Look After the Cleanliness of Your Body

Do you remember, madam, the first time you bought a kind of perfume whose scent pleased you — and when you began using it you noticed, after a few days, that this scent had faded a little, and a few more days did not pass before that scent disappeared and you no longer sensed it at all? Did the perfume spoil, you wonder, or did its lovely scent evaporate? Neither of these things happened. Rather, you grew accustomed to its scent little by little, until the nerves of smell were no longer affected by it.

So it is with the odor of the body: it has clung to you since your birth, and if it happens that this odor turns from pleasant to disagreeable, for one reason or another, you are the one person who does not perceive it.

What is the way, then, to remedy this unwelcome condition, which is so often a cause of a girl's unhappiness and misery without her sensing the true reason?

The remedy is easy and simple, within everyone's reach, and it amounts to one thing only: that you attend to the cleanliness of the body — complete, thorough cleanliness, inside and out. I am reminded here of what Abu al-Aswad said in counseling his daughter: 'Adorn yourself, and the fairest adornment is kohl; and perfume yourself, and the sweetest perfume is water.'

Some suppose that the body's odor, especially if it is unpleasant, cannot be overcome except by preventing the secretion of sweat. This supposition is mistaken from its very foundation. Sweat is a natural phenomenon the body cannot do without, and its benefits are of an essential value that cannot be ignored; but you must know that this useful fluid contains a large proportion of acids, and these acids are deposited on the surface of the body as the fluid containing them evaporates; they quickly decompose, and their disagreeable, repellent odor rises. The only way to guard against this annoyance, or to overcome it, is what I have mentioned to you: attending to the cleanliness of the body.

The first step on this path is the daily hot bath, summer and winter alike, with the use of loofah and soap. And take care, when you have finished the bath, to dry the body well, wipe it with ordinary eau de cologne, and then dust over it a thin layer of scented talcum powder.

The armpits, being the place where the sweat glands are especially numerous, must be washed with water and abundant soap morning and evening, and the hair growing on their surface must be removed, since that makes the work of cleanliness easier.

If you notice that you perspire copiously, especially after any exertion, see to it that your clothes are of ample width, particularly under the arms and over the chest and abdomen. In addition, it is well to use one of the special preparations for neutralizing odor — there are many of them in the market — once or twice a week.