Experiment
Finding subjects to participate in this experiment proved to be more difficult than expected, nevertheless, we managed to have four subjects. Study has shown that BO of male is stronger than female due to the fact that men keep their armpit hair, whereas females tend to shave theirs (ref.2,7,8). Also, men sweat more and produce more apocrine secretion, thus release more odor because bacteria multiply more quickly.
Subjects: Four young males between the ages of 13 and 16.
Objective: To test the efficacy of our home-made BO Buster (BOB) and other leading brands of deodorant and anti-perspirant.
Materials:
1. Alum (found in the kitchen spice section of your local supermarket), Empty bottle of roll-on, Distilled Water
2. Old Spice High Endurance – Pure Sport Deodorant
3. Right Guard Xtreme Sport Ultra Gel Cool Peak Anti-perspirant Stick
4. Mitchum Anti-Perspirant Deodorant roll-on Original.
Instructions:
First we ground a teaspoon of Alum powder in a mortar and pestle until it becomes a talc-like powder (very fine powder). We poured the alum talc in a 100-ml roll-on bottle filled with distilled water.
We asked male subject #1 to apply the alum mixture in the underarm as he would a regular deodorant. Three of the subjects used the deodorant that they are currently using (materials 2, 3 and 4). We’ll call them subjects 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively.
These four ‘Puberty-ans’ played 1 hour of basketball and 30 minutes of running at the beach.
Result: The alum had the highest efficacy.
Products |
Scale 1-10 (10 being best) |
Efficacy in Hours |
Comments
|
| Subject #1 Alum | 10 |
24 |
Watery. It doesn’t feel sticky like a regular deodorant. Odorless, doesn’t stain clothes. It did not stop the armpit from sweating but no BO even the following day. |
Subject #2 Old Spice |
7 |
6-8 |
Smells nice at first then turns sour after a while. BO comes after sweating, potent BO after physical activity. A noticable yellow stain on the armpit area of the shirt doesn’t come off in laundry. |
| Subject #3 Right Guard | 7 |
6-8 |
It has a fresh scent after initial application. It leaves a sticky feeling. It doesn’t last as long as it should. BO occurs after physical activity. |
| Subject #4 Mitchum | 6 |
6 |
Sometimes it seems like no deodorant at all was applied, yet it leaves a feeling of sticky armpit. It doesn't have that fresh cool scent. BO develops faster than expected. |
Conclusion:
The alum worked the best and continued to work until the following day without the presence of BO. However, it did not stop the axillary from producing sweat. The alum did not leave a sticky feeling. There is no scent associated with it to be confused with any body odor; unlike the deodorant/anti-perspirant used in this experiement. The deodorant and anti-perspirant used in this experiment worked only for a short period of time. Frequent washing and application of either deodorant or antiperspirant is necessary if recurrence of BO is to be prevented.
Deodorants are scents which mingle with the sweat, and try to disguise the smell being released by the bacteria. They usually work OK, but only if you wash frequently, especially after exercise (they can't disguise really bad odors). (ref.2)