the skin and reduce the amount of sweat that is produced on to the skin's surface. Because the sweat is needed for the bacteria to feed on to produce the odor, if you reduce the sweat amount and then double whammy the bacteria by changing the pH with the deodorant, then you have effectively solved the problem. The best antiperspirant deodorants do this with aplomb. One of the biggest challenges the scientists had when developing these products was to not only have them work for us in the manner that we needed, but also have them not make us sick or kill us in the process.

As we all know, life is not fair, and there are those of us who sweat much more than others and in consequence stink more than others to the point of being offensive to the average person; so for these people, the over the counter products usually do not work very well. For them to find the best antiperspirant deodorant that will solve their dilemma, they must turn to a physician to prescribe something much stronger for them to do the trick. Two of the products most often prescribed are called Odaban and DrySol. If other avenues are needed to help the sweating odoriferous sufferer, then sometimes surgery is recommended. The surgery involves separating the nerves that control the sweat glands from the spinal column and in this way incapacitating them so the sweating is greatly reduced. One other method that has come into vogue recently is Botox injections in the skin of the underarms so that the action of the sweat glands is stopped by paralyzing the sweat glands temporarily.

As we all participate in this lifelong search to find the best antiperspirant deodorant, we also are met with some real health concerns when it comes to using products on the skin that actually contain aluminum, which has been implicated in the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Also, if we are plugging up pores right and left, and stopping the natural course of action of allowing the sweat to flow; are we also trapping toxins in our bodies that would cause breast cancer. After many years of research, and much investigation into these concerns, the answer to both is a resounding "no". So you can rest easy, that these products are not incriminated in either of these scenarios.

So the search for the best antiperspirant deodorant on the market today comes down to this; which one out of the many that are on the market shelves is the best and will do its job the most effectively. The final kudos go to Dove Antiperspirant Deodorant which is tied in first place with Secret Platinum Protection and the two of them are followed by Secret Clinical Strength Antiperspirant Deodorant. The top three contenders all do the job well of keeping sweat down to a minimum so you feel dry most of the time, and they control odor very well also.

Life for all of us can be challenging even at the best of times, and the last thing you need to be worrying about is having the most adequate sweat and odor protection during your busy days. Once you find the best antiperspirant deodorant that works for you in every way, stick with it and your life will run a little smoother day after day knowing that you have a handle on your every day protection and don't need to give it a second thought.

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