|
Dear Ginny
Look, you humans are a collection of wondrous and different odors! When you reach your long-awaited
adolescence, you begin to stink in entirely new and even stinkier ways!
Aside from farts, burps, bad breath, etc., most human smells come from sweat. All over your
skin -- the soles of your feet, the palms of your hands, your forehead -- you have small pores that
ooze sweat from glands underneath the skin. Why? Because sweat is the wonderful natural air
conditioning that keeps animals like you humans cool.
So what happens to the sweat? Some gets evaporated quickly, and some sits around long enough
for bacteria to begin to gather. These microscopic living things just love to munch on dead skin
cells and some of the ingredients in sweat. Sometimes mold and fungus, other microbes decide to
join them. Hence stinky shoes, stinky feet, stinky you!
Now when you all reach adolescence, you begin a second kind of sweat. Lucky you! It's sweat
that oozes out of your hair follicles. So you may begin to notice that after activity you have a
new odor underneath your arms or around your crotch. The answer? Soap and water and maybe some
deodorant. Like the Wicked Witch of the West, these microbes, as well as body oils, sweat and dirt
hate water! But don't get too lonely, more microbes and dirt and sweat always come.
But, listen, Ginny, even though worms can't smell, I want to tell you that body odor is
perfectly natural!
Signed,
Wendell
|
