The numbers don’t lie. Americans dropped over $2 billion on deodorants and antiperspirants in 2006. That is a lot of money to spend on the hope that you don’t smell like a wet dog. Maybe we do smell. Maybe we just have bad habits. Or maybe we are just buying the wrong tools.
Here is the mechanics of it. Deodorants and antiperspirants do two different jobs. They are not the same thing. Antiperspirants block wetness. Deodorants stop the smell. They work best together. Less sweat means less food for bacteria. Bacteria eat sweat. When they metabolize it, they create odor. If you control the moisture with an antiperspirant, the bacteria starve. The smell stays low. Any odor that slips through gets masked or neutralized by the deodorant.
Some products rely on fragrance to hide the funk. Others use science. Specifically, they use antimicrobial agents like triclosan. You might know this ingredient. It is in your toothpaste to fight gingivitis. It is in surgical scrubs. It is in paint. It is even in some socks. Triclosan and its partner triclocarban inhibit bacteria growth. They are everywhere.
But what about the soap?
Many people grab a bar of “antibacterial” deodorant soap. It often contains triclosan. How does it work? It blocks an enzyme called enoyl-ACP reductase (ENR). Bacteria need this enzyme to make fatty acids. Fatty acids are how they build cell membranes. No membrane means no reproduction. The bacteria die. Or so the theory goes.
The soap smells nice. That is probably the only benefit.
Current research says antibacterial soap does not perform better than regular soap. This applies to healthy people. The University of Michigan, Tufts University School of Medicine, and Columbia University all studied this. They looked at the number of bacteria on skin. The result? Triclosan soaps did not knock out more bacteria than plain soap. Marketing claims suggest otherwise. The data does not support them.
Triclosan soaps didn’t perform any better than regular soaps when they compared how well the two knocked out the number of bacteria on the skin of healthy people.
So why buy it? For the scent. That is it. If you want to reduce body odor, plain soap works just as well as the expensive stuff.
There is a catch though. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is currently reviewing triclosan and triclocarban. They are looking at possible links to antibiotic resistance. Could these chemicals help create “superbugs”? It is possible. There are also concerns about hormone disruption in humans.
Think about that. You are paying extra for soap that does nothing better than cheap soap. And you might be inviting bacteria that are immune to your medicine. Or messing with your hormones.
Is it worth it? Your body odor might actually be the lesser evil here. The science is shifting. The FDA is watching. The “magic” ingredient might just be a marketing trap.
What will you choose next time you are in the bathroom aisle?
