Baking soda prevents body odour on hot days. You'll still sweat, but there won't be a smell.

I live in a hot climate and sweat a lot. So it’s no surprise that I used to depend on roll-on anti-perspirants everyday.

But I decided to stop using them when I found out that they contained zirconium and aluminium, which inevitably gets absorbed into my system.

If you’re similarly worried about heavy metal toxicity from anti-perspirants, you might want to consider a healthier alternative—Baking Soda.

Baking soda will prevent body odour very effectively. But it won’t prevent the sweating. And this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s much healthier to allow your body to sweat as sweating is the body’s way of releasing its excess toxins. By plugging up your sweat pores unnaturally, you’re forcing your body to release these toxins through other means such as skin eruptions (e.g. acne, rashes).

So you might still sweat with baking soda, but you won’t smell at all.

And even as you sweat, you won’t stain your clothes yellow because as it turns out, the tell-tale yellow stain doesn’t come from your sweat, but rather the chemical reaction from your sweat and the antiperspirant. Sweat alone will not stain your clothes. So you’ll still smell good at the end of the day and your clothes will look good too.

What you’ll need: Baking soda (be sure to use baking soda, also called sodium bicarbonate and NOT baking powder), some water

How to do it: Place a little baking soda (around a level teaspoon) on your palm. Add a bit of water, just enough to make the baking soda into a paste. Apply this paste on your underarm area. That’s it!

Tip (wait after shaving or waxing): Baking soda will not harm you. But you might feel some stinging when using baking soda if you’ve recently shaved or waxed your underarms. So it’s best to only use baking soda one day after shaving.