Deodorant rashes are caused by skin sensitivity, allergies, friction, or medical conditions. Switching to hypoallergenic products or seeing a doctor may help. Chemical additives and perfumes are common culprits. Allergies can also trigger rashes. Applying deodorant to broken skin can cause irritation. Excessive sweating or undersweating can also cause rashes.
A deodorant rash is an inflammation of red, often itchy skin that occurs at the site of deodorant application. The vast majority of deodorant rashes are caused by skin sensitivity and allergic reactions. Friction and medical conditions like blocked sweat ducts can also contribute to rashes. People who experience frequent or recurring underarm rashes often switch to all natural or hypoallergenic products, although rashes that don’t go away with time or new products usually need to be treated by a doctor.
Deodorants are products designed to mask body odor emanating from the underarms. They’re often combined with antiperspirants, which actually stop the flow of sweat in the first place. Both deodorants and antiperspirants contain a number of chemical compounds. They also often contain fragrances. Perfumes and chemical additives are major culprits for a deodorant rash, particularly in people with sensitive skin.
Almost all deodorant products on the market have undergone intensive testing to ensure that they are safe for contact with human skin. However, these tests usually only look at normal, healthy individuals. Sensitive skin and dry skin are not always taken into account.
Individuals with sensitive skin often find that they react negatively to one or more ingredients in their deodorant. Most often, this sensitivity manifests itself as a rash. Switching to a product specifically made for sensitive skin often solves the problem.
Allergies can also be at the root of a deodorant reaction. With allergies, the skin reacts not because it’s irritated, but because its histamine triggers have been activated by some ingredient or additive in the deodorant. Histamines are part of the body’s immune response to foreign substances. People with allergies suffer histamine explosions when exposed to one or more usually harmless substances.
Treating an allergy-induced deodorant rash is very similar to treating one caused by skin sensitivity. Most of the time, finding a new deodorant, one that doesn’t contain the allergen, is your best bet. Hypoallergenic deodorants usually do the trick, although the only surefire way for a person to find out the root cause of allergies is to visit an allergy specialist.
A rash can also be caused by applying deodorant to broken skin. This most commonly occurs when people apply deodorant right after shaving their underarms, particularly if the shave has affected the skin in any way. In this case, the rash is caused by the deodorant ingredients getting into the body, causing irritation. These breakouts can usually be cleared up using a topical anti-itch cream or rash treatment, and the sufferer usually does not need to change deodorants.
In rarer cases, a deodorant rash can be attributed to excessive sweating, which can cause friction, or undersweating, which can cause a heat rash. Both of these are sweat gland problems that are biologically based. Applying deodorant makes the rash worse, but it’s usually not the real cause.
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