Stop Sweating Start Living - Why Antiperspirants Don't Work

Actually, they do work. Sort of.

Antiperspirants are the first line of treatment for excessive sweating of the underarms. They are the least invasive and experts recommend that they be tried first, before other more serious treatments.

Antiperspirants work by blocking or plugging your sweat glands, which reduces the amount of sweat that reaches the skin. Strong over-the-counter antiperspirants include:

Certain Dri

Secret Platinum Protection

Kiehl’s Superbly Efficient Antiperspirant & Deodorant

Medical Antiperspirants

There’s evidence that antiperspirants that contain a high concentration of Aluminum Chloride can be effective in reducing sweat. One such antiperspirant is Drysol. It’s applied to the underarms and left on for 6-8 hours. It’s best to put it on before going to bed. In the morning, the medication is washed off. Warning: Long-term results with Drysol have been unsatisfactory, and it has been known to cause severe skin irritation.

Tips for using all antiperspirants

• Topical antiperspirants work best if applied at night, because you sweat very little right before bedtime.

• Make sure your skin is dry before you apply the antiperspirant---use a blow drier if necessary. Washing your skin is not recommended as this may increase the chance of skin irritation.

• If you shave your underarms, wait 24-48 hours after shaving to apply the antiperspirant.

• Use the antiperspirant every night until you notice that you’re sweating less. Then you can cut back on how often you use it.

• There’s a technique called “occlusion” that some people use to make their antiperspirant more effective. Occlusion is when you wrap the body part to which you've applied an antiperspirant in Saran or plastic wrap for a period of time, such as overnight. Warning: There’s no evid ence that occlusion works, in fact, it often causes skin irritation.

Unfortunately, for people who sweat excessively, most antiperspirants available at the store and prescription antiperspirants prove to be unhelpful. Mike Ramsey, the man who wrote Stop Sweating Start Living, tried a dozen antiperspirant brands.

None of them stopped his sweating.

Stop Sweating Start Living presents an alternative remedy to excessive sweating. It doesn’t include buying a skin irritating extra-strength antiperspirant.