Easing Friction. Not shaving reduces skin-on-skin contact friction, which means when you do activities that involve arm movement, like running or walking, your skin is much less likely to get irritated by the friction. This might lead to fewer skin issues like rashes and ingrown hairs.
Having armpit hair reduces chafing.
Though you may be tempted to shave to fix that, Dermatologist Dr. Terrence Keaney warns against it. According to Keaney, shaving can actually make the problem worse, and your best bet is to keep your hair and keep the area moisturized.
Technically, the answer is no — shaving your armpits doesn't directly make you sweat less. Here's why. Your armpit hair has nothing to do with the reason(s) you're sweating. Sweating occurs when your internal body temperature climbs too high, or when you're nervous, stressed or anxious.
Armpit Hair Protects Your Skin
In the case of your underarms, it helps reduce skin-on-skin friction when you swing your arms as you walk or run. Armpit hair can save you from unnecessary chafing, irritation, or even heat rash, which can happen when sweat and abrasion mix.
Armpits. Armpit hair can be a friendly forest for odor-causing bacteria, so keep it as short as possible. Trim it every couple of weeks with scissors or a trimmer. If you want it gone, use a razor in the shower, just like your wife does.
Some teens don't do anything with their pubic hair, leaving it to grow naturally. Some girls remove hair when they'll be wearing a bathing suit, and some remove hair regularly as part of their beauty routine. No health benefits are linked to removing pubic hair, so choose what feels right for you.
In another study, the axillary odor of shaved armpits was rated as significantly less intense and more pleasant than the odor of unshaved armpits.
This is fine. Some ethnic groups aren't hairy at all and never get much in the way of body or pubic hair. Even if the rest of your family is laden with armpit hair, having none is not abnormal or a problem.
The biggest misconception around hairy armpits is that they're unhygienic and smell much worse. Let's unpack this. Studies have found the difference in the smell of regularly shaven pits compared to hairy ones is minimal at best.
Armpit hair is natural, and whether you shave it, trim it, or let it grow, what you do with your armpit hair is a choice all your own.
The amount of pubic hair that women generally have is quite variable, and some women are relatively hairless. In many cultures and with different fashions, having minimal pubic and axillary hair is considered 'normal' and hair may be actively removed.
Two percent of people carry an unusual form of a specific gene (ABCC11) that means their armpits never smell. The finding came from new research involving 6,495 women who are enrolled in the Children of the 90s study at the University of Bristol, England, and was published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.
Your body odor can change due to hormones, the food you eat, infection, medications or underlying conditions like diabetes. Prescription-strength antiperspirants or medications may help.
Premature pubarche, or the development of pubic hair before the age of 8 in girls or 9 in boys, is most commonly caused by premature adrenarche. Adrenarche is the maturation of the adrenal zona reticularis in both boys and girls, resulting in the development of pubic hair, axillary hair, and adult apocrine body odor.
“There is no right or certain age to start shaving,” said Rashell Orey, a licensed master social worker at Banner Health. “Some may be eager to start very early, while for others, this could be a scary thought. It's a conversation that you'll need to discuss with them.”
First thing's first: There's no age when girls should start shaving. In fact, girls don't have to shave at all if they don't want to. (And, on the flip side, some boys may want to — and that's OK.)
Trimethylaminuria (TMAU) is an uncommon condition that causes an unpleasant, fishy smell. It's also called "fish odour syndrome". Sometimes it's caused by faulty genes that a person inherits from their parents, but this isn't always the case. There's currently no cure, but there are things that can help.
Groin sweat contains fatty acids and proteins which feed bacteria. As the bacteria break down the nutrients in groin sweat, foul-smelling acids are left behind.
While only 2 percent of Europeans lack the genes for smelly armpits, most East Asians and almost all Koreans lack this gene, Day told LiveScience.
Although there is some controversy on the subject of "racial" variation in body odor, it is determined that African blacks probably produce the greatest amount of apocrine sweat, which is the known substrate for axillary odor.
It's wet, brown and gummy in nearly all people of European and African origin; but more than 80% of East Asians have a dry variety that lacks a waxy substance called cerumen. A team of Japanese researchers has now tackled this sticky subject and identified the gene that determines earwax type.