What is antiperspirant used for? What is the working principle of antiperspirant?

Antiperspirant is a product that many of us are familiar with. As the name suggests, it is a product used to stop perspiration. However, many people still don’t know what antiperspirant is used for. So what is antiperspirant used for? What happens if you use too much antiperspirant?

What is antiperspirant used for?

The main function of antiperspirant deodorant is to stop sweating and interfere with the normal activity of sweat glands. Antiperspirant products can be roughly divided into antiperspirants and antiperspirant powders, but the basic principle is to temporarily close pores through chemical ingredients to inhibit sweating. Don’t be too nervous about normal sweating, and don’t use antiperspirants frequently, otherwise it may cause allergies, redness, and other skin problems. If you sweat very heavily, even like water, be careful of hyperhidrosis, which may be related to certain systemic diseases. You should go to the hospital for disease examination and treatment in time. Once the antiperspirant is stopped, the sweat glands will no longer be blocked from secreting sweat in the hot season and will continue to secrete sweat. Body fluids will continue to flow out of the body along the sweat glands, causing body odor to recur.

What happens if you use too much antiperspirant?

Antiperspirant contains some harmful ingredients, such as fragrance, formaldehyde and ethanol, which can easily cause erythema and allergic symptoms on the skin. If antiperspirant is used too much, it can easily clog the sweat glands. The toxins in the body cannot be discharged in time, which can easily cause skin itching, tinea versicolor, and even folliculitis. If you use antiperspirant too much, it may cause burning or stinging symptoms on the skin, because it contains cobalt aluminum chloride and hydrogen chloride, which can penetrate into the skin. In severe cases, it can cause symptoms of skin infection. You should use it correctly and avoid using it too much. Generally, applying antiperspirant to the armpits will not cause any harm, but people with skin allergies may experience itching after using it. If the antiperspirant is not chosen correctly or is of poor quality, it can easily allow bacteria to multiply and make the body odor worse.

How does antiperspirant work?

Antiperspirant contains aluminum salts and zirconium, which can block and destroy sweat pores, thereby inhibiting the secretion of sweat glands. Antiperspirants generally come in three types: spray, roll-on, and paste. Antiperspirant is also known as body deodorant. First of all, the working principle of body deodorant is to absorb sweat, not to block it. The product absorbs sweat after it reaches the surface of the skin under the armpits. It does not affect the function of the sweat glands and has no side effects on the skin. Secondly, the purpose of human sweating is to regulate thermal balance, and armpit sweat only accounts for <1% of the total body sweat, which is too small to affect the thermal balance. It’s just because the armpits have a special structure and a thin stratum corneum, so you can easily feel sweaty and sticky. Using antiperspirants can make the skin feel dry and has no effect on metabolism, but antiperspirants are only suitable for a few parts of the body, such as the armpits and face. The disadvantage is that the effect is limited and the effectiveness period is not long.

How to use antiperspirant correctly

There are two types of antiperspirants: roll-on antiperspirants and spray antiperspirants. Roll-on antiperspirants are suitable for the underarms, while spray antiperspirants are suitable for the back, neck, inner knees and other areas. Before using roll-on antiperspirant, clean your armpits, towel dry, shake the antiperspirant well, and apply to your armpits and other sweaty areas. For spray antiperspirant, shake the product vigorously 4 or 5 times after taking a shower and drying yourself to make the inside even. Then spray directly onto sweaty areas such as underarms from a distance of 10 cm from the body. The time of spraying on the same part should not exceed 3 seconds. Use it on a small area or locally when necessary, and do not apply it to a large area of ​​the body.