Why Most Asian People Don’t Need to Use Deodorant

Asian people generally do not have Rh-negative blood and hospitals don’t store it for transfusions. Foreign travelers who have negative blood rhesus are in big trouble if they happen to need a blood transfusion. There are so many ways in which Asians are different from other races, and one of them is that they usually don’t need to use deodorant to get rid of body odor.

We at Bright Side know that it doesn’t feel good to be envious, but we can’t help but be jealous of Asian people who, according to different studies, don’t bother using deodorant on their armpits. And it’s not because they don’t care about the smell of their body, but rather, it’s because of their special condition, and we’d love for you to find out more together with us.

It’s all about the “smelly” gene.

No one is born with smelly armpits as our body actually produces odorless sweat that is invaded by bacteria later on, and that’s where the smell comes from. But a recent study from the University of Bristol has uncovered the fact that whether your armpits smell or not depends on one particular gene called ABCC11.

Initially, scientists thought this gene was only responsible for the consistency of earwax, making it either dry or wet. In fact, it was discovered that 80% to 95% of East Asian people have dry earwax, whereas African and European people have wet. And surprisingly, earwax consistency is related to the smell of the armpits.

As it turns out, Asian people have a special genetic condition, which is a lack of the gene, ABCC11. This makes their earwax dry because it lacks the substance that feeds bacteria. The same thing happens with their sweat: it doesn’t smell because the bacteria stay “hungry” as the bodies of Asian people don’t produce this substance for their food.

European and African people aren’t as lucky as less than 3% of them don’t have this gene while the rest do have it, which is why their armpit bacteria has an environment for them to thrive in, therefore, producing an odor.

Some people still use deodorant when they don’t need to.

Surprisingly, the vast majority of women continue to use deodorant, even if they don’t have this “smelly gene.” Genetic scientists suggest that pressure from society is the reason why some of us keep following various unnecessary hygienic routines simply because “everyone else is doing it.”

How do you feel when you realize you don’t have any deodorant on hand? What is your life hack for dealing with body odor?