For unpleasant odors, we can always blame onto 'bacteria'.
The remedy is usually also: hygiene, washing. Of course there are always more complex medical causes.
You yourself are usually the last to notice your own odors.

Smell informs potential partners about immune system, blood group, genes. After-Shavers and perfumes, deo's may therefore provide you with a wrong partner. Also hormone disruptors like the pill. (Yael Adler in hBvL 2018)

Smelly feet
There are 250,000 sweat glands per foot. On your hands a little more, but they have consistently ventilation. In contrast, stockings and shoes enclosed feet and form a perfect feeding grounds for bacteria.
Especially teenagers and pregnant women suffer from sweaty feet, because hormone waves let sweat them more. Stress, all day standing upright or a fungal infection strengthen the effect.
The bacteria produce a separation and die. This process causes a pungent, unpleasant odor. Temperature, waste skin cells and fluid provide an ideal breeding ground for bacteria.

Dry your shoes in a ventilated, warm room. Remove the insoles. Never wear the same shoes two days in a row.

Keep your feet dry with open shoes or sandals, and breathable, natural material.

Wash and dry your feet often. After washing, rubbing with vinegar water helps. Talcum powder helps to dry. Also insoles made ​​of cedar are often mentioned amongst the 99 tips of grandmother.
There are odor swallowers that claim to break down sweat molecules in a natural way.

Are you strong, or you just smell so?

Body odor
Body odor varies greatly from breed to breed. A black body does not have the same smell as a white man. Also your eating and lifestyle habits largely determine how you smell.

Our body has two types of sweat glands.
We have eccrine glands everywhere, but especially on the hands and feet and armpits. They regulate the body temperature by separating a mixture of water, salt and minerals. That don’t stink, unless after a few hours bacteria multiply there. Regular washing can thus keep the smell of sweat under control.

The apocrine glands in our armpits and groin release there sexual hormones and secrete during puberty a sticky, oily liquid, which leaves a pungent odor that lets others know that you are full of hormones and are ready to reproduce. We do not like that smell, probably because we experience it as a sexual competitor.
The body odor is a natural, healthy and temporary body function. Most people lose that strong body odor when they are about 25, the hormone levels are lower then.

Palms do not sweat because of heat, but because of adrenaline and stress (which is measured by a lie detector).

Showering or bathing, possibly several times a day helps. Regularly changing clothes.


Flatulence
Have a wind, fart, or gas is called upon educated people ‘flatulate', but it smells the same. (Common people have 150 other words to express this!)
A man produces an average of 0.5 to 2 liters of intestinal gas per day in 12 to 25 farts, depending on his diet.
Methane and hydrogen are flammable, and that also applies to some winds.

The gas comes from swallowed air and carbon dioxide, and the production of bacteria and yeast in the gut of mammals. Carbohydrates that do not digest into the small intestine serve in the colon (fermentation) as food for bacteria, allowing them also to produce gas.
The unpleasant odor is mainly caused by acid and sulfur compounds such as hydrogen sulphide (smell of rotten eggs), carbonyl sulfide and carbon disulfide, the degradation of proteins.

By chewing the food properly, you can reduce the production of gases somewhat.
By regularly eating smaller portions you charge the digestive system less and you will produce less wind.
Eating less food rich in carbohydrates (rice, pasta, potatoes, bread, broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts) and soluble fiber (beans, legumes, dairy products, onions, potatoes and oats) can also reduce flatulence.
Also, carbonated drinks, beer, some fruits (unripe bananas, plums, grapes, melon...) and fruit juice (from plums, apples and grapes) ensure the progress of gas exit.

To enjoy legumes without unpleasant side effects, you can soak them 48 hours in water and then rinse them with cold water.

Sometimes... if you weep
No one sees your tears...

Sometimes... when you are sad
No one sees your pain...

Sometimes... when you are happy
No one sees your smile...

But let a fart...

Bad breath
With a Bad Breath (Halitosis: halitus = breath / odor, osis = abnormal) thrive sulfur producing bacteria, especially in the low-oxygen deep grooves on the back of the tongue and in the areas around the teeth (especially in patients with periodontal disease: inflammation of the gums). In the 'breaking' of proteins by bacteria arise volatile sulfur compounds.
Also infection, lack of saliva, garlic, onions, some herbs, tobacco, alcohol, drugs and disease may be the cause.

Drink water regularly, you so prevent a dry mouth and turn of some of the bacteria.
Avoid alcohol. It dries out the mouth and makes the problem worse.
Nibble fresh parsley, which contains a lot of chlorophyll, a bactericidal agent. Also spices like cloves, mint leaves, cinnamon stick, fennel seeds, anise seeds, tomatoes, cardamom or dill can help.
Use essential oils in mouthwashes. Or do oils of peppermint, lemon, rosemary on your toothbrush or tongue.
Clean your tongue with a tongue scraper.
Brush your teeth regularly, possibly your tongue, the bottom, palate and the inside of your cheeks.

Test yourself: scrape with a spoon a few times on the back of your tongue. Let him drying up and smell it. Stinks it? Then you know it.


Garlic is a bulb that consists of together sitting wedges of garlic in white, pink or violet skins. Garlic belongs as leeks, chives and onion to the genus Allium but has a hundred times greater concentration of the reaction products and therefore a strong smell and taste. It comes from different sulfur molecules and their metabolites.

One of the ingredients of garlic, allyl methyl sulfide (AMS), cannot be broken down during digestion. It is absorbed into the blood. The blood brings the AMS to the lungs and the skin where it is disposed of, using breath and sweat. This strong-smelling gas can at least 6 to 18 hours after eating garlic be found in the breath.

A study shows that drinking 200 ml of milk, the presence of AMS in breath reduces by half. Preferably whole milk and drunk during the meal, not afterwards.

Even small pieces of garlic trapped between the teeth can cause bad breath. This can be partly alleviated by the chewing parsley.

Other minor and temporary camouflage remedies are chewing gum, mints, mouthwash, tooth brushing, coffee or chew raw fruits and vegetables as pit and stone fruits, grapes, blueberries, plums, mushrooms, lettuce, basil, eggplant, mint, anise or fennel seeds.
Certain enzymes in raw fruits and vegetables can change into the mouth left thiols in odorless molecules that may temporarily freshen the breath.
Pliny recommends the Romans to neutralize the stench of garlic by eating roasted beets.


If the green heart of the garlic is removed, the smell and taste is less sharp and bitter.
Advantage: the smell helps against mosquitoes. And vampires. And fleas.

Deodorant
In ancient Egypt was water mixed with alum to hide natural sweat odor. This works as a deodorant and antiperspirant. The Romans used a mixture of goat fat and charcoal. This has a (limited) ability to absorb substances, so that a portion of the fragrance is less to smell.

In the 19th century they used calcium or potassium permanganate solutions. This disinfects, allowing bacteria present were slain. In 1888 in the United States was the first deodorant on the market.

Deodorant is a cosmetic product that is applied to the skin to mask the smell of sweat or (antiperspirant) prevents to sweat.

The odor is prevented by bacteria growth inhibiting aluminum and zinc compounds that make the skin very acidic. Whether there are antibacterial agents such as triclosan or alcohol.
Fragrances are resolved by allowing them to engage with chemical compound, for example zinkricinoleaat or zinc oxide.
The odor is masked by a strong pleasant fragrance.

In several cases, deodorant creates irritation, acidification of the skin or obstruction of the sweat glands. Possible links between deodorant and breast cancer ask regularly for media attention.
Perhaps the cure is worse than the disease, and good hygiene is sufficient.


A pheromone is a (odorless) signal molecule that transfers messages between individuals of the same species. Mammals and reptiles perceive it by the so-called vomeronasal organ or the organ of Jacobson. With men this is also present in the nasal cavity, but it is hardly developed.
Pheromones play a role in sexual attraction. They increase the number of interactions between individuals, and susceptibility to temptation. Women produce more pheromones in the ovulation period. This increases the chances of pregnancy for the purpose of preservation of our species.

The increase in sexual stimuli in the summer may partly be due to pheromones. They are produced by the sweat glands in the armpits and pubic region. And in the summer you perspire more... Actually you produce an odor and a message, you might rather not (completely) remove or mask.

In 2017, Australian scientists found that human pheromones probably do not exist, and do not play a noticeable role in attraction.

Ladle: the only edible in a pot of garlic soup. (Henry Beard)
Garlic hold out longer than Chanel. (Faith Hines)