body odor

[dee2essohkay (imported)]

I have not come across mention of body odor here but wondering if anyone knows, does loss of testosterone result in diminishing body odor? I have been a self injurer for most of my life. (I only recently have been trying to change that because I didn’t understand that I was not actually doing anything proactive about it up to then). I had a lot of self directed rage that I had no other way to release.

I have always believed that my self harm was brought on by my maleness. And consequently my self injury was very often directed at my masculinity. For a great deal of time, I never considered that I could change myself for the better/safer through castration. But I managed to hurt myself between my legs numerous times over many years and then after a particularly difficult period in my life 25 or so years ago, where I did lots of self injury, I (and my wife) noticed that I lost natural body odor. I never explained what I suspected, but have wondered ever since. One particular event at the time made it necessary to go to ER and it was after that event that I noticed the change.

I have a lot of deep rage due to being male. I’ve honestly been feeling kind of desperate over the last couple years first feeling that there was nothing I could do and then realizing that I could actually make castration real - not out of the rage but in an effort to seek a solution. This has led me to much searching online how I could get it safely (medically approved) done. But in that effort I began to run into road blocks because I though I’d have to do it the route of being trans in the form of male to female. Though that is attractive to me as well, It is not the route that would be most appropriate and I began thinking I’d need to do the job myself. That of course was not a good idea, yet being driven by desperation I have to admit that It sent me to the emergency room a few more times, and most recently, a hospital stay and surgery to repair the damage. It also made me angrier and at times I verbally lashed out at people who would otherwise have been helping me. They actually were helping me.

So in my further searching I’ve been fairly thorough in figuring out what I need to do to get a medically safe orchiectomy. I still seem to get differing “predictions” on how the loss of testicles will physiologically change me. As I said above, I may have significantly affected level of testosterone through self injury years ago and noticed certain physical changes in me that might not be so noticeable to the general public. One of these changes was the change in body odor. (was odor at times - but no longer). And as I also said, I have not seen mention of such a change here or anywhere. Still, I have male qualities I need to lose and believe I am now on a safe track and proceeding working on getting the surgery done. Once it done, I am suspecting that I won’t really have much in the way of physiological changes because I think that has already happened.

[fiddlydink (imported)]

does loss of testosterone result in diminishing body odor?

Yes, absolutely. It seems the odor goes away once levels drop to a certain point.

[dee2essohkay (imported)]

that is very interesting/enlightening to know! that must mean that i’ve undergone hormonal changes a long time ago yet still having enough to still be fairly male. i don't seem to have bone density issues etc. hmm. anyway… thanks for the info! now to go the rest of the way.

[Cseriess (imported)]

What's the age when body odor starts?

No matter how hard they play, young children don't usually smell like B.O.

It's easy to blame body odor -- also called bromhidrosis -- on your sweat. After all, your body has about 2.6 million sweat glands that can crank out about a pint of sweat every day ... and that's not including . Yet, you never meet a baby with body odor. When is it that we start to smell? To figure that out, first you have to understand what causes body odor.

It's not actually the sweat or sweat glands that cause body odor: The bacteria that live on our take the blame for the smell. Those bacteria feed on a type of sweat that your body starts to produce only after you reach puberty.

The human body has two types of sweat glands. The eccrine glands excrete sweat that's made mostly of water and salt. This sweat is part of the body's air conditioning system -- as it evaporates, it keeps the body cool. Babies need to stay cool, too, so the eccrine glands start doing their work long before you reach puberty.

It's sweat from your other sweat glands, the apocrine glands, that can cause a smell. Apocrine glands are located in the hair follicles. The sweat released from the apocrine glands contains fatty acids and proteins and is thicker than sweat from the eccrine glands. Sweat from apocrine glands isn't released to help us cool down, but rather it's secreted when we're under stress (emotional stress, physical stress and also physical and sexual excitement).

Bacteria are attracted to the fatty acids and proteins in sweat from the apocrine glands. As they process these substances, the bacteria emit byproducts that cause body odor.

While you're born with them, your apocrine glands don't turn on until you reach puberty.

[Paolo]

I can attest to this from much personal experience coaching, photographing, and transporting boys of all ages to sporting events.

Prepubertal boys can generate a "funk", but it's not all that unpleasant. They smell more like a combination of grass and dirt with a moderate moisture content. It's really hard to describe, but it's not offensive.

Now, once puberty kicks in, the smell can utterly change overnight! And it only takes ONE boy to stink up the whole car! And it's awful. Men know what they can get to smelling like, and they know what other guys smell like. But that doesn't compare to the reek that rapidly-pubescing boys put off. Trust me. You don't want to go there!

It's just one of the many things that testosterone changes.

[Cseriess (imported)]

LOL! I volunteer with boys 11 to 18. My truck will hold the smell of boys in puberty for weeks! They smell really bad! And it sticks to everything! When our 3 boys each went through puberty we realized the only way to get that smell out of their room was to replace the carpet and paint the walls.

[Valery_V (imported)]

However, the theme is a little funny.

Good thing I don't have such a keen sense of smell.

I try to wash myself regularly. The main thing for me is that I am quite used to my own smell.

By the way, good specialists are pets. My coach has a young shepherd dog and a neutered cat.

When visiting: the dog was friendly and greeted me, and the cat strove to suck on the buttons on my shirt (for some reason? Maybe he felt a neutered colleague in me .

[Begoneboy (imported)]

that is very interesting/enlightening to know! that must mean that i’ve undergone hormonal changes a long time ago yet still having enough to still be fairly male. i don't seem to have bone density issues etc. hmm. anyway… thanks for the info! now to go the rest of the way.

This is a topic I've never considered, but it does make sense on many levels. Not that I have ever noticed things such as smell. Now I've been without testicles since 1994 and have taken Estrogen since 1996. Of course my body has changed significantly since then. I'm not talking about age and weight but it's form and shape and emotions and sensitivities. Anybody that doesn't consider the emotions part of the journey has their head buried in the sand. But I digress. In time I became the attention of men and with that my own attractions became towards the rougher sex. On so may occasions I have been complimented on how nice I smell. The peculiar thing to that sort of remark is that I do nothing the mask my natural scent in any way whatsoever. I rather follow Queen Victoria's hygiene rules of bathing once a week (in her case it was once a month) whether I need it or not. I have never used deodorants or anything other than shampoo to cleanse the body and hair. And yet many men voice that I smell so good. I could never explain that and now this thread brings a little clarity.

[Cseriess (imported)]

I am sure I have seen numerous posts on here about this. When I tried chemical castration, even though I got hot flashes and sweated a lot, I never really had BO. It kind of went with not having to shave my face every day. I don't sweat that much anyway, and normally just on one side, but my smell definitely changed, noticeably to my gf at the time. When I take boys to summer camp, it's absolutely fine that the younger ones rarely bathe, and often the only change of clothes is in and out of swim shorts. Both they and their clothes still smell just fine at the end of camp. I would like to pressure wash some of the older ones twice a day they smell so bad! Girls can smell just as bad when they start puberty. Different smell, but just as clinging and unpleasant.

[Fixet (imported)]

When i was around 18-24 ive gotten comments that i stink, but sometimes i just showered 1 hour ago! it was really bad. But i did, and still sweat alot, like really alot still i am ashamed of that, but i cant do anything about it. When the outside temperature and moist is right, i can just start sweating from walking, its poring out of my head, like a blown head-gasket. Thats why i like the autumn and winter, when the temperature is down, i dont sweat then.

But when ive started chemical castration, i was about 24y my body odor almost disappeared, i even could skip showering for a few days!