[JennyDale]

JennyDale on June 28, 2013 at 9:24 pm #854

Recently I read an article that pretty much made fun of Gwyneth Paltrow's underarm sweating at Iron Man 3 premiere or something like that. Okay, celebrity-related news are stupid most of the time anyway – I just used this to illustrate my point: why and when did sweating become such a shameful thing?
It's perfectly normal. It's a universal human trait. It's unavoidable. Has our society become so shallow that something so trivial like sweating is being made horrible and even disgusting? I'm afraid so.

This makes me a little mad, because I keep thinking: if normal sweating wasn't considered that bad, we who suffer from heavy sweating wouldn't be having such a bad time coping with this. People sometimes look at me with disgust – well guess what, it's not my fault! If I knew how to not sweat, I'd stay dry, geez..!

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[Tim Fleiss]

Tim Fleiss on June 28, 2013 at 10:08 pm #857

Well said! Mind you, I have a little inside joke with a friend of mine (who also suffers from profuse sweating.) Something that helps us feel better about our hyper hydrosis issues.

We meet, shake hands, and if his are wet, I say: “Hey man, I see you're keeping it cool!” He's the same with me if my shirt is stained, etc. The function of sweating is to cool off our bodies right? So, when you're feeling bad, just mentally replace the word “sweating” with “keeping it cool”.
It really makes me chuckle sometimes, and finding humor in lousy situations can do nothing but help. Gotta keep our spirits up and society's judgment won't be able to bring us down. 😉

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[Sean M.]

Sean M. on June 28, 2013 at 10:35 pm #858

Regarding sweating and modern society – this is a complicated question. Part of the blame definitely lies with antiperspirants. Do not get this wrong – I am happy that they exist. However, it is probably thanks to them that everyone now believes sweat should be nearly extinct.

Think about it. Most people don't have problems with excessive perspiration – even the mildest antiperspirant can keep them dry. So, we who can't stop sweating are turned into a minority. People don't get what our problems are and we're being misunderstood, and yes, even condemned – for something as banal as heavy sweating.

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[Plastic Pete]

Plastic Pete on June 29, 2013 at 4:25 pm #859

Condemned? Would sooner say that people simply tend to run away from things they find uncomfortable – such as odor. And excessive sweating always makes people think of nasty odors. They don't like it, so they mock heavy sweating – any sweating, really – and look down on it. I think it all boils down to a simple human reaction.

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