I was randomly wondering today about whether or not it’s harmful, or how harmful it is, to inhibit the production of under-arm sweat. I realize I could just google it, but instead, I have a chance to stream-of-consciousness it a little bit. Yes, I just used stream-of-consciousness as a verb. I was trying to talk to someone about it, but that conversation failed, so I figured I might as well write here. At least that way I can go back to it if I ever feel like revisiting my idiot thoughts.

Think about medicine – what is it? Something you take in liquid or pill form on a regular or semi-regular basis to achieve some desired physiological effect. Medicine, in peoples’ minds, is in its own class. After all, pharmaceuticals aren’t like food, right? But what is medicine really? It’s simply a chemical that one exposes one’s body to for a certain length of time in order to change something inside the body. The question is this: if medicine can do that, couldn’t anything?

Antiperspirants, I believe, contain chemicals that clog the pores, as well as soak up any moisture that does get produced. Those chemicals are applied to the skin, which means it’s very easy for the body to take them in. Medicine? No, but could those chemicals not have an effect on the body in the same way a pill can? And, for those of you who wear antiperspirant, you expose yourselves to those chemicals every day. Along with all the crazy stuff we put in soaps, body washes, shampoos, conditioners, perfumes, body sprays, lotions, skin creams, etc. What’s the difference between a medical cream, and any other type of skin cream? Both get absorbed.

It’s just funny that we get crazy, one chemical at a time. Remember the trans-fat uproar? The bisphenol-A uproar? It’s not news that we use toxic chemicals for everything around us every single day. We’re simply told that we use them in small enough amounts that it won’t hurt us. But here’s what I’m getting at – how small an amount of some chemical is in a 5mg tablet? And most of us don’t take pills every single day. But we do take artificial flavors, dyes, perfumes, etc. – all kinds of unnaturally-occurring chemicals – into our bodies every day… and we’re to believe there’s no cumulative effect?

I don’t buy it.

This line of thinking is also behind some peoples’ idea of food as medicine. There’s really no difference – food contains chemicals that make our bodies work a certain way. Most peoples’ diet today is bad enough that it’s not all too different from taking statins every day when you don’t have a cholesterol problem… The Western diet really does just boil down to taking the wrong medicine.