A teach 10 year old kids. Every year there is one or two kids that will run most adults out of the room with armpit odor. However, I have noticed some adults complain about extremely strong odors from a kid that another adult can not smell at all. Also, often the kid's peers to not notice. How different are a person's a ability to smell B.O. It also seems that sometimes kids will have very much stronger body odor for awhile than any adults, I assume that is related to the up and down beginnings of hormonal changes.
1 Answers
Hey, normally unpleasant body odors start to arise from puberty. Hormonal changes occur and apocrine sweatglands start to be active (of which many of them are situated in the axillae). The apocrine sweatglands produce a milky fatty sweat solution, contrary to the eccrine sweatglands, which produce mostly water and salts. The fatty acids from the apocrine sweatglands are transformed by the bacteria on/in the skin and can cause a body odor. And yes, the perceiving of odor is very subjective. Some people might perceive an odor, while others cannot. It has to do with the sensitivity of the nose, as well as how the odors are perceived by the brain. Best, Chris
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