Stuff You Should Know - What's the difference between deodorant and antiperspirant?

Episode Date: September 4, 2008

The function of antiperspirant and deodorant is to prevent sweat or to mask the scent of body odor. Learn about the function of antiperspirant and deodorant in this HowStuffWorks podcast. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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agency would turn out to be a front for a drug pilot who would claim he did it all for this CIA. I'm Lauren Brad Pacheco. Join me for murder in Miami. Talk about walking into the devil's den. Listen to Murder in Miami on the I Heart Radio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Brought to you by the reinvented 2012 Camry. It's ready. Are you? Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from HowStuffWorks.com. Howdy. Welcome to the podcast. Chuck Bryant, Josh Clark here. This is Josh. That's Chuck. Hi. Hi, Chuck. How are you doing? I'm doing well, Josh, but something stinks. That's not me, Chuck. That's actually Michael Wax. Do you play poker?

Occasionally, but not really. Are you familiar with Michael Wax? No. He is a professional poker player. He's a big guy, 440 pounds, and he was recently ejected from the Borgata Casino in Atlantic City for an unpleasant smell, basically. Like I said, he's a big guy. He'd been playing 17 hours straight, so apparently he was on a roll. But I guess he'd also failed to shower him between, I don't know, I guess they didn't comp a room for him or anything for a half hour or anything like that. But yeah, Mr. Wax was ejected. No word on his winnings or anything like that. Well, I hope it was enough to buy some soap and deodorant at least. I imagine so. And you know, if you were close enough to Mr. Wax, you'd probably think, well,

this is, you know, it's body odor. It smells like any body odor I've ever smelled. But you'd really get up under there and you had a really good scent. Like maybe you're a professional sniffer for a perfume company or whatever. You would notice that he has a very distinct, what is called an odor type. And all of us apparently have a unique odor type. Do you know much about odor types? Well, I know that we do all have one and it's genetically based. It can be also environmental too. Right. Like what you eat. Yeah. So basically there was one study in 2006 that found that vegetarians emit a more pleasant body odor than meat eaters. Right. They smell like broccoli and we smell like steak. That's

gross. I would rather smell like steak any day of the week. Me too. There is another study in 95 that found that a pregnant woman's body odor was actually a combination of the mother's and the fetus's body odor smell. Wow. Yeah. That's fascinating. And based on my own personal observations as unscientific as it may be, I've concluded to Chuck that your body odor is based on your love of hot rod racing and those delicious morning smoothies you make. Yeah. Well, you know, Josh, based on my findings, I've found that you smell like a mix of circus peanuts and old footballs. And desperation. And desperation. Yeah. So strange combination. Yeah. So what it works. The thing is, is we do have our own specific odor types. We don't know precisely

what makes what and I don't think any has really been cataloged yet. Look for that in the future when somebody ends up with a lot of excessive funding. Right. But we do have a couple of theories of why we smell. There is this anthropologist named Louis Leakey, and he postulated that we actually smell, evolutionarily speaking, to ward off predators. Right. Which is something we had to deal with before. You don't so much anymore, unless you're like a lion tamer. Sure. Or a hillbilly. Right. That kind of thing. So now it's just kind of offensive to a degree. Right. Right. So what do you do? Well, I would use deodorant. Or I could. Or I would use antiperspirant. Are they the same thing? Well, why would you even go so far as to say both? I mean,

it's the same thing. Right. Well, they're not the same thing. And I think anyone that pays attention in the supermarket at the pharmacy knows there's antiperspirant and there's deodorant. That is true. I just thought they were different spellings. No. Well, what's the difference? Well, one keeps you from sweating and actually stops you from sweating. And one is just a perfume to mask odor. Oh, okay. Well, it was very sustained. That's the easy answer. Do you know that your body odor doesn't actually emanate from your glands, from your sweat? Do you know where your smell actually comes from? It has something to do with bacteria. It does. It does. So you've got two kinds of sweat glands.

One is the eccrine gland. Right. And it just excretes salt and water. And there's no smell to that. The other is the apocrine gland. And this one actually is in charge of carrying fat and protein secretions from your cells. I didn't even know my cells were secreted fats and proteins growths. Yeah. But it carries it through these glands or these ducts to the glands and then out onto your skin. Right. Where there's plenty of native flora, which is another name for bacteria. Right. And your smell is actually the bacteria chowing down on these fats and proteins. That is so gnarly. I can hardly get through this podcast. But yeah. And of course, you've got the most, both of these types of glands, sweat glands,

under your arm. Exactly. In the axillary area. The armpit, as everyone knows, is generally where the stink comes from. Right. Which is why we very infrequently put deodorant or, as Chuck calls it, antiperspirant on the back of your neck. Right. That'd just be weird. Although, it would have a similar effect, I imagine. It's just nobody's, you know, neck smells all that bad. Right. So do you know much of the history of deodorants and antiperspirants? Well, I know that it kind of started in the 1950s in the United States, at least. Well, it became a social taboo to smell in the 50s. Right. You watch Mad Men? Well, I was just going to bring that up.

Let's hear it because I don't want you. Yeah. It's one of my favorite new shows. I'm kind of late to it, but I've been watching it on the On Demand feature. And there was an episode that dealt with antiperspirant spray. And this is in 1960s when the show was set. And how they sold it to you, I think they said, you're not afraid to get close or don't be afraid to get close. Right. Which recalls, get a little closer from, I think, arid extra dry. What's the deodorant that used that? Get a little closer. So it's interesting that what they're implying with a lot of advertising is sex. Get a little closer, don't be afraid to get close to your husband. And I just think, I mean, the show in general is really neat that in the 1950s and 60s when the advertising boom

really started is where, I mean, a lot of the things that we have today in social taboos, like they were told to us by these admin in New York in the 1950s and 60s, and people bought into it. And all these years later, you know, you don't want to stink because you want to get a little closer. Exactly. And conversely, if you do stink, you should be afraid to get closer, right? Right. So that it's really paid off in 2006. Just antiperspirants and deodorants accounted for $2.5 billion in sales. Yeah. I mean, think about it, what their four bucks tops for anything you find at the grocery store, right? The war on drugs impacts everyone, whether or not you take drugs. America's public enemy number one is drug abuse. This podcast is going to show you the truth

behind the war on drugs. They told me that I would be charged for conspiracy to distribute 2,200 pounds of marijuana. Yeah, and they can do that without any drugs on the table. Without any drugs, of course, yes, they can do that. And I'm the prime example of that. The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Step out of piss y'all. The property is guilty. Exactly. And it starts as guilty. It starts as guilty. The cops, are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call like what we would call a jack move or being robbed. They call civil asset for it. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart radio app,

Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. There is no need for the outside world because we are removed from it and apart from it and in our own universe. On the new podcast, The Turning Room of Mirrors, we look beneath the delicate veneer of American ballet and the culture formed by its most influential figure, George Balanchine. There are not very many of us that actually grew up with Balanchine. It was like I grew up with Mozart. He could do no wrong. Like he was a god. But what was the cost for the dancers who brought these ballets to life where the lines between the professional and the personal were hazy and often crossed? He used to say, what are you looking at, dear? You can't see you, only I can

see you. Most people in the ballet world, I'm more interested in their experience of watching it than in a dancer's experience of executing it. Listen to The Turning Room of Mirrors on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And it turns out I have developed a theory about deodorant and antiperspirant sales. I can't wait to hear that. So there are three big things on the horizon that I think are going to cause the deodorant and antiperspirant market to fluctuate. You want to hear? I'd love to. Okay. So the first is Baby Boomers. Okay. It turns out that in your 50s, right? In the 50s to the 60s range, deodorant use kind of falls off. You don't need it quite as much. You don't need it or you're not bothered by your smell. Either

way, people in their 50s start to use less deodorant than they did when they were younger. Interesting. That actually affects the market. And we've got a bunch of Baby Boomers who are hitting 50, 60, 70 now. Just walking around stinking. Well, pretty much. Have you smelled your parents lately? I tried to keep my nose away from them. Precisely. Precisely, right? So with all of this huge aging population going on right now, I predict that the deodorant and antiperspirant market will decline because of that. Right. But, but, you ready? Yeah. I also predict that they will, that market will be helped by global warming because summer sales for, are just the biggest bulkiest season for deodorants and antiperspirants. Right. With climate change,

we're going to have longer, hotter summers, right? Right. And hence the deodorant and antiperspirant market will soldier on. They'll be able to bounce back from that discrepancy. Right. And the third thing, I think, will bump it up even further. Bovine growth hormones. It's all over the place. It's in milk. It's in beef. It's, I, I believe in chickens and it's causing early onset puberty in children. Yeah. And I know that your, your glands that, that make you stink for lack of a better word, they don't come around. So you're like 11 to 11, 12 until about the time you hit puberty. Right. If puberty starts at age eight, all of a sudden now, thanks to drinking regular milk, right? Then you're going to need deodorant soon. So that will expand the market, the younger

market for deodorant and antiperspirant companies. These are just some theories, some ramblings that come up with, they come to me in my sleep, that kind of thing. I wake up thinking about deodorant all the time. Yeah. So do I. It's more market stuff that, that I think of, but in this case, it was applied to deodorant. So Chuck, maybe we should get a little more specific. Like, how does deodorant work versus how does this antiperspirant you keep talking about work? Well, I know deodorants don't keep you from sweating. So all they can do is you apply it to your axilla. Your armpit. Yeah. Your armpit. Sure. And that, that just masks the, the smell. It's a perfume to an extent. Fill me in. So basically it also most deodorants today include a, an,

an ingredient that actually kills the bacteria. Trichocyan. Yes. Yeah. So you've got that, that native flora on your underarms on the skin and that your cells are still carrying the fats and proteins or the fats and proteins from your cells are still being carried to your skin. There's no bacteria there to eat them, hence no smell. Right. Right. And they also include perfumes too. Right. But what about antiperspirants? Well, the antiperspirant actually plugs the, the glands with things like aluminum and zirconium, which is kind of scary if you think about it, and that keeps the sweat from ever being produced in theory. In theory. Right. Yes. So antiperspirants don't let you sweat at all. Well, if, if they're effective. So I was doing a little research,

a little extra research for this article, and there's this 1990 New York times article by a guy named Anthony Ramirez that it came across. It's awesome. And he was talking about a little bit about the history of antiperspirants. The first patented one ever, it was called Everdry. And it came onto the market in 1903. You had to apply it using a swab to the armpit. And it was so acidic that it actually ate through clothing. People were putting this on their underarms. So it's progressed quite a bit so far. Yeah. And I know that it's still, there's a lot of controversy over the use of aluminum in products. It could post some health benefits. And actually deodorants and antiperspirants are considered over the counter drugs and are regulated by the FDA.

Right. That's crazy. Possibly in part because of the health, the health hazards, potential health hazards, like what? Well, potentially could be linked to cancer. I think most people have heard that aluminum deodorants can be linked to cancer. By causing DNA mutation. Right. Right. And then there's another one that's a little, a little weirder, right? Oh, the kidney disease? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So like I think 2002, 2005, something like that. All of a sudden this warning label pops up on deodorants and it says, ask your doctor about kidney disease or something like that. Right. Right. And it just came out of nowhere and there's never any really good explanation for it. But it turns out that aluminum can also cause kidney poisoning, right? Right. Or if you have impaired

kidney functioning, it can send you over the edge. Yeah. So it's possible all sorts of bad things could happen to you, which is why, from my understanding, 11% of the population doesn't use of the American population, I should say, doesn't use deodorant or uses an off brand, which leads me to wonder, what is an off brand deodorant and why would you use it? Like, do you have a friend down the street who whips it up for you? Why not just go get it at the store? Well, I think maybe what they mean by off brand, I might be wrong, is maybe some of these all natural deodorants. No, those are included. They have made such headway into this market that the niche market like Tom's of Maine, you mean? Right. Has actually expanded their huge players. So what they mean

literally are these hippies that make up their own deodorant. I guess so. Although hippies aren't necessarily known to use deodorant, let alone go to the trouble to make their own. No. Now, that's a question for another day. The question for today, which I advise you to go check out on HowStuffWorks.com is what's the difference between deodorant and antiperspirant? And stick around to find out which article's homepage art really cracks chucking me up after this. The war on drugs impacts everyone, whether or not you take drugs. America's public enemy number one is drug abuse. This podcast is going to show you the truth behind the war on drugs. They told me that I would be charged for conspiracy to distribute 2,200 pounds of marijuana.

Yeah, and they can do that without any drugs on the table. Without any drugs, of course, yes, they can do that. And I'm the prime example of that. The war on drugs is the excuse our government uses to get away with absolutely insane stuff. Stuff that will piss you off. The property is guilty. Exactly. And it starts as guilty. It starts as guilty. The cops, are they just like looting? Are they just like pillaging? They just have way better names for what they call like what we would call a jackmove or being robbed. They call civil acid. Be sure to listen to the war on drugs on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts. There is no need for the outside world because we are removed from it and apart from it and in our

own universe. On the new podcast, The Turning Room of Mirrors, we look beneath the delicate veneer of American ballet and the culture formed by its most influential figure, George Balanchine. There are not very many of us that actually grew up with Balanchine. It was like I grew up with Mozart. He could do no wrong. Like he was a god. But what was the cost for the dancers who brought these ballets to life where the lines between the professional and the personal were hazy and often crossed? He used to say, what are you looking at, dear? You can't see you. Only I can see you. Most people in the ballet world are more interested in their experience of watching it than in a dancer's experience of executing it. Listen to The Turning Room of Mirrors on the iHeart radio app,

Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for hanging around, Chuck. You want to tell them? I will. It's actually an article called How Atavism Works or Atavism. Either way. And that's when humans can grow little tails or little nubbins on their body. For those of you who don't know, we have a homepage art that the writers themselves are in charge of finding pictures to represent what the article is about. Some articles are a little harder than others. I guess Atavism is hard because writer Katie Lambert, her homepage art is a little baby kind of prancing around. Just from like the waist down.

From the waist down with a cat's tail photoshopped onto it. Yes. And it really just cracks me up every time I see it. And Katie did a great job with it. She definitely did. Way to go, Katie. You can check out this homepage art when you look up How Atavism Works on HowStuffWorks.com. Let us know what you think. Send an email to podcast at HowStuffWorks.com. Brought to you by the reinvented 2012 Camry. It's ready. Are you? In 1980, cocaine was captivating and corrupting Miami. The cartels, they just killed everybody that was home. Setting an aspiring private investigator on a collision course with corruption

and multiple murders. The detective agency would turn out to be a front for a drug pilot. Would claim he did it all for the CIA. I'm Lauren Bright Pacheco. Join me for murder in Miami. Talk about walking into the devil's den. Listen to murder in Miami on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In 1968, five black girls were picked up by police after running away from a reform school in Mt. Megs, Alabama. I'm writer and reporter Josie Duffy Rice. And in a new podcast, I investigate the abuse that thousands of black children suffered at the Alabama Industrial School for Negro children and how those five girls changed everything. Listen to unreformed on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.