curgen
New Member
It's a wonderful feeling when you come across an easy solution to a problem that's been nagging at you for the better part of your adult life.
As many as one in four men suffer from hyperhidrosis of varying degrees. I'm one of them. Typically, sitting still in 65+ degree temperatures is enough to start sweating, and doing any physical activity in any temperature is enough to become pitted-out within minutes.
Because of this, I've been know to wear black and navy blue virtually every day that I work in order to avoid looking like a disgusting mess. When you wear black every day, people start to wonder if you're hobbies include strangling puppies and the occasional shopping mall massacre. Thank fuck I don't have terrible body odor as well, or I may have offed myself years ago. Whether people really notice it or not, it feels like having a pimple on your forehead or a bubbling cold-sore on your face. A high level of self-confidence and dinner plate sized pit stains are mutually exclusive.
Which brings us to the fix: prescription-strength homebrew antiperspirant. Over-the-counter antiperspirants usually use some form of aluminum in various concentrations. I haven't had luck with any of them and decided to whip up some DIY Odaban, a British solution with a 4.6 rating on Amazon which is very similar or identical to prescription formulations. It worked on day 1 for me and it's a long-overdue and welcome relief. I'm not sure where I found the formula specific to Odaban, but it's quite simple.
20% Aluminum Chloride Hexahydrate (active ingredient)
1% Dimethicone (inactive silicone for consistency, common in cosmetics)
79% Ethyl alcohol (inactive solvent/carrier)
Weigh out your Aluminum Chloride, dissolve in ethanol, and add dimethicone. Seal in capped spray bottle and protect from heat, light, and atmospheric moisture. This is easier than making mashed potatoes.
Apply one spray per armpit or anywhere else (hands, feet, forehead, etc) using a cotton swab if necessary. Always apply to dry skin when sweating will be unlikely, like at night before bed. The aluminum binds to proteins in your pores and plugs them up.
The active will dissolve readily, so do not apply any heat beyond a little hot water bath if you're impatient. Especially avoid open flames for obvious reasons.
All of the ingredients can be ordered without much trouble online and inexpensively. You could probably use Everclear (190 proof), but you would need to "dry" it to remove the remaining water, since the Aluminum Chloride is broken down by water. You can do this by baking around 300g MgSO4 (Epsom salts) in the oven until relatively anhydrous, and mixing with the 750mL Everclear, allowing it to absorb the remaining water, then filtering out the hydrated crystals.
Another option is simply using commercial denatured alcohol found in the painting aisle which is usually over 90% ethyl alcohol along with some isopropyl alcohol and other traces meant to denature. I hesitate to recommend this route though, since it's unclear whether there are other harmful substances included like heavy metals that aren't suitable to topical use. While distillation probably removes them all, I don't know for sure so keep that in mind. Even using 200 proof lab-grade denatured ethanol works out to be quite inexpensive.
For reference, the Aluminum Chloride is about $18 for 100g, which is enough for approximately 500mL of finished product, or more than 16 of the name-brand Odaban 30mL bottles. Since those bottles run $15 or so apiece, you'd spend $250 on the name brand to get 500mL, which would cost about $30 to make ourselves.
500mL will last a seriously long time, so I recommend making it as you need it rather than in one large batch. Also consider that this product only needs to be used 2-3 times per week after using everyday for the first week. One pump of the spray bottle is all that's called for and most reviewers tend to support this recommended sparing application schedule.
Details on the name-brand Odaban can be found below:
If you sweat like a mofo like I do, you should really look into this. Even if you don't care to make it yourself, at least try Odaban. The solution is out there and available!
As many as one in four men suffer from hyperhidrosis of varying degrees. I'm one of them. Typically, sitting still in 65+ degree temperatures is enough to start sweating, and doing any physical activity in any temperature is enough to become pitted-out within minutes.
Because of this, I've been know to wear black and navy blue virtually every day that I work in order to avoid looking like a disgusting mess. When you wear black every day, people start to wonder if you're hobbies include strangling puppies and the occasional shopping mall massacre. Thank fuck I don't have terrible body odor as well, or I may have offed myself years ago. Whether people really notice it or not, it feels like having a pimple on your forehead or a bubbling cold-sore on your face. A high level of self-confidence and dinner plate sized pit stains are mutually exclusive.
Which brings us to the fix: prescription-strength homebrew antiperspirant. Over-the-counter antiperspirants usually use some form of aluminum in various concentrations. I haven't had luck with any of them and decided to whip up some DIY Odaban, a British solution with a 4.6 rating on Amazon which is very similar or identical to prescription formulations. It worked on day 1 for me and it's a long-overdue and welcome relief. I'm not sure where I found the formula specific to Odaban, but it's quite simple.
20% Aluminum Chloride Hexahydrate (active ingredient)
1% Dimethicone (inactive silicone for consistency, common in cosmetics)
79% Ethyl alcohol (inactive solvent/carrier)
Weigh out your Aluminum Chloride, dissolve in ethanol, and add dimethicone. Seal in capped spray bottle and protect from heat, light, and atmospheric moisture. This is easier than making mashed potatoes.
Apply one spray per armpit or anywhere else (hands, feet, forehead, etc) using a cotton swab if necessary. Always apply to dry skin when sweating will be unlikely, like at night before bed. The aluminum binds to proteins in your pores and plugs them up.
The active will dissolve readily, so do not apply any heat beyond a little hot water bath if you're impatient. Especially avoid open flames for obvious reasons.
All of the ingredients can be ordered without much trouble online and inexpensively. You could probably use Everclear (190 proof), but you would need to "dry" it to remove the remaining water, since the Aluminum Chloride is broken down by water. You can do this by baking around 300g MgSO4 (Epsom salts) in the oven until relatively anhydrous, and mixing with the 750mL Everclear, allowing it to absorb the remaining water, then filtering out the hydrated crystals.
Another option is simply using commercial denatured alcohol found in the painting aisle which is usually over 90% ethyl alcohol along with some isopropyl alcohol and other traces meant to denature. I hesitate to recommend this route though, since it's unclear whether there are other harmful substances included like heavy metals that aren't suitable to topical use. While distillation probably removes them all, I don't know for sure so keep that in mind. Even using 200 proof lab-grade denatured ethanol works out to be quite inexpensive.
For reference, the Aluminum Chloride is about $18 for 100g, which is enough for approximately 500mL of finished product, or more than 16 of the name-brand Odaban 30mL bottles. Since those bottles run $15 or so apiece, you'd spend $250 on the name brand to get 500mL, which would cost about $30 to make ourselves.
500mL will last a seriously long time, so I recommend making it as you need it rather than in one large batch. Also consider that this product only needs to be used 2-3 times per week after using everyday for the first week. One pump of the spray bottle is all that's called for and most reviewers tend to support this recommended sparing application schedule.
Details on the name-brand Odaban can be found below:
Code:
http://www.odaban.com/products/antiperspirant-spray/If you sweat like a mofo like I do, you should really look into this. Even if you don't care to make it yourself, at least try Odaban. The solution is out there and available!
