Wellness Magazine

Dr.Soapy

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The Real Reason Why You Still Smell After Showering and how to fix it

Dr. Mike White, Dermatologist

(Estimated time: 4 min read)

If you still smell right after showering, your first thought is probably that you didn't wash well enough.

So you scrub harder. Use more soap. Maybe even shower again.

But somehow, you still smell.

And that's because body odor doesn't work the way most people think it does.

It isn't the sweat itself.

It isn't your armpit hair.

And it doesn't mean you have bad hygiene.

The smell is actually created by something living on your skin.

Something regular soap doesn't always get rid of when you shower.

Its name?

Corynebacterium.

And once you see where this bacteria lives, it becomes obvious why the smell can come back so fast.

When you shower, soap and water clean what sits on the surface of your skin.

But Corynebacterium doesn't only sit on the surface.

It gets stuck deep around your hair follicles, making it almost impossible to wash away with regular soap.

So while sweat, dirt and buildup get washed away...

the odor-causing bacteria stay behind.

Then what's the solution?

It's not using more soap, washing your clothes more often or showering multiple times a day.

What actually targets the bacteria is tea tree oil.

Used for centuries by Aboriginal Australians in the Australian outback, they crushed tea tree leaves to extract the oil and used it as a natural antibacterial and antifungal remedy.

And today, science confirms exactly why.

Tea tree oil has powerful antibacterial and antifungal properties shown to reduce the growth of Corynebacterium.

So instead of simply washing away sweat and buildup, the goal is to target the bacteria causing the smell too.

And the simplest way to do that is during the step you're already taking to get clean:

washing your body with soap.

Because a shower should leave you feeling clean and smelling fresh.

Not stepping out and wondering why you still smell...

But that doesn't mean just any tea tree oil soap will do.

The concentration and formula matter. Too little may not give you the antibacterial activity you want, while too much can irritate the skin.

So you want a soap with tea tree oil in the right formulation.

One recommended option is Dr. Soapy Odor Defense Soap.

It combines tea tree oil, coconut oil, olive oil and witch hazel in a daily soap made for body odor.

So instead of stepping out of the shower wondering if you still smell, you can target odor at the source every time you wash.

No more scrubbing harder.

No more wondering if you need to shower again.

No more worrying:

“If I can smell it... can other people smell it too?”

Just wash your body like you normally would.

Because feeling clean shouldn’t last five minutes.

You should be able to step out of the shower, get dressed and not think about how you smell again.