Most people don't love the smell of body odor.  All over the world, people bathe to stay clean and fresh.  Here in America, however, it seems that we have become a bit obsessed.  Americans use more soap than any other country.  Interestingly, we also stand farther apart--an average distance of 18 inches--to ensure that we are not entering others' olfactory zone.  

The other day my 10-year-old son came home from school and informed me that the health teacher told their class they should be wearing deodorant.  He handed me a two-page photocopied lesson entitled, "What's That Smell?   'Oh, No--It's Me!'"   There were cute cartoons and some good points about brushing teeth, hormones, and bacteria.   Filled with sentences like, "As Todd grows older, his body produces unpleasant odors if he doesn't take care of his personal hygiene,"   the pamphlet communicated to children that their bodily smells were not good, and they need to go to any extreme to stop these smells from offending others.

I am not part of the "au natural" movement.  I shave my armpits and legs and am not particularly fond of strong bodily smells.  I do, however, wonder if maybe Americans get a little carried away.

I remember being at a friend's party one summer many years ago.   There was a woman there whose tuft of underarm hair showed clearly through the sleeveless sundress she wore.  Afterwards, a group of us went for a late-night snack at a diner.  The others could barely wait to get into the car before they started making fun of this "disgusting, smelly" girl and her hairy armpits.  I defended her, asking why it was such a big deal and everyone looked at me like I had three heads.

Another time, during my senior year of college, I went to Club Med in Mexico.  There was a girl from Europe there who, again, did not shave her underarms, and, even worse, her bikini area.  She definitely did not have that "shower fresh" aroma coming off of her.   It became a big topic of conversation among the women at the resort:  who was going to be the one to tell Marlena that she needed to shave off that hair.  

Getting back to my son and deodorant:  at what point did we start telling elementary-aged children that they should be conscious of their bodies' smells?  I read accounts online where mothers complained of their six and seven-year-olds having terrible body odor.  I'm aware of the fact that children appear to reach puberty at younger ages these days, maybe as a result of their diets.   But we have to be cognizant of the health risks that all this odor paranoia may lead us to.

Commercial deodorants, which neutralize odors, and anti-perspirants, which actually block pores and interfere with the body's natural cooling process, contain ingredients that are potentially harmful.  Aluminum may be related to Alzheimer's; parabens have been linked to breast cancer; and propylene glycol is a neurotoxin that causes dermatitis and kidney and liver damage.  The FDA has concluded that no link exists between the use of deodorants and anti-perspirants and cancer.  I'm happy to hear this, as the Kiehl's deodorant I use contains aluminum.  I tried the natural stuff, and, being a hygiene-obsessed American, was not satisfied.  Yet, there is still reason in my mind to exercise caution when giving a 10-year-old a stick of deodorant to use daily.

I'm not proposing a movement to ban deodorants and forego daily showers.  I don't think it would benefit anyone to go back to the early 1800s when people bathed maybe once a month, if that.  Most people, though,  have become disconnected and disgusted by their own bodies.  Sociologists have studied pheromones in humans, finding that they give off smells that attract or repulse others.  There is a genetic fingerprint for the specific way each person smells.  Maybe it's time we realized that there just might be something to this odor thing.