First of all, it should be noted: Sweating is healthy. And not just that—it’s essential. Perspiration removes excess body heat, which could otherwise lead to harmful overheating.
However, natural and healthy sweating is sometimes accompanied by—shall we say—unpleasant side effects, including odor and wetness. Deodorants and antiperspirants were designed to help combat this, but the choice of product and how its applied is crucial. Read on to find out why.
Antiperspirant or deodorant?
In order to determine the right time to use deodorant and antiperspirant, it is important to take into account how the two types of products work. While deodorants mainly mask the smell of sweat, deodorants with antiperspirants are designed to reduce the amount of sweat. Heba Sacca, Innovation Manager at Beiersdorf, explains it this way: “Generally, the fragrances of deodorants mask the smell of sweat and their antimicrobial agents inhibit the growth of bacteria. In this way, they combat the cause of the sweat odor, which is created by the decomposition of sweat by bacteria.” Antiperspirants, on the other hand, actually fight the sweat. “As the wording suggests—anti means ‘against’ and perspire means ‘sweat’—they work against underarm wetness and sweat stains,” Sacca says.
The best time of day to apply antiperspirant
According to Sacca, the right time to apply these antiperspirants is before “a longer period of rest for the body so that the highly effective formula has enough time to build up a long-lasting effect.”
That means that these products should ideally be applied in the evening before going to bed. Shocking, right? But it makes sense: Sweat glands are less active at night during sleep and the sweat-reducing substances can therefore be absorbed better.
It’s also a good idea to put it on right after the shower. “It is best to apply an antiperspirant in the evening to clean, dry skin. This allows the active ingredients to work overnight and develop effectively,” Sacca says. However, there’s a caveat that should be kept in mind: “Do not apply to freshly shaved skin; That could be irritating to underarm skin.”
But would showering in the morning inhibit the effect of the antiperspirant used the night before? “Showering in the morning is not a problem and does not change the protection,” Sacca says. “The sweat-reducing active ingredients have already been absorbed overnight and are retained.”
The best time of day to apply deodorant
Deodorants, however, can be applied in the morning. They are based mostly on fragrances and do not perform like antiperspirants, so the period of rest isn’t needed.
