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Deodorant 101 for Preteen Girls
Teaching Your Daughter About Personal Hygiene
By Teri Brown
There are two types of sweat glands. The eccrine gland stores water and helps cool you down when you get overheated. The apocrine stores sweat. Everyone has harmless bacteria that live in their armpits. Odor results when that bacterium eats your sweat. Because of the hormonal fluctuations preteens and teens endure, they are much more likely to have malodor than at any other period of their life.
Cindy Dumlao is a Dove research and development scientist and played an integral role in the development of Dove Ultimate Clear Antiperspirant Deodorant. She says there is a definite difference between deodorants and antiperspirants.
"Deodorants are products that work primarily by masking the odor caused by the bacteria interacting with perspiration," Dumlao says. "They are formulated to be highly effective in reducing odor-causing bacteria."
On the other hand, antiperspirants are products that help control wetness by slowing the flow of perspiration to the surface of the underarm skin. By helping control perspiration, it also helps control odor; less perspiration for bacteria to interact with. Bacteria grows best in warm damp environments. Because antiperspirants block perspiration they are making the environment less friendly to bacteria growth. This decreases the odor.
Most products contain both deodorants and antiperspirants: antiperspirant to control the wetness that causes odor and deodorant to control the odor that stems from any wetness that does occur.