YSK there is a condition that makes your armpits smell worse called trichobacteriosis that is common and easy to treat
I was talking about hygiene with my partner who is a nurse and they were telling me that a lot of people remark that their armpits are smelling worse than normal and they are using more and more deodorant and people just think it is normal.
Trichobacteriosis looks like a yellowish coating on some of your armpit or groin hair and you need to shave and wash the area every day for 2 weeks. It is more common in men than women in the US only because it is more common for women to keep their armpits shaved. Most of the patients who are affected by it think that its actually residue from the increasing amounts of deodorant they end up using.
Yo that's funny. Maybe twice in my 20s I had a bout where I was like "damn my pits stank"
I basically unscientifically concluded that I had soaked my armpit hair in smelly armpit sweat, and every time e the armpit hair got sweaty it was releasing a stale stench. Like the hairs themselves were the problem, I figured.
So I trimmed my armpit hair.
Problem solved, both times.
Then in my 30s, a bandmate was like "yo my armpits stank" and I was like "homie it sounds odd but just trim your pits." Worked for him too.
So, my unscientific alternative, faster solution is to just shave your pits.
I recently read an actual scientific study that found a direct correlation between smell and the length of armpit hair. So your unscientific hypothesis is actually backed by science. I’m too lazy to look up the source though.
My GF would definitely disagree with you there. On my worst days, she stuffs her face into my pits and is practically intoxicated by it. Turns her on.
Sidenote: my pet cat (female) also goes nuts for it. She'll root her nose into my pits and get all lovey. If she finds a soiled shirt out of the basket, she goes crazy, and her brother had better steer clear when she's "high on pits."
I find myself stinky at rare times, but when I let my wife smell me she says it's not bad at all. I guess it's somewhat of a similar sitch. Minus the arousal, sadly for me...
I do smell exactly like my dad. It's crazy to me. My wife doesn't know that by her nose, she just knows because I've told her. But it's kind of freaky to me personally.
Pretty sure I read about a study where they found people that smell bad are genetically close to you, like relatives and people you shouldn't procreate with.
If I have a particular stinky few days, I will soap the heck out of my pits in the shower, then let it sit there while I do the rest of my body. That works for me (:
In other words, you make sure you clean your body well.
Edit: but to add to your point, what I do is wash my armpits, then smell them. Is there still a teeny tiny smell left? Rinse and repeat. As many times as needed. Three, four even five times. Until they smell undoubtedly clean.
You actually do to get rid of this unless its mild and goes away with alcohol/antiseptic soap, it colonizes the follicle. I've shaved my armpits for like 20 years and never once had an ingrown hair as does like most women in the US
That's because you've shave that hair for 20 years.
Hair that isn't normally shaved poses a greater risk for ingrown hairs.
To reiterate, in grown hair in your armpit is awful. It will get infected unless you wear tank tops all the time, and an infection near all the nerve endings in your arm put causes for a seriously painful time. It can all be avoided by just trimming without going down to the skin.
If you do go down to the skin on an area you've never shaved before, you'd be wise to do so using conditioner on your armpits instead of shaving cream. You'd also be wise to apply aftershave afterwards.
But you're right. Just as most men don't get in grown hairs in their face from shaving after the first 3 or 4 shaves, you are fine, given that hair in your armpit is basically expecting to be shaved.