Wearing deodorant at the gym

[lacktheknack]

Use salt-stick deodorant. It lets you sweat, but leaves minimal smell behind.

Plus, it can be applied everywhere on your body without anyone realizing, unless they lick you.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Depend if your odor is smelly or not.
Just to be clear, I'm not sure if this is 100% fact as I heard of this info from a TV show, that apparently, if you use deodorant in a single area like let say the armpit, you're going to sweat more from the other areas like let say the forehead. Whatever you do, don't use deodorant for every part on your body as you can get cancer from it.
I pretty much don't used deodorant as I think my odor isn't smelly (well not getting people to complain about my odor) however I think it is reasonable to use it to mask your smell like my former mate who had really bad body odor!

 

[Tsun Tzu]

I do it regardless. Body spray too.

Force of habit and all.

 

[Altorin]

I think it's a matter where, in a functioning society, you need to at least put in the effort. Admit that it's a bit silly, but at least try and keep that funk under control, lol

 

[Lieju]

I use deodorant anyway. Isn't that what you're supposed to do? That's how my mom raised me.

 

[CounterReproductive]

Why not shower before working out. this removes a lot of the bacteria on your skin before you start your work out. This alone will reduce the odour caused by sweating to a fresh sweat smell, which is way prefereable to an old sweat bacteria laden smell.

Seriously use a bacterial shower gel and you will smell lioke a winner even after turning your grey shirt black.

Don't believe me ? Try it.

 

[Talaris]

Yeah I use it at the gym, just for armpits really as it's usually the part that will smell the most. I really recommend you do wear some for others sake, a short while ago I did a workout with a mate of mine who hadn't bothered with deodorant and after some sweating he smelt so bad it made things harder for me when I needed to breath heavily. It's just good sense to have some on you.

 

[Elric_de_Melnibone]

I find deodorant to be utterly pointless when working out.
It's a GYM, people get sweaty, people work out. Why would I wear deodorant in such a place?

As long as it's IN the gym, I don't care about smell.
Once I'm done, I take a shower, THEN put some deodorant and new clothes on. Then I leave. All fresh.

So what's the fucking problem here?
It's a gym. People sweat. Deal with it.

 

[Simple Bluff]

Huh. I find it weird that nobody's made this point yet, but sweat doesn't smell, no matter how you eat. Stale sweat smells, and it take a couple of hours before that happens (to a noticeable degree, I mean - but mileage varies).
If there is an odor in gym, it's not actually due to exertion (unless you've spent roughly two and a half hours in the gym, which is hardly ideal), it's because you were sweating prior to the exercise, even if it wasn't a lot.

For this reason, if you live in a relatively cool area, wear fresh clothes and haven't done anything particularly demanding (even so much as a light jog) then there's absolutely no reason to wear deodorant. Unless you're the type of person who likes exercising early mornings (ie before your daily shower) or late in the evenings, in which case you probobly should. And even then, it's not a big deal if your gym is well ventilated.

This is all general mind. I already said it, but it bears repeating; everyone's different when it comes to BO.

Just some pointless anecdotal evidence: I used to train early mornings (7am) for a couple of hours with a group. None of us showered, or used deodorant prior to the exercises - bearing in mind that we were VERY cardio heavy - I never noticed a thing, and if they did they never said anything.

 

[IronMit]

For the gym I spray do a quick spray of deodorant on my clothes. Inside and outside of the cloth..I don't spray it directly on my skin, It's gym, I don't see the point. I won't smell bad unless i have not had a showered in 36 hours anway. Lynx/Axe is cheap and it will disguise any smell just incase there is one.

I never use anti-persipirent in the gym. (but use it outside). You sweat for a reason- if you prevent yourself from sweating when gyming that can't be a good thing

If you are really hygienic trim/shave your armpits. It's not the sweat that smells it's the bacteria on your armit hair that reacts with the urea in the sweat which leads to that foul smell.

 

[lunavixen]

is there a difference between deodorant and antiperspirant? because their names sound like there is, and your argument sounds like you're promoting the futility of antiperspirant, not deodorant. even with your defense, deodorant still serves a purpose.
if there isn't a difference between them, then [error]. my processes aren't configured for this possibility and you can thusly consider my statement invalid.

There is a difference, antiperspirant deodorants actually clog or shrink the pores to try and stop sweating occurring in the first place, though it only reduces sweating by about half at best (between 20-50% depending on strength), whereas normal deodorants just mask the smell using perfumes.

Deodorant can help mask the sweat smell at the start, but once you really get worked up and sweaty it won't make much difference at the end

Whatever you do, don't use deodorant for every part on your body as you can get cancer from it.

That myth has never been confirmed, there is no direct causal link and little to no circumstantial evidence, you're more likely to have allergic reactions to the aluminium (e.g. I'm allergic to nickel) or get aluminium toxicity if your kidneys are impaired.

 

[Random Argument Man]

The thing about a bad smell is that it's distracting. I go to the gym 4-5 times a week and I mostly go to it while riding a bike. Bottom line, I sweat a lot. I still wear deodorant because I consider it a courtesy. I'm sorry, but I go to the gym to workout and I need to stay focused when I go there. Having a smell near me is distracting. It's like the Carly Rae Jepsen of your body. Once you smell it, you feel more annoyed and less focused on those squats that you've been pulling.

Therefore, I put at least a small amount of deodorant because I treat people the way that I want to be treated.

 

[Foolery]

1. It will mask the smell from my armpits, which is where you apply deodorant, but it won't do anything for my chest, back, crotch, face, or any of the other places I'm sweating from. Seriously, you should see one of my shirts after the gym, if it's white it's basically see-through and if it's grey it basically turns black.

Black? What are you? An ink spilling octopus? I would think sweating would just make it darker grey. Anyway. Use deodorant if you feel like being courteous.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

It will mask the smell from my armpits, which is where you apply deodorant, but it won't do anything for my chest, back, crotch, face, or any of the other places I'm sweating from. Seriously, you should see one of my shirts after the gym, if it's white it's basically see-through and if it's grey it basically turns black.

Well then you should probably just coat yourself entirely in it so that you appear to have a fine film around your skin. It's just common courtesy to other gymgoers. Person Sniffs are an essential exercise for building quads, anyone there will have to smell you at least 4 sets of 12 reps to get a full workout.

 

[Flatfrog]

Fresh sweat scarcely smells of anything - if anything, it's rather a pleasant smell. It's only after bacteria have had a chance to get to work on it that it starts to smell bad. As long as you're reasonably clean *before* going to the gym, any sweat you produce while working out won't be offensive.

 

[lunavixen]

I read the other day that allergic reactions help taking substances out of your body that cause cancer. I don't remember the exact numbers, I but I think they stated that having allergies can reduce your chance of getting cancer by as much as 20%-25%. Therefore it's not unthinkable that the allergic reactions that you are describing are indeed preventing you from getting cancer from said substances.

uhhh, you do know what an allergic reaction is don't you?

It's a persons immune system overreacting to something that is normally harmless in the environment (e.g. dust, pollen, food etc.), cancer is unregulated cell growth causing malignant tumours. Allergies take no substances out of your body, they are annoying, some are painful and some are life threatening and fatal without treatment. Allergies make you cautious, to avoid triggers, it may just be the lifestyle shift that's lowering the risk.

If this was this article
http://healthland.time.com/2011/07/12/the-curious-link-between-allergies-and-cancer/

This article is hardly proof, there is no link to the actual study and what is stated in the article is a meta analysis, which is very broad. Without the actual study and general insight into the peoples lives (e.g. general health, age groups, professions, types of contact allergies, general lifestyle etc.), there are too many variables, I've also noticed they excluded melanomas, which are one of the most common forms of cancer, and what ones are mentioned are extremely specific. It's also admitted in the article, that the research stopped short of finding an actual link, also, the article is 2 years old, and the other ones i've found are older still and there has been no follow up, and to top it off, all of the articles are from news sites and not actual research centre websites.

 

[Billy D Williams]

I'd rather smell like sweat than like someone dumped 5 pounds of cheap soap on me.

That's why I wear unscented deodorant! Well, that coupled with the fact that I also usually wear cologne (not to the gym of course, just when I go out). Even odorless deodorant will mask the odor almost completely, and even if you do eat healthy if your getting in a really, really REALLY good workout your gonna smell pretty bad.

 

[mad825]

Don't worry OP. In a few years time you'll need to wear extravagant perfume,make-up and a pretty dress (males included) just to go for a run.

After that, high heels will be the formal dress code for running a marathon.

 

[Hero of Lime]

Since I work out at home on a treadmill and weight machine, I can be as smelly as I want. Although I do still wear deodorant because I don't want to smell up the house, plus I always shower after a tough work out to avoid the smelliness altogether.