4.10 What can be done about perspiration?
Description
This article is from the Dance FAQ, by eijkhout@jacobi.math.ucla.edu (Victor Eijkhout) with numerous contributions by others.
4.10 What can be done about perspiration?
First of all, sweat is to some extent inevitable, but you really must
start by coming to a dance clean. Shower, and brush your teeth while
you're at it.
Secondly, you can influence how much your perspiration becomes
noticable. Silk shirts are especially unpleasant to the touch when they
are soaked. Some people wear two shirts (eg, the lower a V-neck
T-shirt) so that the perspiration will limit itself to the one shirt
your partner will not be in contact with. Sometimes bringing an extra
shirt, and changing into it at some time during the evening, is a good
idea too. (VE)
Thirdly, use a deodorant and antiperspirant. It's easy to do, it
works, and it is quite harmless. Since some people might be worried
about that last point, here is a short excerpt from "The Secret House"
by David Bodanis, 1986, Simon & Schuster, NY; ISBN No.0-671-60032-X:
"Antiperspirants do not work by jamming little particles into the
openings of sweat holes in the armpits. That might work if sweat shot
out ...in miniature geysers, but on the micro-level of the skin,
geysers, hoses and all the other usual ways we think of water emerging
from a pore do not exist. There's no way the incipient sweat water
could build up a high enough pressure in its subsurface tubes to
flow... Rather, sweat emerges because it's tugged out. It has a
negative electric charge... and as the surface of the sweat pores has a
positive charge when excited the result is that the sweat ooze is
pulled out. It's like yanking a sausage from a tight tunnel. Enter the
aluminium. Aluminum flecks are negatively charged. That means the extra
furry cloud of electrons they carry around with them counterbalances
the normal positive charge on the skin surface. There's no pull... on
the sausage any more. The Al is even likely to have some left over to
poke down the sweat pore tunnel and electrically repel the negatively
charged water waiting deeper inside. The sweat caught inside dissolves
back into the body crumbling through cracks in the sweat tubes like
water from a leaky hose."
Note that the aluminum salts (unlike common alum, which is an
astringent) do not close off pores, and nothing messes with your body
chemistry either.
[ Wogdoc@aol.com ]
More on the topic of smell. Body odor, dirty clothes, overwhelming
perfume, bad breath are all the wonderful smells we may encounter on
the dance floor. You may not notice how you smell to another person,
therefore, it is polite to stop and think about it before you leave
home for an evening of dancing.
So, how do we smell odors? Odors, or chemical molecules, interact with
receptors on nerve cells located in the olfactory epithelium in your
nose. These receptors then cause a nerve to be activated - thus sending
a message to your brain. When you are constantly exposed to the odor,
this pathway desensitizes and you are no longer aware of the smell. For
example, the water may seem scalding hot when you first step into the
shower, but by the end of your shower, it doesn't seem so hot. That's
due to desensitization. For the biologically-oriented in the group - an
odor is perceived when the molecule binds to a G-protein coupled
receptor, thus activating adanylate cyclase and causing an increase in
cAMP. The cAMP causes the activation of Na+ channels, thus depolarizing
the neuron - causing it to fire - sending the message on a pathway to
the brain.
From person to person, there may be as much as a 1000 fold difference
in their ability to perceive a particular odor and still be considered
"normal." So, just becuase you don't smell the intense garlic on your
breath, your dance partner might. This is either because they are more
sensitive to the smell, or because they have not become desensitized
like you have. Also, some people lack the ability to smell a particular
odor all together. This is not uncommon. Additionally, as we age our
sense of smell diminishes. Therefore, not everyone smells the same
things you do.
In conclusion, stop to think about how you smell on the dance floor.
Take that shower, wear deodrant and fresh clothes. Brush those teeth
and don't take a perfume bath. Be polite to your dance buddies!
[Kathie Sindt kas4e@virginia.edu ]
A few more thoughts:
anti-perspirants also work in other areas than under the arms.
-- Contemplate on alternative uses for the hot air dryers in the rest
rooms.
-- Improving your technique and smoothness will permit you to dance
without sweating as much.
-- Sweat will do awful things to your clothes. If you don't do laundry
every day, rinse your shirt in plain water after you've danced.
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