Sweating is a natural process that helps human beings to remain cool. However, this perspiration is full of odor that is typical and often depends upon our genes, as well as environmental factors. Some individual’s sweat creates more odor than 0thers, and scientists link this odor to what we eat. Non vegetarians produce bad smell while vegetarians seem to have a pleasant body smell. This body odor is sought to be suppressed by using either antiperspirant or a deodorant. Many people think of these products as similar or identical, but there are differences in their ingredients and also in the manner in which they work on our body.
Antiperspirant
As the name implies, antiperspirant works to see that our bodies do not sweat despite sweating being a natural cooling process. This they achieve by clogging the pores in our bodies with salts of aluminum that work as astringents. These astringents bind the skin and close the pores, not allowing the sweat any way to come out of our bodies. Antiperspirants contain strong fragrances to hide the smell of the aluminum salts. Aluminum is the only natural ingredient in antiperspirants, and that too is being linked with breast cancer and some other ailments of brain. There is no conclusive proof for these theories though. Since antiperspirants work to block the pores to prevent sweat from appearing on our bodies, they work as drugs trying to change the functioning of the body.
Deodorant
Deodorant works to suppress the odor of our sweat. The ingredients in a deodorant work to mask the bad smell of our sweat. These products do not prevent sweating; instead they neutralize the odor by using strong fragrances. Deodorants are cosmetic products that kill bacteria in our sweat. These bacteria release fatty acids and proteins that are cause of odor in our sweat.
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What is the difference between Antiperspirant and Deodorant? • Antiperspirants clog pores preventing sweating, whereas deodorants try to mask the odor of the sweat • Deodorant is used all over the body, whereas antiperspirant is used mainly on underarms. • Antiperspirant forms a plug over pores changing a natural body function while deodorant does no such action • Thus, antiperspirant stops sweat while deodorant stops odor. • Aluminum based compound is the main ingredient in antiperspirant that plugs the pores of the body so that it does not produce sweat temporarily. • Aluminum in antiperspirants has often been linked with breast cancer and Alzheimer though there has been no direct link between these ailments and aluminum in antiperspirants. • Of the two, deodorants are considered more natural and hence are more popular among the people.
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