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Antibacterial soaps are best for killing bad bacteria on contact, such as those that cause body odor. Sweat is naturally odorless, so why does body odor occur? Body odor happens when bacteria on your skin come into contact with sweat and start to feed and multiply. So in order to get rid of body odor, you need to kill the bad bacteria on your skin. Regular soaps can leave some of the bacteria behind, which will continue to grow and release more offensive smells when it comes into contact with sweat. Antibacterial soap is best when you’re struggling with body odor and regular body washes, deodorants and antiperspirants just aren’t cutting it. There are many antibacterial products on the market these days, but not all of them are created equal. The best ones should be gentle enough for daily use- even if you have sensitive skin. It’s also important to look for ingredients like tea tree oil or aloe vera in order to give your skin a little extra pampering while getting rid of unwanted odors (and bacteria) at the same time. I would only recommend you use an antibacterial body soap if and only if you seriously struggle with body odor. Antibacterials are no joke and contribute to antibiotic resistant bacteria (like MRSA). You can easily tell if your body wash has a lot of surfactant by how foamy it gets when you use it - but sodium laureth sulfate, alkyl glucosides, taurates, sullfosuccinates, c14-16 olefin sulfonate, and betaines are all common lathering ingredients, says King.Let’s continue on and find out the best antibacterial body washes for odor free skin! Ok, my inner microbiologist is done ranting. Some common examples of body wash preservatives, according to King, are phenoxyethanol, methylchloroisothiazolinone, methylisothiazolinone, dehydroacetic acid, and chlorphenesin.Īnd then there are those pesky surfactants and detergents. SD alcohol, on the other hand, is the type that dries skin out, she adds.Īccording to Belkin, the preservatives that give body wash a long shelf life can also cause irritation, even when derived from natural sources. "They are fatty acids from coconut to help with conditioning of skin," says King. If you see cetyl or cetearyl alcohol on a body wash label, you can rest easy because those aren't actually alcohols. "Alcohol also promotes redness and irritation." And the type of alcohol is important.
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"It seriously damages your skin’s barrier protection, it can trigger free-radical damage, and it makes oily skin worse because your skin overcompensates to being stripped of oil," she explains. Palep also cautions against using body washes containing a high level of alcohol. Simply switching to a non-foaming body wash might yield great results.
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Surfactants, by the way, are the ingredients that make body wash's foamy lather.Īgain, you can't really confirm whether a rash is the result of an allergy until you can get tested by a doctor - but it is far more likely for allover body irritation to be caused by barrier-breaking ingredients. can come from soap-based surfactants that have a higher pH than skin and create irritation to the barrier."Īs a result, your skin gets stripped of its essential oils and proteins, leaving you with dry and itchy skin that only gets worse the more you're exposed to those surfactants. "Irritant contact dermatitis is not allergic in nature. "Allergic and irritant contact dermatitis are different but can look the same," she says. Gohara points out that an allergic reaction and mere irritation can have similar appearances but are caused by very different things.
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Just because your skin is irritated by a certain product doesn't necessarily mean you're allergic to it. How can I tell if my skin is just irritated by my body wash?