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"  Hollywood might be all-green everything, but even in the land of eco chic, some occasions call for heavy-duty chemistry. &amp;quot;There are products I&amp;#039;ve had to abandon, like organic deodorant,&amp;quot; says actress Jaime King. &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;d rather take three showers than sweat through my clothes and stink because I tried 10,000 crystal deodorants that don&amp;#039;t work. At a movie premiere, I use aluminum.&amp;quot; King might be doing her fellow attendees a favor\u2014turns out the waft of one person&amp;#039;s stress is actually contagious. According to a study at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, the scent of stress sweat can trigger anxiety (and the resulting stress sweat) in others. This process, known as chemosignaling, means that you&amp;#039;re not imagining a little something extra in the air in high-intensity meetings. &amp;quot;If you and I are sitting together and I&amp;#039;m stressed-out, then you will start to become stressed as well,&amp;quot; says Susan Biehle-Hulette, PhD, a senior scientist at P&amp;amp;amp;G who studies biochemistry. Related: 25 Ways to Sleep Better Tonight A brief primer on sweat: The body produces two kinds, eccrine and apocrine. Eccrine glands, located from head to toe, produce sweat all day long but amp up during exercise, exertion, or exposure to heat, keeping our core temperature under control via evaporation. Ninety-nine percent water, this slightly acidic dew has a mild, slightly sour, but basically inoffensive aroma. &amp;quot;Even sitting in your office right now, you are sweating; you just don&amp;#039;t realize it,&amp;quot; Biehle-Hulette says. Related: 9 Ways to Hack Your Morning Routine The smellier stuff comes from the apocrine glands, which reside in areas that have hair follicles, such as the armpits and groin, and produce sweat in response to emotional stress. Apocrine sweat is about 80 percent water; the rest is made up of lipids and proteins. This musty mix smells, Biehle-Hulette says, &amp;quot;because when the bacteria that naturally live on our bodies consume those lipids and proteins, it causes odor.&amp;quot; So, now that you know the enemy, how best to fight it? Our first, strongest defense against stress sweat is aluminum-based antiperspirants. Whether over-the-counter or prescription strength, they all work in the same way: Aluminum-salt compounds react with sweat to form a gel plug that blocks glands, preventing the release of future sweat. Drugstore clinical options top out at 20 percent aluminum; beyond that, you need a prescription for Xerac AC or Drysol. These options &amp;quot;translate to a larger, stronger plug that stays put longer,&amp;quot; says dermatologist Josh Zeichner, MD. &amp;quot;It depends on the product, but most promise 24 to 48 hours of antiperspirant protection.&amp;quot; Antiperspirants work best when applied before bed, allowing the aluminum to kick in, and there&amp;#039;s no need to top up after a morning shower. &amp;quot;As the body continues to sweat, it gradually and naturally pushes the plugs out over the course of a few days,&amp;quot; Biehle-Hulette says. The idea of aluminum plugs doesn&amp;#039;t play well among the Shailene Woodleys and Hannah Bronfmans of the world, who have sworn off antiperspirants. Indeed, the pursuit of the perfect protection (chic! eco! effective!) has become an online message-board obsession. Using plain old deodorants\u2014which either kill underarm bacteria or mask odor with fragrance\u2014is one option. The same Purell wipes used to sanitize hands would work to reduce underarm bacteria, but their high levels of alcohol can cause irritation. Raw coconut oil, silver, and zinc also rank as proven bacteria zappers. Some globe-trotters swear by formulas not available Stateside: One ELLE editor smuggles back multiples of her favorite roll-on deodorant from a tiny French pharmacy, and Karlie Kloss stocks up on Dove aerosol spray overseas: &amp;quot;There&amp;#039;s nothing worse than putting on a couture gown and leaving a deodorant mark,&amp;quot; Kloss says. For a high-tech approach, facial smoother Botox is a surefire option (albeit at $1,500 per treatment) that works by blocking the signal pathways that stimulate underarm sweat. &amp;quot;The downside is that it has to be repeated every six months,&amp;quot; says New York dermatologist Anne Chapas, MD. The treatment may soon become available in cream form, but FDA approval is still pending. Extremists could have their sweat glands surgically removed in China, as one of Chapas&amp;#039; patients did, or they could spring for the less invasive MiraDry, an in-office device that uses microwave energy to destroy underarm glands and damage hair follicles. &amp;quot;We anesthetize the armpit because the treatment is very hot,&amp;quot; Chapas says. &amp;quot;Afterward, there&amp;#039;s some swelling and soreness for about three days.&amp;quot; Of course, the scent of stress may not be all bad. A 2011 study published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience found that smelling your neighbor&amp;#039;s apocrine sweat may heighten the brain&amp;#039;s alertness to both real and potential threats. Further, stress sweat could also spark empathy in the person downwind of you. A 2009 German study found that picking up the scent of others&amp;#039; perspiration acts as an &amp;quot;incorporation of the chemical expressions and thus the feelings of others.&amp;quot; Or to put it another way, &amp;quot;I can smell your pain.&amp;quot; This article appeared in the June 2014 issue of ELLE magazine. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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