Testosterone and Body Odor

Would you like to know if you’re producing testosterone at optimal levels?

Then pay attention to your body odor.

Especially the pungent odor around your arm pits, feet and testicles, because this sweat is produced by your Apocrine glands.

And Apocrine sweat is hormonal driven.

As a matter of fact, your Apocrine glands were entirely dormant until you reached puberty.

This explains why small kids can sweat like crazy but never develop pungent body odor.

It also explains why men with low testosterone stop smelling pungent too…

They’ve lost the hormones.

I remember laying in bed with my wife after I had finally turned my situation around when she looked over at me and said, you smell different.

And she was right. I had been changing out shirts faster than a Las Vegas stripper.

I was pretty sure it was a good sign, I just didn’t know exactly why yet.

But now I do, and I monitor my smell or lack thereof to gauge how well things are working.

The Jason’s deodorant I discuss on this page will kill your body odor until you hit about 500 ng/dl of testosterone.

But after that, you’re going to need to do more to tame the beast.

But I need to warn you…

It’s important that you avoid products with a laundry list of chemicals on the label…

Because these chemicals are absorbed transdermally through the skin, where they wreak all kinds of hormonal havoc.

I’ve been looking for a solution to this problem for a long time and I finally found it.

Here’s the trick…

Put equal parts baking soda and arrow root, with a splash of apple cider vinegar in a glass cup.

Then mix in an equal amount of warm virgin coconut oil and stir it up to create a paste.

(photo credit Sarah Gilbert)

You may have to play with this a bit to get the consistency right, but the ingredients mix together nicely.

Next…

Apply this mixture to both underarms and you’ll knock out body odor for the next 8 hours or so, with no negative side effects.

This mixture dries quickly, isn’t lumpy or messy and has a mild coconut smell that my wife found pleasant.

I’m certain this natural deodorant works because baking soda kills odor and coconut oil kills bacteria, so the combination gets the job done.

UPDATE – Testosterone and Body Odor Part 2

(Written By David Jaynes)

Is Body Odor Actually Sexy?

Does a single man produce more body odor than a married man?

How do women feel about this musky scent?

Does her body odor have any influence over your own testosterone production or the size of your testicles? 

Well, let’s read on to find out.

Testosterone And Body Odor in Men

The simple truth is, people smell. Every single one of us.

Even Kim Kardashian will have a particular odor about her.

These smells have a wide range of characteristics depending on a wide range of factors. Sometimes they can come across as pleasant, and sometimes they can be repulsing. 

For men, the smell of their sensitive areas can be quite drastic.

It can either smell like pungent urine, or it can smell sweet. No matter how often you scrub up the downstairs, there is going to be a particular odor associated with the region.

However, the actual characteristics of this odor is really dependent on the smeller, and not the one being ‘smelled’. 

Let’s take a second to break down testosterone, and how it impacts body odor, before we get into the details of testicular odor:

What Is Testosterone?

What comes to mind when you first think of the word ‘testosterone’? It’s ok, you can be honest.

Many might think of bulked up, raged out ‘masculine’ manly-men. Some might think of a sexy lumberjack about to deforest the Yukon. 

In truth, testosterone has very little to do with actual ‘manliness’ in a social construct.

However, testosterone is a sex hormone that does have a strong connection to most masculine attributes. For example, testosterone can have an impact on:

• Muscle development. 
• The development of the testicles and penis. 
• Bone density and size.
• Sperm production.
• Libido. 
• The growth of bodily/facial hair. 

These are all physical attributes typically associated with masculinity.

Testosterone is a major player in the way that men live out their daily lives, and when there is an imbalance or lack of testosterone, there can be severe symptoms to follow.

The actual lack of testosterone, or low levels of testosterone can lead to:

• Loss of energy. 
• Decreased libido.
• Mood swings. 
• Weight gain/fluctuation.
• Depression. 
• Lower bone density.
• Reduced body hair.

In this case, it becomes apparent that maintaining, and even increasing testosterone levels can play a critical role in quality of life for men.

Understanding what testosterone is, and what it can do, is going to be important to keep in mind as we discuss further. 

However, testosterone in its traditional sense does not necessarily affect body odor. It needs to be changed into another, more ‘sexy’ chemical. Let’s get back to that.

What Causes Male Body Odor?

That actual culprit behind the body odor of men is a variant of testosterone called androstenone.

Androstenone is an odorous chemical that naturally occurs in the body–more so in men than women–and can produce that very unique odor that many associate with ‘manly musk’. 

Androstenone is found in the sweat and urine, and has been linked to no small amount of interesting social, sexual, and behavioral studies.

Many species of animals will use androstenone to convey a variety of social and sexual behaviors–namely hierarchical.

With that in mind, there is evidence to suggest that humans might subconsciously do the same. 

A study conducted by Rockefeller University found that humans can perceive androstenone through a very specific smell receptor called OR7D4.

The study showed that this receptor was the one that androstenone activates when smelled.

However, the study also showed that not everyone was able to perceive the hormone the same way. 

Across the 400 participants tested, many perceived the odor of androstenone to smell like stale sweat or pungent urine; while others perceive the smell to be sweet like vanilla; and still others couldn’t smell anything at all. 

The study was interesting, and prompted the researchers to investigate whether the genetic differences in the participants had an impact on their perception of this hormone.

The implications of how someone might receive androstenone could simply boil to the genetics of the one smelling the hormone. 

This, of course, also raises a whole lot of questions about the way that females sexually and socially perceive the odor of certain men.

It also brings up the question of her androstenone production, especially during foreplay or sexual penetration.

Could androstenone actually impact the way that hetrosexual women find men attractive?

Do Higher Testosterone Levels = More Androstenone? 

Now that we know that androstenone is the primary ‘culprit’ behind the way that men smell, we should discuss if that smell can get stronger over time.

Testosterone is directly linked to the production of androstenone, as androstenone is a byproduct of testosterone itself. 

In this case, men that have higher levels of testosterone have been shown to have increased levels of body odor (BO).

When working up a sweat, it is more likely that the scent given off by men with higher levels of testosterone in their system will be more noticeable and pungent. 

However, that doesn’t have to always be a bad thing. In fact, there is some evidence to suggest that the scent of men with higher testosterone levels are actually more sexually attractive to hetrosexual females.

Let’s dive into how body odor and testosterone levels can actually impact the way that men are perceived sexually, and socially. 

Male Body Odor and Sexual Attraction.

 Humans have always had a tendency to try and mask our natural odors.

Through bathing in teas and flower petals, to mixing herbs in alcohol solutions like perfume. It seems to be a natural thing that modern humans like to do–we want to smell good!

However, there is evidence to suggest that masking your natural musk might not be the only way to attract the opposite sex.

There is some level of study that seems to indicate that hetrosexual females respond positively to a certain level of body odor.

In addition, it’s possible that that reaction is different with single males and partnered males. 

A study conducted by Frontiers in Psychology medical journal had a lot of interesting things to say about the topic.

Let’s break down what their findings were. 

• Single Males Have More Testosterone. 

The study conducted by ‘Frontiers’ references numerous studies that have been conducted by various medical journals and researchers over the decades.

These studies all seem to indicate that men who are married have lower levels of testosterone on average than men who are single. 

Actually, a more accurate way to describe this would be: ‘men with lower levels of testosterone are more likely to be in committed relationships than men with higher levels of testosterone’. 

There is some debate about the reasoning behind this.

However, many believe it has to do with the body’s natural ability to lower testosterone levels once a man has found a ‘mate’.

This ties into the research that perhaps higher levels of testosterone, and by relation body odor, might actually be used to attract a sexual partner. 

Through this lens, the study was conducted into whether or not hetrosexual women responded more favorably to the body odor of single men, or partnered men.

It might seem like a far fetched concept, but it is rooted more deeply in logic than you might think. 

It is common for animals to ‘smell’ differently when they have found a mate.

This is the natural reaction their bodies have to pheromone production when they no longer need to compete for sex.

This very same thing seems to occur in humans, albeit on a slightly different scale. Let’s go over the study, and the results it produced. 

Single Males Have Stronger Body Odor. 

The study itself was rather interesting in the way that it was conducted.

The researchers chose 6 different men, aged 18-35, and had them spend time wearing 100% cotton shirts.

They were instructed to wear the shirts for 24 hours, and to avoid using any scented colognes or eating any odorous foods like onion or garlic. 

Once the men had built up a good sweat naturally, and had worn the shirts for 24 hours, they were to send them back to the researchers sealed in airtight bags.

They also included passport style headshots of themselves. 

The researchers chose 82 hetrosexual women, aged 18-85, who would be judging and analyzing the body odor and faces of these 6 men.

For the purpose of the test, the women were also mixed between being partnered and single. 

The research showed that the women on average rated the odor of the single men as more potent, and strong.

In addition, the research showed that the women found the faces of the single men to be more masculine. 

One of the main takeaways here, was that there was a strong correlation between the positive ratings of faces linked with positive body odor responses.

In essence, the women who found the men attractive were more favorable towards their body odor in the blind testing.

This furthers the hypothesis that stronger body odor can be perceived as a link to sexual attraction. 

Potential Reasoning… 

The connection for stronger, more potent body odor and a man’s relationship status is an interesting one.

There are some who hypothesized that the correlation is nothing more than single males having poorer hygiene on average.

However, that does not appear to be the case entirely. 

Studies are pretty clear that men who are single have higher levels of testosterone.

This is believed to be a necessary evolutionary response to increased competition for a mate.

Single hetrosexual men obviously want to compete against other single hetrosexual men–it’s just how things go. 

In this case, it becomes apparent that females also might have some way of detecting higher testosterone levels in single men.

This can be the correlating factor between attractiveness.

In addition, since testosterone is linked to bone density and facial hair growth, it can be said that this could also be a reason the faces of the single men were rated as more ‘masculine’. 

With all of that in mind, we can then begin to understand how odor, and the perception of it, might be a way for men to attract a potential partner.

That leads us to our next area of discussion. Stick with me, because this gets interesting!

Do High Testosterone Levels Increase Pheromones?

It’s not an unfamiliar feeling to see someone, and immediately find them attractive. This happens almost daily to many people.

This attraction on the surface level might seem purely visual.

However, there is actual science to indicate that an immediate attraction to someone can be more detailed than simply liking how they look. 

Pheromones are something that many of us might be familiar with from biology class.

These natural excretions are within most breeding animals, and are designed to help attract a mate. Species all over the planet use them–humans included. 

Pheromones are so necessary to attract a mate, that even luxury perfume and cologne companies try to bottle and sell them in their fragrances.

It’s pretty obvious that our subconscious biological responses to pheromones can be strong. 

Let’s take a second to break down pheromones, before we talk about how they can potentially link to your testosterone levels. 

What Are Pheromones? 

Pheromones are a type of chemical that exist within the body, and are secreted and excreted through various means.

The term ‘pheromones’ is an umbrella term to refer to a wide range of these chemicals. 

Pheromones are similar to hormones, in the fact that they are chemical compounds produced by the body.

However, where hormones are produced internally, pheromones are secreted externally. This happens through saliva, sweat, and urine. 

In animals pheromones are used for a variety of reasons.

They can be used to alert the animal to certain things, and can be used to sexually attract mates. In humans, the use for them isn’t so clear. 

There is still a host of conflicting debates on the subject of whether humans even use pheromones anymore.

Some believe that our secreted pheromones are meaningless, and left over from a more primitive time in our past–although some people still act like monkeys. 

Others suggest that the presence of pheromones still has a strong impact on our behavior (we will talk more on this later).

Regardless, the fact remains that pheromones are designed to increase sexual awareness, and draw the attention of a mate.

This is where the tie to pheromones and testosterone comes into play.

Are Higher Pheromone Levels Related To Increased Testosterone? 

Do you remember our old friend androstenone?

Well, it’s making a comeback here. You see, androstenone is actually a pheromone.

This pheromone, much like we spoke about above, is actually related to your levels of testosterone. 

You see, androstenone is actually produced in several areas of the body. Namely the testicles, the ovaries, and the adrenal gland.

Although women can produce androstenone, they produce it at significantly lower rates purely due to their reduced production of testosterone. 

In this way, women actually produce about 4x less androstenone than men do.

This is a way of correlating testosterone levels to pheromone production.

It is also important to note that increased levels of androstenone are directly linked to a man’s sexual drive–testosterone increases libido. 

This is how we can begin to observe how pheromones are produced at higher rates when considering testosterone levels.

Men who are higher in testosterone will by nature produce more androstenone.

This correlates to a higher sexual drive backed by an increased secretion of pheromones. 

You can probably see where this is headed.

You see, when men are experiencing increased levels of testosterone production, their bodies are telling them that they need to reproduce.

They then begin to secrete androstenone in a way that could make them appear more attractive to hetrosexual single females. 

This ties back into the research we discussed earlier that women found single men to be more attractive in facial structure, and body odor.

The actual observable difference is rather nominal, but it is present nonetheless. 

With this in mind, it can be beneficial to note that when you are working to increase your testosterone levels, you might also be making yourself more sexually appealing.

More testosterone = more androstenone. This, in turn, increases potential sexual attraction. 

However, this correlation between pheromones and sexual attraction is not a one way street.

In fact, female body odor can actually have much the same effect on men. Let’s talk about that for a while. 

Female Body Odor and Sexual Attraction.

We are going to take a step back into a similar study as the one conducted by ‘Frontiers’.

This time, an opposing study into the psychology behind female body odor was conducted, by the journal Psychological Science. 

Men who have ever spent significant time around females might notice that the scent of a female can elicit a different reaction.

I don’t mean the flowery smells of perfume and body wash. I am talking about the actual natural body odor of females–yes, females emit odor when they sweat as well as men. It’s ok to admit. 

The study conducted by Psychological Science showed that men who smelled the body odor of ovulating females had an actual reaction to this smell.

That is, they exhibited higher levels of testosterone than men who didn’t smell the scent of ovulating women. Here’s how it worked:

Ovulating Women Elicit Sexual Responses. 

The conducted study was very similar in many ways to the study we spoke about above–only with reversed roles.

The study took 68 males aged between 18 – 23, and had them smell a series of t-shirts inside sealed bags.

This exercise repeated multiple times every 5 – 10 minutes. 

The men were broken up into thirds, and were given shirts that they did not know the origin of.

• 1/3rd of the men smelled shirts which had been worn by women who where ovulating.
• 1/3rd of the men smelled shirts that were worn by women who were not ovulating, or even close.
• The remaining 1/3rd smelled control subject shirts which were not worn by anyone at all. 

The results were interesting, to say the least.

The test showed that the men who smelled the shirts worn by the ovulating women had higher testosterone levels when tested than the men who didn’t.

This was tested by taking saliva samples which were taken prior to, and after the test was conducted. 

While the men who had smelled the ovulating female’s shirts had higher testosterone levels, they did not have increased testosterone levels.

In fact, the major difference was that they simply maintained steady levels of testosterone whereas the other 2/3rds of the study subjects had exhibited normal reduction in levels over the course of day. 

This showed that the men who had smelled the body odor of ovulating females had steady production of testosterone throughout the day.

This is very fascinating when you begin to consider the implications. 

Female Body Odor Can Be Sexy. 

I know it might seem odd, but female body odor can actually be rather sexy. I don’t mean sexy in the way that might make you consciously think ‘that’s sexy’.

But rather in a way that your subconscious mind picks up on, and sends cues to your system to notice. 

When the ovulation begins to set in, the study indicates that levels of testosterone continue to stay steady when smelling the body odor of an ovulating woman.

This in turn translates into a heightened libido as we spoke about earlier. A heightened libido means an increaed drive to mate, and have sex. 

These odors which increase testosterone are essentially mother nature’s way of encouraging men to become more ‘masculine’ when females are ripe for procreating.

This might all sound rather scientific and of course by nature rather un-’sexy’. However, the fact still remains. 

So, the next time you notice that a woman has a particularly strong scent–it might be an indication that your body’s natural processes are trying to increase your testosterone production.

This might cause you to feel more ‘macho’, assertive, and confident.

These are also traits that studies have shown women tend to find attractive in long-term partners. 

With all of this in mind, we can begin to discuss how all of this ties in together.

There is a direct connection to the way that women perceive a man’s natural body odor, and how a female’s body odor can have a physical impact on a man’s body. 

Let’s talk about how these body odors, and pheromones, can actually change your physiology. 

Her Body Odor & Your Testicles.

So, we have taken the time to go over at length the way that hormones and pheromones can affect the body.

We have spoken how they can increase or decrease simply by smelling the body odor of the opposite sex.

Now, it’s time to really dive into the physical implications of all of this.

Afterall, if there weren’t physical implications, our bodies wouldn’t go through the hassle. 

If you haven’t noticed by now, there is a singular theme that has run throughout this entire piece–and that is androstenone.

Androstenone is the culprit behind a lot of the way that men are perceived sexually by women, and by how men react to it.

Until now we have spoken about the way that androstenone can attract a female, but we haven’t really spoken about how the implications of its presence can change you physically. Namely, your testicles. 

Testosterone = Bigger Testicles. 

The size of your testicles is going to vary from person to person. No man has the exact same size of testes as another man down to the ‘T’ (pun intended).

This is because small variations are naturally going to occur. That is just the way that we are designed. 

The average size of a pair of testicles should be roughly 1.8 – 2 inches. This is the actual length of the oval shaped organs themselves.

Of course it is normal to have slightly larger testicles, and it is normal to have slightly smaller as well.

However, the actual size of your testicles is usually directly tied to the amount of testosterone that you have in your system. 

Earlier in this post we spoke about how testosterone is produced in the testicles.

The hormone itself is produced by the leydig cells in the testicles, and the actual amount of production will vary from person to person–based on a number of factors. 

The primary reason for growth in the testicles from puberty is due to the production of testosterone in higher quantities.

This production causes the balls to grow, body hair to grow, muscles to become more dense, bones to grow stronger, etc,.

This is the actual act of ‘puberty’ in men. 

If the body under-produces testosterone, it can lead to smaller testicles, which in turn can lead to infertility as well as the absence of typically ‘male’ characteristics.

So, it’s safe to say that having testicles that are too small can pose certain problems.

Do Larger Testicles Indicate More Attractiveness? 

When we go back and review everything we have covered until now, we can begin to understand the importance of healthy testicles.

The aroma produced by the testicles, and their overall size, is directly linked to testosterone.

More importantly, it is linked to androstenone–that pheromone which makes women find you more attractive. 

When the testicles are larger, this is an indicator that more testosterone is present in the body.

This, in turn, is an indicator that more androstenone is being produced by your body when you sweat.

This is how the physical ties to your testicle size, and female attractiveness can actually come together. 

On the reverse side, we can also reason that when a male catches whiff of the body odor of an ovulating female, his testicles will begin to secrete heightened levels of androstenone; and they may even become a bit engorged.

Although this slight growth is unlikely to be noticeable. 

In essence, when our bodies notice someone that we are attracted to, they begin to communicate sexual desire to each other without you even realizing it.

You might be giving off pheromonal signals to a potential mate without even noticing the reaction is happening. 

When you smell the body odor of someone who is ripe for ‘mating’, your body will maintain heightened levels of testosterone.

This will translate to engorged testicles over time, which will then translate to increased production of androstenone. It’s the circle of life, in many ways. 

How To Keep Your Testicles Healthy

The best way to improve the overall health of your testicles, and make them more fertile for producing androstenone, is to follow a few simple rules: 

• Stay physically fit, and exercise. 
• Eat healthy, high quality nutritious foods. 
• Reduce your stress levels as much as possible. 
• Avoid tight underwear that constricts the testicles
• Avoid estrogenic chemicals in your environment
• Consume or supplement all the fat soluble vitamins
• Spend time outside getting some good old vitamin D. 

Being healthy and stress free is the best way to keep your body producing the hormones and pheromones that it needs to produce.

This will in turn help keep your testosterone levels steady and ‘up’, and over time increase your testicular health. 

Testosterone and Body Odor-Conclusion: 

Monitoring your pheromone production, reproductive hormones and testicular health is critically important to health overall as a man.

Optimizing these will make you more attractive to the opposite sex, even if you’ve been in a long term relationship.

So the next time you notice that you are smelling a bit ripe, remember that there could be a hidden reason behind that.

There seems to be some truth behind the old belief that a man is sexy when he sweats.

Perhaps your natural smell does more for your love life than you ever could have imagined.