B. D.

New Zealand Listener, Volume 7, Issue 170, 25 September 1942, Page 13

B. D.

(Written for "The Listener" by DR. H. B. TURBOTT, Director of the Division of School Hygiene, Health Department.) OMMERCIAL advertising in connection with soaps has popularised the letters B.O., and your newspaper almost any day will suggest that, although you have a body odour, if you will only use a certain soap your troubles will disappear. B.O. looms larger in the consciousness of women than of men. Native races think Europeans "smell," and the compliment is returned by the whites. Now what is this body odour, and do we have to worry about it? Think of your body as a machine, with internal combustion going on at a temperature of 98.4 degrees. Waste products are formed, and the body’s exhaust pipe is threefold; through the lungs impure gas (carbon dioxide) is given off; through the kidneys and bowels, urea, water, and other wastes; through the skin pores similar impurities are excreted in the perspiration. This clearance of impurities from the body by the skin goes on all the time, as invisible perspiration, and at times becomes more marked, being seen and felt. Perspiration is greasy besides containing impurities. Hot water, therefore, removes it better than cold, and mild alkali helps in dissolving grease. Soap, soda, or ammonia are essential if the skin is to be kept as free as possible from perspiration. Hot Baths Are Best The first, and, in the majority, the only measure of protection needed against body odour is frequent washing with soap and water to remove the products of perspiration, which, by decomposing on the surface, furnish most of the odour. The daily routine should include a complete bath, and failing this, a thorough sponging of the entire body. If you are one of the hardy cold water fans, at least once a week a hot bath should be taken. Now in New Zealand the daily bath is not a national habit, except for the minority. Ask the children in any school how often they take a

bath, and the New Zealand once a week custom prevails in the majority. Watch in the hotels and boarding houses! It is the minority who bathe completely. Hence the body odour in New Zealand, and the newspapers being used by soap manufacturers to favour their particular product as a B.O. preventive. It is daily cleanliness of the whole body that is needed, not any particular soap. Persons who wish » be free from body odour should avoid excessive consumption of foods containing onions, or of flavouring foods with garlic. Many women try to mask body odour by using perfume. Some perfumes, whén acted on by the perspiration, decompose and make the body odour worse. Too much perfume is just as repugnant to some folk as body odour. Rely on bodily cleanliness rather than on any carefully chosen perfume. There may be a few folk who perspire excessively and need the help of a lotion or dusting powder for the armpit or body. The usual lotion prescribed is one of salicylic and benzoic acids in spirits, or a dusting powder of zinc peroxide, benzoic acid, and talc, dusted on after the bath. Very marked armpit perspiration. can be checked by an aluminium chloride lotion or by the use of X-rays, for either of which medical guidance is needed. Keep Clothes Cleaned Don’t forget that clothes will intensify body odour unless regularly cleaned. Frocks and suits should be dry cleaned frequently, and underclothes changed and washed as often as your wardrobe permits. Another faulty New Zealand custom is the weekly change of under-wear-to be free of body odour your underclothes need frequent changes. Don’t take too much notice of advertisements that emphasise special soaps. To avoid body odour take a bath using any fancied soap every day, use a dusting powder if you are an excessive perspiret and change underclothes frequently, and send top clothes to the dry cleaners as often as the pocket allows. Then forget altogether about B.O., for by bathing daily you'll be clean and feel healthier and brighter altogether.

(Next week:

"I Daren’t Eat That," by

Dr.

Bell