Managing Summer Sweat

[Anchor Lead]

The weather is warming up, especially in the afternoon hours. That can result in uncomfortable or embarrassing situations when it comes to sweat. Today, we have some tips on how to manage sweating during the summer.

[Pkg]

An early summer appears to have arrived...accompanied by an unwelcome side effect...that is uncontrollable sweating.

[Soundbite] Park Soo-mi : "It's uncomfortable wearing white clothes because of the sweat."

Products that help ease sweating and the odor that comes with it are gaining popularity. They are known as deodorants. There are two different types, one that helps to remove the smell and another kind that suppresses sweating itself. Here's the difference. The odor remover does so by using antibacterial agents. There are many different kinds so can choose one according to your skin type. The fluid type is used by rolling it onto the skin. It's good for folks who have more sensitive and drier skin. The solid type suits people who sweat more profusely. The sprays are for those who don't sweat a lot. The biggest merit of sprays is they dry fast. Now we move onto products that suppress sweating.

[Soundbite] Seong Nam-hee : "Sweat suppressants fundamentally decrease sweat secretion. It's an over the counter drug easily purchasable at pharmacies."

How this works is that aluminum chloride combines with the layers of skin nearestthe sweat glands to block pores and thereby decrease sweating. It's advised to apply this product just before going to bed with a limited use of just 2 to 3 times a week.

[Soundbite] Seong Nam-hee(Dermatologist) : "Some people use sweat suppressants and deodorants very frequently. However, using the suppressant as you would repeatedly do with a deodorant can cause side effects such as skin pigmentation. People should not use either of them in cases of skin infection, eczema or within 12 hours of getting a wax."

Clothing is another way to adjust our sweat levels. There are special fabrics known to cool us off just by wearing them. Does it really work though? We compare all-cotton fabric and the so-called cold sense fabric. First in terms of sweat absorption. Salt water made in a similar concentration ratio as human sweat was sprinkled over the cotton and cold sense fabric. We took a look after five minutes. For the cotton, five layers of fabric had absorbed water while 8 layers had done so for the special anti-heat fabric. The latter definitely has the edge in absorbing sweat. When you wear it, it really does feel cool. Is this simply due to the texture or does the fabric actually lower body temperature? So this time, we soaked both fabrics in the same temperature water and left it for over half an hour in room temperature. The temperature of the fabrics was then measured showing that cold sense fabric was about 5 degrees lower than cotton.

[Soundbite] Lee Jeong-wuk(Apparel Firm Employee) : "Wearing cold sense fabric over underwear of similar function can increase the coolness effect."

Following deodorants and clothing, now we look at some food that can help ease sweating. This is cold sour cucumber soup, truly the best in the hot summer. First mix sugar, salt and vinegar to cold water. Then add some chopped cucumbers and seaweed and this cold refreshing soup will blow your sweat away. The cool cucumber is ideal for scaling down body heat. Also it's best to avoid alcohol, caffeine and obviously hot food which all facilitate the secretion of sweat. Sweating can leave you feeling uncomfortable in the muggy weather. You can't stop it entirely but now you known some ways to manage sweat more effectively.