How I Beat My Excessive Underarm Sweating
In this article is give a true account of how I personally beat my excessive underarm sweating problem. In writing it I hope to reach out to at least a handful of the millions of people who suffer from this awful condition.
My message is a simple one: I beat excessive sweating and so can you. Please read on to find out how I did it.
My Excessive Underarm Sweating Nightmare Begins
To this day I am not sure how or why I developed excessive underarm sweating. I know that it happened around the time I took a career change and started working in an office environment. Before this I don’t think I was even aware that the condition existed.
In all likelihood my condition started as a result of a combination of anxiety, stress and the formal clothes had to wear at work. My symptoms were a combination of sweaty hands, sweaty and smelly feet and, worst of all, excessive underarm sweating. It was the latter that had the biggest impact on my self-esteem and confidence.
Within 30 minutes of arriving at the office each day I would have huge sweat patches on my shirt. Even now when I think back I can still feel that awful cold, wet sensation of having to work all day in sweat drenched clothes.
Crazy Ways to Deal with my Condition
To try to deal with my condition I started to adopt more and more bizarre habits. I would go to the bathroom every 15 minutes or so to spray myself with antiperspirant and stuff reams of toilet paper under my arms.
Although this did temporarily stop my shirt from becoming saturated, it also meant that I could not raise my arms. Not only did this make me look ridiculous, it also exacerbated the sweating because I had to clamp my arms constantly by my sides.
I used to dread giving presentations or having to write anything on the whiteboard in a meeting room. Not only did I fear that people would see my sweat patches, but also that one of my clumps of toilet paper might fall on to the floor in front of my colleagues.
I also tried other things such as wearing a vest to protect my shirt. And when one vest failed to stop the flood I even tried wearing two!
Enough is Enough – My Plan for Beating My Excessive Underarm Sweating
I think everybody reaches a point one day when enough is enough. I put up with my condition for about 3 months. By then my self-esteem was at rock bottom and my quality of life was starting to be seriously compromised.
So, I decided to make a change. I was sure that if I approached the problem in a systematic, methodical way then I could at least manage my condition, or maybe even beat it once and for all.
In the following sections I describe the actual steps that I took that resulted in me beating my excessive underarm sweating problem.
Step #1: I analysed when my excessive sweating occurred
I sat myself down in a quiet room and reflected on the particular times when my sweating was at it’s worst and when it was milder or didn’t appear at all.
I wasn’t surprised to find that the worst of my excessive underarm sweating occurred when I felt self-conscious, under pressure or in generally uncomfortable situations.
I also noticed that some of the situations were physical – such as being stuck in a small, stuffy meeting room, and some were psychological – such as the intense pressure I put myself under when I first arrived at work and was desperate not to ruin my shirt for the whole day with huge sweat patches.
I set about planning how I could reduce my exposure to the times when I was at high risk of excessive sweating. A basic example would be that whenever possible I would go to the meeting room 10 minutes before the scheduled start time and make sure the air conditioning was running and the room was well ventilated.
Step #2: I put together my excessive sweating management kit
This sounds very grand but what it meant was to have plenty of spares and supplies available to me when I needed them. My kit included:
- A roll-on antiperspirant / deodorant.
- A small towel.
- A pack of lightly scented, moist wipes.
- Two spare shirts, neatly folded.
- A packet of disposable dress guards.
- Two pairs of clean socks.
- A foot deodorant spray.
I actually put two of these kits together – one for the car and one in my filing cabinet at work. And I made sure I replaced anything that I used so I always knew that I had a full kit available to me.
For me, the true value of these kits was knowing that they were available should I need them. This relieved the tension and anxiety that I had created for myself by thinking that if I got a bit sweaty then I would be doomed to feel uncomfortable and ashamed for the rest of the day.
Over time I found I needed to call on my excessive sweating management kits less and less until I reached the point when I rarely used any of the items.
Step #3: I experimented with clothing and antiperspirants
Short of taking medication or undergoing medical procedures there are several things that you can do to actively manage and alleviate excessive sweating. They include:
- Choosing the right clothing.
- Choosing an antiperspirant that works for you.
- Looking after your general health including taking regular exercise and eating healthy foods.
My next step was to experiment with each of these and find things that would have a positive impact on my excessive underarm sweating.
Over a few weeks I tried various non-prescribed antiperspirants – each for about a week at a time. In the end I found a product in my local supermarket that worked extremely well for me. The product (that I use to this day) is a roll-on by a company called Mitchum. I recommend you look out for it and give it a try. But also be sure to try other products because you might something that works better for you.
At the same time I experimented with different types of clothing and fabrics. In agreement with popular wisdom I found that 100% cotton, well-fitting clothes (not too tight, not too loose) worked best for me.
In the early days I stuck with light coloured fabrics since they were best at reducing the visibility of my sweat patches. This helped boost my confidence.
Through experimentation I found that going to the gym during my lunch break also worked very well for me. I think this was a combination of being able to “legitimately” sweat for half an hour and the chance to have a proper shower midway through the day. If you are in the position to give this strategy a try then I heartily recommend it.
Step #4: I relaxed, experimented and tweaked
Finally, and most importantly, I made a conscious effort every single hour of every single day to try to relax and take an objective view of what I was experiencing. Experimentation with the items discussed in step #3 really helped me to do this.
Whereas before I would panic and become paralysed with shame and embarrassment the moment I felt a drip of perspiration coming from my armpit, I started to look at what was happening in a much more objective way.
I would think “This antiperspirant sucks. I think I will drop it and try another one” or “Even though I have been sweating a little this morning, the brand of business shirt still feels quite comfortable.”
I found that working hard to remove my emotion from the situation helped me to think and act more calmly. And this, in turn, reduced my sweating.
So, how will you stop your excessive sweating?
I apologise to you. This has turned out to be a very long article. If you are still with me then thank you for taking the time to read it. I hope it has given you something to think about.
I managed to stop 90% of my excessive underarm sweating in about 8 weeks using exactly the strategies I have outlined above. I am now in the fortunate position where I rarely, if ever, even think about excessive sweating.
Why don’t you do yourself a favour and give some of these strategies a try? It will cost you very little, but the reward of beating your excessive sweating will be priceless.
If you need more detailed guidance be sure to check out my excessive sweating product review section. There you will find some great resources on how to stop sweating.
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{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks man, this is an inspiring story. I hope I can beat my problem in the same way.
its all about relaxing and not caring what other people think!!! we are not born with this problem its caused by irrational fears we take on due to the nature of image conscious society that we live in. my strategies specfically are to try and smile as much as possible cos it makes u happy and relaxes u and i think about God and the peace and harmony in creation, i also think about my relationship with God and my position in the univerese. i also find it useful to look at natural/green things, like trees flowers etc.. it relaxes me and is good for my eyes so im told!!!. i have also taken on the beleif that the modern society that we live in is very harmful to us and so i try to resist materialism as much as possible this help as I am less affected by the nonsensical pressures that materialism brings!!!
but thats just me folks… but it really does work
omg this really made me feel better i cant tell you how many deodarents ive tryed like 10 hopefully this works ive gone throughh everything even crying about the fact of sweating .
i still dont think that im brave enougth to go places just wearin a t-shirt or shirt i worry bout things then notice im sweating then i worry even more because im sweating and the as im worrying more i sweat more so what can i do.
thanks for the time that u taked writting this. it really encouraged me to try me in the next days in different situations and then i’ll let you know
. if it does’t work i guess i will go under Surgery because really i can’t take this situation anymore. thanks again.
Golf shirts (mesh blends) show almost no sweat and are fast drying. They look good with dress pants and blazers as well. That solves my work day, but i still can’t get over my fear of wearing anything I want when I go on a date or something. My brain still has a hold over this part of my body, but I know it will be gone someday.
Some great advice! I find Mitchum works well too, but it ruins my clothes. Does anyone have any remedies for removing the white marks it leaves? cheers
oh boo hoo your underarms sweat, if only my underarms sweat my life would be bliss, controlling underarm sweat – compared to other areas of excessive sweating- is the easiest to control and if any of you knew what it was like to ACTUALLY sweat excessively you wouldn’t sit here writing sad bullshit tips on how to control suck a minor problem… go have ets then come back and cry!
agree with #8. i can’t go outside the door in hot weather, because my body is dripping. my underarms are too, of course, but that’s a minor problem.
incredible how you try to take credit for this shit.
i hate sweating, i have an all over problem, and + or a – im very un confident about my self, grrrr at school i always smell of BO(body odor) because i have this pathetic condition.
thank everybody for relize me that i’m not the only one how get sweat in class. so i think i should make my own way to confidence and built my mental
thank everybody for relize me that i’m not the only one how get sweat in class. so i think i should make my own way to confidence and built my mental
yea well this article kind of sucks but its great advice. sorta. and i sweat A LOT so…… IT NEEDS TO STOP!
Yeah underarm sweat is easy to hide. Try dealing with facial sweating and then you are screwed.
I sweat on all parts of my body, but the facial is the worse. Can’t really hide it at all….
I do goto meetings early to kick the AC to max. People always come in and complain about how cold it is. I agree and say someone must have messed with the ac…:)
yo
i dnt reasly care i use anti perpreints but wat realy annoys mi is when my friends points it out ..! so i carry a bottle if anti perprients nd use it n da loo .! no1 can tel a difference nd it doesnt matter wher you sweat it can still embarrass people no matter wher you sweat
ive used this and it dose work,
when you are in school it is quite hard to stick on anti-perprients as your friends are always with you.
if you have a spare t-shirt in your bag and just think too your self im not going to sweat trust me you wont. when i thought about it its always when i worry, i swaet
thank you for this post
hey! man how much do the dress shields cost!?!?
ok, i sweat under my arms, the bottoms of my feet and my palms. I’ve tried every anti-perspirant out there, but none of them work for me. but i hav gym towards the end of the day and after sweating in there i don’t sweat at all my last hour of school!!! So i think i’m gonna try excercising b4 school early in the morning to see if that helps, because thinking positive doesn’t help me during the day. Also, guys, don’t use antiperspirants with aluminum chloride or other wierd chemicals because those are known to cause cancers and stuff.
I have not tried these steps yet but I sweat like crazy!!!!! In the winter it might be below freezing and I’m sweating like a pig! It looks as someone has got the hose and sprayed my underarms. I’m in school and I’m always with people even in the bathroom so I can’t put on antiperspint without someone seeing my problem. Please help! I can’t be a normal teenager with this problem bcuz I love dance and gymnastics and softball but it’s hard to do when you know ur whole short is sweated out bcuz then people will know! Please tell me what is good for my case or good antiperspents that really work are not just a waste of money. And I’ve experimented. With 5 different deoderents! None work thx please help!
I think it took real guts to post this on here. To those who are commenting on ‘this is a minor problem’ then ok, to you it is, but not to other people. And I don’t know if you’ve taken the time to read the above comments but people have actually written things like ‘thanks man, this is an inspiring story’ and ‘Some great advice!’ So it does work. and by the way #8, you said try dealing with real excessive sweating, if it was a real problem we wouldn’t be posting it on here? Do you have this problem? ..then you wouldn’t be posting comments on here either, would you? I thought it was inspiring too, thanks for the post.
I think the writer of this aticle is very lucky those ‘tricks worked for him/her. I have suffered from Hyperhydrosis (excessive sweating) since I was a kid. My entire body gets sweaty, especially my face, neck and armpits. I am now in my 30’s and finding this condition effects every part of my life. Like many other I have tried all of the deodorants available, I used Mitchem as a kid but find it no longer helps. I have taken prescription meds but the side effects were worse than the problem itself. I have tried the whole toilet paper/tissues under the pits, 3 extra outfits, carry deodorant eveywhere I go, and have even had to go as far as wearing deodorant on my face. I also drink heaps of sage tea. At night I have had to lay towels under me to not get the bed wet. I wear pj’s to help soak the sweat up even though it seems to stain my clothes and leave discoloration like a bleach stain. I can no longer work around food or in the public eye (such as customer service) due to this condition. Sure there are more serious conditions going around, but hyperhydrosis can really f*** with a person’s life. It’s not just wet, uncomfortable and embarrassing it is also smelly!! I do wish there was a ‘cure’. Thanks though for the tips, hopefully they will help someone.
ohmygod , i havent try the method above , but i hope it works , every single time when i walk to school , i look everywhere , no one is sweating underarms , and i am like an alien or what , having this problem , having underarm sweat stains is so embarassing , esp when someone saw that ! and when i reached school every single morning , i had to go to the toilet to dry my underarm sweat stain using the handdyer .-.- i am just a normal teenager who wants normal life . i dontwant something like this ! i dontwant look around and see everyone not sweating while i am sweating underarm embarassingly , i dont even dare to raise my hands up to as for questions or move to slid my hands into the bag . seriously , i gotta stop this freaking problemmmmm !
Thanks,
This sounds real easy. I shall try and keep you updated. Am In Kenya and I drink at least eight glasses of water. Think this will have an effect?
Raq
I agree with some others’ comments – suddenly developing a stress-related underarm sweating problem seems to be different from hyperhydrosis, which I’ve had since I was a kid. I tried prescription anti-perspirants and electro-shock treatments but these were worse than the problem itself (I guess it’s relative though!). That said the main things I’ve tried that have helped are easier to incorporate into ‘normal’ life, and have other benefits too: 1.) completely cutting out caffeine (i.e. Coke, caffeinated tea, coffee etc. – drinking decaf is a pain but it’s worth it), 2.) regular yoga and 3.) running a few times a week. When I do these things, my sweating decreases a lot. Also, looking at it from a different perspective helps too. Some cultures aren’t so uptight about sweating. It’s natural and if my body is doing it, it must need to, for some (strange and annoying!) reason. People who don’t sweat at all are wierd too. If someone else is noticing your sweat and pointing it out to you, they really need something better to do! Thinking to myself ‘It’s not a big deal right now/It could be worse/It doesn’t matter what these particular people think’ helps in most situations, and when it works it builds confidence for other more important situations, meaning I sweat less then too. Nothing in particular works every time, but some relief is better than none.
I have had an excessive sweating problem since the third grade, and I can’t help but feel like it’s getting worse. My arms are drenched, my grades are falling because I won’t raise my arms to answer questions in class, and my self esteem is lower than the temperature in the north pole.I’ve tried over 15 deodrants , and nothing works. Certain Dri, Womens Degree Clinical, Secret Clinical Protection, to name a few. Sweating has taken a tole on my life, and I need a way to stop. Is the deodrant mentioned in the article sold in Canada ?
Thanks for your article , it really took guts to put your story out here.
Hey, well agree with all of the other posts, its a real pain when underarm/any sweating is causing problems in somebodies life. Especially in the social life. I have found out that wearing a jacket hides it, so forth i wear my jacket EVERYWHERE. I live in a very hot state in the USA and in the summer its about 110 degrees everyday. I still wear it. Only a few days i have dared to not wear a jacket. So you guys should try that, until you find that solution to your problem then you always could wear a jacket. That way nobody notices, you can raise your hand in class, your grades with heighten because you aren’t depressed about sweating. I hate when people point that stuff out! Its so annoying, like dont you have something better to do than point out a flaw in me??
I can’t describe how happy i am after reading this article and these comments! I am not alone with my problem!!! I have hyperhidrosis, i am 100% sure and it is said that only 3% of the world’s population has that problem! I was like: why me?? why do i have to be one of them?!? i was desperate, i still am. but i hope this method works. seriously, i feel i cant enjoy my life, there is always something that ruins every single day and it is SWEATING! in summer it’s not that bad but when it’s school it’s just horrible. i can never wear same clothes two times. as soon as i put on a new shirt i start sweating!! it’s so embarrasing. this problem has ruined my life! it’s impossible at school to not start smelling at the end of the day!!! i go to the bathrooms and clean my armpits, and every time they’re totally wet. i know that people have noticed i smell but i just can’t help it and i can’t tell anyone either, it would be even more embarrassing:((( im just clueless, antiperspirants dont work for me!! it’s like i’m being punished for something .i wash myself every day and put on clean clothes but my classmates think i dont realize i smell and think i’m dirty. but i can feel the smell and so i hold my arms thightly around me so that no one would feel it but i still think they do:(. it’s made my self-esteem really low. my mother has the same problem and she’s 40. is this really going to last this long??? i dont want to live like that, i have to find a solution but i’m desperate!
but i have a little more hope now that i’ve read these comments. there are other people having the same problems… i really know how bad it is, how it affects your life and causes problems in social life. we should somehow gather people together online, so that we could share our thoughts and help each other. we shouldn’t let it control our lives! i just look at my friends and think how lucky they are and they dont even realize it. but you know when others judge you because u smell, it’s cos they don’t know your problem. i wouldn’t probably like a person who would smell all the time either.
i hope everyone can somehow find a solution! i really do!! even my biggest enemy wouldn’t deserve this disease.
I have the same problem and it drives me crazy. most of my shirts are ruined. I have tried so many deodorants but none works for me. its so frustrating, i hope they come up with a easy affordable cure for this.
Ha! I’m so glad to know I’m not the only one who’s tried a toilet paper remedy. I fold up toilet paper (about 3 sheets thick, 5 inches long), and tuck one end into my bra. This leaves the rest of it up against my underarm, and into my shirt sleeve. If I’m wearing very short sleeves (no more than half of my upper arm), then one end gets tucked into my bra and then the paper is folded down into my undershirt, where it stays nicely hidden. I change that when needed, remembering to wipe with a wet wipe.
It works, as long as I have my purse around me and I have access to a restroom.
Thank you for writing this article!
I’ve been dealing with hyperhydrosis since grade 9. My self confidence and my social life were completely ruined because of this condition. I started getting botox treatments. They helped, but didn’t stop the sweating enough that I could be completely comfortable. I would still sweat through the baggy sweaters I used to wear to hide my sweaty pits.
Since getting into university it’s gotten much better. Not to say that the condition has gone away. But I can manage it now. I have a couple more tips for anyone else still dealing with this:
1) Always be prepared (like our author said!) – Plan ahead for the situations you’ll be in and dress accordingly. I always keep an extra sweater in my car to cover up if I need to. Another hint: My leather jacket is great. It looks (and feels) sexy (not like the bummy sweaters I’d been wearing), and I can’t sweat through it! A HUGE confidence boost, which in turn slows the sweating!
2) Be honest – I finally told my best friends about the condition (5 years after it started). They were sympathetic, since they’ve dealt with it a little bit too! The response I got? “That’s why you wore sweaters all the time?”
They hadn’t even realized I had such a huge problem!
It really helps knowing you have a few people who you don’t have to hide this from. If one day you sweat and they notice, so what? It’s a medical condition. They know. Change your shirt and move on with your life. Nothing embarrassing about it.
3) Nobody cares – few people bother to care. They’re more concerned about themselves. That’s one thing I’ve learned in university. It’s very anonymous there, and I don’t sit there judging everyone who walks by; so it’s stupid to think you’re the center of attention!
As our author pointed out, it’s all about the confidence. If you worry about sweating, you’re going to sweat. So don’t sweat it!
(hehe, sorry! had to be done!)
Good luck to all of you!