I am curious about your thoughts on whether laser hair removal and/or electrolysis of armpit hair will reduce armpit odor. If I understand the process correctly, permanent hair removal damages or destroys the follicle. Since the apocrine gland is only located within the hair follicle shaft... does damage/destruction of the follicle also close the pathway for apocrine gland secretion? I ask all this because I had laser hair removal in my armpits and currently doing electrolysis to get the stray hairs the laser missed. I have not noticed a reduction in body odor, but I tend to only stink when I am stressed. For example, I rarely stink even after strenuous and sweaty 8 mile hike ... but in 1 second during a stressful telephone call with my boss, I have extreme odor that will not subside all day. I do not wear any deodorant or anti-perspirant since reading the Dr. Armpit web site, so I'm trying to get my armpit biome back in balance. I am looking forward to the products produced by your research!
1 Answers
Hi EM, thanks for sharing your story. On average, there are about 30-40 apocrine sweat glands per cm² of (adult) armpit skin. This gives about 300-400 apocrine sweat glands per armpit, or 600-800 apocrine sweat glands for two armpits. I'm guessing the laser technique doesn't remove the skin appendages (of the hair), and as such, apocrine sweat is still secreted onto the skin. There are also a lot of apocrine glands, so it's maybe difficult to laser them all... Thanks for your support! Best, Chris
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