Glycolic acid as a deodorant has 1000s of videos on social platforms.
Most of these videos claim that this is a fantastic trick—they claim that glycolic acid removes the odour and darkness in the underarm area.
Let’s look into the facts and find out more about this.
Can glycolic acid work as a deodorant?
Yes, it can.
How does glycolic acid work as a deodorant?
Our sweat doesn’t have an odour. When we sweat, say in the underarm area, the moisture in the sweat attracts bacteria.
This bacteria is what produces the odour.
This bacteria thrives at a pH of around 5. pH is the measure of acidity or alkalinity of a substance/solution.
A lower or higher pH means this bacteria cannot survive.
Our skin’s pH is about 5. This pH makes our skin a thriving ground for the bacteria the moisture in the sweat attracts.
When we apply glycolic acid skincare product to the underarm area, it lowers the pH of skin in that area to between 2 and 3.
Once the pH gets lowered to between 2 and 3, the bacteria cannot survive. No bacteria means there is no odour!
That’s how glycolic acid works as a deodorant – by eliminating the bacteria that produce the smell.
This pH lowering applies only to a leave-on glycolic skin care product where the main ingredient is glycolic acid.
This pH lowering does not work on glycolic acid face/body washes.
Does glycolic acid as a deodorant have any side effects?
Yes, glycolic acid in the armpit area does have side effects.
So, what are the side effects of using glycolic acid as a deodorant?
Underarm darkness !!
I hope that got your attention.
Yes, underarm darkness.
When glycolic acid lowers the pH of the underarm region to between 2 and 3, it makes that region very acidic.
This level of acidity means irritation to the skin.
This irritation on any part of the body is something to note, but in the underarm region, it is doubly concern-worthy.
The skin in the underarm area is as delicate as the skin in the eyelid region.
So, this level of acidity makes this delicate skin very irritated very quickly.
Added to this, skin in the underarm area has folds.
When we apply a leave-on glycolic acid in the delicate underarm area and go about our day, the folds in the skin will rub against glycolic acid, and that friction will result in heat.
Heat will make glycolic acid more potent (heat on acid makes acid more powerful).
Glycolic acid in the underarm area is more irritating than glycolic acid on the face – because of the delicate skin and the folds in this region.
Irritation results in inflammation. Inflammation eventually leads to pigmentation.
Pigmentation means a portion of your skin is darker than the surrounding areas. In the underarm area, this is what is underarm darkness.