Body Odor
Natural Remedies

Natural Remedies for Body Odor

The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.

Zinc

6 User Reviews
5 star (5) 
  83%
1 star (1) 
  17%

Posted by Suzanne (Abbotsford, BC) on 08/24/2008
★★★★★

My husband used to have a problem with body odor. I read somewhere that zinc could help with that and other problems he had, so convinced him to try it. He takes 25 mg of zinc per day and, although he may still sweat, it doesn't smell! Really cuts down on washing...


Zinc
Posted by Been (Fountain Valley, CA) on 01/21/2007
★★★★★

Okay...I get severe body odor and I am a vegetarian! I take acidophilus daily, zinc and cal&Mag vitamin, so far I stay away from onions and garlic and I eat a well balanced diet. The best thing that worked for me was zinc. At least 25 mg. I suffered my whole teenage,20's and early 30's with this problem. Drysol worked for sweating but not odor. Now I am pregnant and it is worse! But unable to take all those vits...I bath and wear double t-shirts. It is rough, hard and depressing. But I stay strong and remind myself it is almost over after baby born. Good luck and stay positive.


Zinc and Magnesium

Posted by Cici (Tulsa, Oklahoma) on 05/22/2011

I've read that some people who had bodyfoot odor problems despite good hygiene were low on zinc and/or magnesium. Of course, check with doctor first.


Zinc Oxide Ointment

7 User Reviews
5 star (5) 
  71%
1 star (2) 
  29%

Posted by Leo (Camrose, Alberta) on 06/07/2009
★★★★★

Zinc Oxide Deodorant: In Dr. Hulda Clark's books, she recommends zinc oxide powder as a deodorant. Over the years it has worked just fine for me. Just place 2 tbs in a small jar and add enough water to make a paste. Smear the past onto your arm pits or groin area. Odour is gone immediately.

There is a bit of residue left on your fingers from smearing it on, but that soon leaves. Or you can use a paint or bingo dauber and not touch the paste with your fingers. If you don't sweat much, the paste will keep you odour free for several days. But it is not antiperspirant, and it washes off quickly in the shower. Zinc oxide can be bought from Self Health Resource Centre in California, and in Canada. It can also be bought in 500 gm sizes direct from Fisher Scientific if you have an account with them. Very inexpensive. Thanks.

Leo
Camrose, Alberta.

Replied by Kelly
(Nashville, TN)
06/20/2009

Thanks for this info. I too have tried the zinc oxide ointment and it works great, much better than anything I have ever used. However, the ointment has talc and parabens in it which I am not so crazy about. I had been thinking of asking my compounding pharmacist if they could compound into a natural cream or lotion base for me. Now, I will try the powder with water.

Replied by Sara
(The Beach, Canada)
06/21/2009

not all zinc creams have talc and parabens, i dont know if they will show this but a baby zinc ointment called butt paste, if they block the name look in the baby isle you will find one without that stuff, has no fillers or anything that may harm you. sara

EC: Butt Paste Ingredients:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudreaux's_Butt_Paste

"Boudreaux's Butt Paste is a skin cream used to treat skin ailments such as diaper rash, minor burns, and insect bites. The product has gained notoriety mainly due to its unusual and humorous name.

Ingredients

The combination of ingredients is:

* 16 percent zinc oxide
* a proprietary blend of Peruvian balsam
* citric acid
* castor oil
* mineral oil

Replied by Driftergal
(Arnaudville, La, Usa)
10/13/2012

I am going through menopause which has caused hot flashes and night sweats. Not just a few but at least hourly. Besides being aggravating it also caused extreme body odor which I have never experienced before. I remembered the "think zinc and don't stink" saying I heard years ago and started taking zinc. I guess I'm inpatient but after 2 weeks or so of taking more than the bottle said I saw no difference. I found this web site and saw where someone had used the zinc mixed with water and put it under their arms and it worked so I tried it. Sure enough it worked immediately. I went to drug emporium and found deodorant cream which has zinc as the third ingredient in it. It's fantastic. Even after having a flash or night sweat I have not smelled the BO.

I'm also experimenting with the ACV with Mother for the hot flashes. So far I have seen a decline in the number and intensity of the flashes. I've been using it for just 2 days so I'm pretty excited about that too. The ACV took my breath away the first time I tried it because I tried taking it plain. I forgot that I read to mix it with water so I now use the 2 TBS with 6 oz water and 4 drops of stevia. It's still not real pleasant but it's worth it to get some relief from the hot flashes.


Zinc Oxide Ointment
Posted by Sid Davis (Springfield, Missouri, USA) on 04/19/2009
★★★★★

Get a tube of 20% zinc oxide ointment from a drug store or Walmart. After your shower and dry off, smear this on instead of deodorant. My wife and I have used this for many, many years and NEVER have under arm odor. It works better than any deodorant we have ever used. We don't even need it everyday. I use a dab about the size of two green peas under each arm every other day, but you can experiment with the amount and frequency. If you use too much, your pores might get temporarily clogged, so don't over do it. Zinc oxide is the main ingredient in many diaper creams. It simply kills the bacteria which cause underarm odor.

Replied by Kj
(Washington, DC)
05/31/2009
★☆☆☆☆

I used the 20% Zinc oxide under my arms, and it didn't work at all. I followed your directions and applied 2 pea sized amounts under each arm and rubbed it in really well. As soon as I started to sweat, I had under arm odor. Am I doing something wrong? To me, the ACV worked better, but after constant use, it starts to lose its efficacy.

Replied by Sid Davis
(Springfield, Mo)
06/16/2009

I don't know what to say. It works for my wife and me, and several others on this site have reported it worked for them. As an experiment, try using it every day after your shower for a week and see if it becomes more effective; plus use clean shirts. It has been so long since I started using it that I can't remember how effective it was at first, but I think it worked from day one. One thought that crossed my mind is that there may be some bacterial residue in your shirts, even if they have been laundered, that then start to grow when the moisture from your sweat provides a more favorable environment. Can you tell if the smell is coming from your shirt or your armpit? If the smell is coming from the shirt, try using a little lysol in your washing machine when laundering your shirts to kill the bacteria.

Zinc kills bacteria which would otherwise cause the odor. Killing bacteria is why different commercial deodorants have things like aluminum or alcohol in them. Even baking soda has an anti-bacterial property because of the sodium in it (ever pour salt on a garden slug?).

I don't think there is anything inherently smelly about sweat, but it just allows bacteria to reproduce more effectively. Knock out the bacteria and there should be no odor.

Replied by Gean
(Salina, KS)
06/17/2009

I have to add that body odor can be caused, not just by bacteria, but if you are detoxing in some way your sweat itself will smell very badly. Keep up the detox, drink lots of water, exercise, and do castor oil packs over the liver, and it will eventually go away. Zinc ointment works for me somewhat, though there is limit to what it can do when doing heavy detox. When I am not detoxing, the sweat is absolutely odorless.


Zinc Oxide Ointment
Posted by Tess (Palm Beach, FL) on 02/22/2009
★☆☆☆☆

WARNING!

Warning about the zinc oxide ointment for body odor. I agree, it works great. I've been using it for the past 2 weeks, every other day like one of the posts suggests. But... it's not just zinc oxide you're applying -- there's also light mineral, white beeswax and white petrolatum listed as ingredients. Not great things to have absorbed near your armpit lymph nodes! After reading the contents on my tube this morning, I may go back to ACV even though the zinc oxide has been great.

Replied by Cheryl
(Wisconsin)
08/20/2022
★★★★★

Couldn't agree with you more. So I make my own.

2 oz. Shea Butter, 1 Tbsp. Argan Oil, 2 Tbsp. Zinc Oxide Powder.


Zinc Oxide Ointment
Posted by Sid Davis (Springfield, Missouri, USA) on 02/01/2009
★★★★★

In the discussion of baking soda remedies, I notices more than one comment about baking soda as a deodorant.

I have not tried barking soda for deodorant, since for the last 20 years my wife and I have used zinc oxide as a deodorant. It works better than any commercial deodorant I ever used. You don't even need to used it every day; just every second or third day does the trick, even in the summer. Never fails.

What I am talking about is the tube of 20% zinc oxide that you can pick up at a drug store or at WalMart here in the USA. Just smear on a little dab under each arm pit after your shower. No stains, no smell, no irritation. If you are concerned about safety, look at diaper ointment; it contains 20% zinc oxide.

The only problem I ever had was when I first tried it and used too much and used it every day and it caused a small swelling in my sweat glands under one arm, I think from blocking perspiration. The swelling went away when I started using it just every other day, on which day I used nothing.

The way I happened on this was my mothers giving me a mineral rock she got at a health food store that was supposed to be used for deodorant. I thought she was nutty, but my wife tried it a couple of times and said she thought it worked a little. We wanted to avoid aerosol and deodorants that contained aluminum, so I looked at the health food store for whatever else they had. Since the mineral rock contained zinc as one of the ingredients, I decided to buy a very expensive cream deodorant that contained zinc as one of the ingredients, and it worked very, very effectively, except that it cost a fortune. I happened to see zinc oxide in a tube at the drugstore for only $0.65 per tube (20 years ago) so I tried it instead of the expensive health food zinc cream, and it worked.


Zinc Oxide Ointment
Posted by Tom (Midland, Texas) on 06/07/2007
★★★★★

I've used Zinc Oxide Ointment as a deodorant for years. Works like a Charm! I apply it after a bath around my armpits and then put on a clean "T" shirt so it doesn't stain clothes. Once a week in winter and two or three times a week in Summer.

Replied by Sue
(Jamaica)
06/18/2011

What I am thinking is this, if the reason for the body odor is not the deficiency of zinc, then zinc tabs won't work. If the body is highly acidic, then I can understand why the ACV works. Whatever is causing the BO will predict what will work and that is why some cures work with some people and not with others.

Replied by Francisca
(Michelbach-le-bas, Alsace, France)
06/18/2011

Since I started using lemon juice I never looked back! Soon I will try and see how many days I can go without using it. Even on very hot days (and we have had quite a few this year), I can wear clothes made of artifical fibers without smelling at all! Before, even with the best deodorants I would get to the end of a hot day and I would be smelling. I think that the problem for most people is bacteria, at least for under arm odor. Now even if I don't have the time to take a bath on a hot day I don't smell! When I travel I take a couple of lemons in my suitcase wrapped in a plastic bag.



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