[MrManatee]

I don't use as little soap as the article suggests, but I use less than many people do. I don't want to smell bad, and I know it's harder to judge your own smells. But there's one piece of trivia that gave me the confidence to try it.

Humans have two types of sweat glands: eccrine and apocrine. Eccrine sweat glands are found all over the body. Apocrine glands are found in armpits (and a few other areas), and they only activate at puberty. The smell is related to bacterial activity in the "apocrine sweat". Armpits don't smell because they sweat more; they smell because it's a different kind of sweat.

So I use soap for my armpits. If I don't, I'll notice the smell easily in a day or two. But for most of my skin, I can go pretty much indefinitely with just water. I don't notice any bad smells, and I have asked some close friends, and they don't smell anything either.

[oska]

You're right about the two different types of sweat glands.

And just to finesse what you're saying here:

> The smell is related to bacterial activity in the "apocrine sweat". Armpits don't smell because they sweat more; they smell because it's a different kind of sweat.

Even the sweat from the apocrine glands doesn't smell when it's produced. But because it is much richer in nutrients than the sweat produced from the eccrine glands (which is 99% water and the last 1% mainly being salts), it is a fertile feeding ground for bacteria. And it's the waste excreted by the bacteria feeding on your appocrine sweat that smells bad, not the sweat itself.