Replied By Kj (Washington, DC) on 05/31/2009
I used the 20% Zinc oxide under my arms, and it didn't work at all. I followed your directions and applied 2 pea sized amounts under each arm and rubbed it in really well. As soon as I started to sweat, I had under arm odor. Am I doing something wrong? To me, the ACV worked better, but after constant use, it starts to lose its efficacy.Replied By Sid Davis (Springfield, Mo) on 06/16/2009
I don't know what to say. It works for my wife and me, and several others on this site have reported it worked for them. As an experiment, try using it every day after your shower for a week and see if it becomes more effective; plus use clean shirts. It has been so long since I started using it that I can't remember how effective it was at first, but I think it worked from day one. One thought that crossed my mind is that there may be some bacterial residue in your shirts, even if they have been laundered, that then start to grow when the moisture from your sweat provides a more favorable environment. Can you tell if the smell is coming from your shirt or your armpit? If the smell is coming from the shirt, try using a little lysol in your washing machine when laundering your shirts to kill the bacteria. Zinc kills bacteria which would otherwise cause the odor. Killing bacteria is why different commercial deodorants have things like aluminum or alcohol in them. Even baking soda has an anti-bacterial property because of the sodium in it (ever pour salt on a garden slug?).
I don't think there is anything inherently smelly about sweat, but it just allows bacteria to reproduce more effectively. Knock out the bacteria and there should be no odor.
Replied By Gean (Salina, KS) on 06/17/2009
I have to add that body odor can be caused, not just by bacteria, but if you are detoxing in some way your sweat itself will smell very badly. Keep up the detox, drink lots of water, exercise, and do castor oil packs over the liver, and it will eventually go away. Zinc ointment works for me somewhat, though there is limit to what it can do when doing heavy detox. When I am not detoxing, the sweat is absolutely odorless.