What changes will happen to your body if you shave your armpit hair

Many girls choose to shave their armpits because they think it is unacceptable to have lush armpit hair under their tank tops. However, there is a saying circulating on the Internet that "shaving armpit hair can easily lead to breast cancer." This warning seems to make sense at first glance, but a careful analysis will reveal that it is actually full of loopholes.

Many rumors start with a false premise.

Then, seemingly correct logical reasoning is used to draw a wrong conclusion. For example, this rumor first concludes that "obstructed sweating will lead to obstructed detoxification, and ultimately lead to cancer."

It is difficult to find a suitable definition for "detoxification" in modern medicine. If carcinogens are considered "poisons", then most toxins in our bodies are transported by the blood to the liver or kidneys for metabolism and elimination. These "toxins" are either excreted in the feces via bile or excreted from the body via urine. The "major detoxification areas such as the joints behind the knees, behind the ears, and armpits" mentioned in the rumor are really out of the question.

In addition to the liver and kidneys, lymph nodes are responsible for eliminating bacteria or other pathogens in the body.

At the same time, it can also remove some substances that are harmful to your health. However, the mechanism by which lymph nodes clear "toxins" is not sweating but immune-mediated, and the metabolic products eventually enter the blood system through lymphatic return. In fact, lymph nodes are not directly connected to sweat glands at all. Sweat glands are found in the skin, not in the lymph nodes.

Sweating is a normal physiological process of the human body

It regulates body temperature, keeps the skin moist, and excretes very small amounts of metabolic waste. However, more than 99% of sweat is water, and the remaining solutes include minerals, lactic acid, urea and other trace metabolites. The vast majority of these solutes originate from plasma, but the concentration is much lower than that in urine. Therefore, the so-called "detoxification" effect of sweating is very limited, and local obstruction of sweating is unlikely to have a significant impact on human metabolism.

It is not difficult to find from the structure of hair follicles that shaving armpit hair does not affect the structure of sweat glands, nor does it hinder sweating.

Sweat glands include two types: excretory sweat glands and apocrine sweat glands. Excretory sweat glands are distributed throughout the body and open directly on the surface of the skin. The sweating function has nothing to do with whether or not you shave your armpit hair. Apocrine sweat glands are distributed in the armpits, pubic area, areola, etc. Their openings are connected to the hair follicles. The sweat they secrete is relatively viscous. This secretion will form a special body odor under the action of bacteria on the skin surface. The severe case is what we often call body odor. Since shaving armpit hair only shaves the surface of the hair and does not damage the deep structure of the hair follicles, the effect on the secretion of the apocrine sweat glands is very limited. Many patients with body odor (bromhidrosis) still have a strong body odor even after shaving their armpit hair, and have to use antiperspirants and deodorants to barely cover up the body odor.

Of course, it should be reminded that for people who use physical methods to shave their armpit hair, if the skin is damaged due to improper shaving, it is indeed easy to cause infection and clogged pores, which may have a certain impact on sweating. Therefore, it is best to use clean and sharp shaving tools. It is also helpful to fully moisten the hair before shaving and use lubricating products appropriately to avoid scratching the skin. Also remember not to share shaving tools with others.

It is worth mentioning that axillary lymph nodes are closely related to lymph node metastasis of breast cancer (note, not the primary cancer lesion).

Most breast cancer lymph node metastases occur in the axillary lymph nodes, but this has nothing to do with the so-called "axillary lymph nodes store toxins" but is determined by the breast lymph drainage pathway.

There are many lymph nodes distributed around the breast. Most of the lymph fluid produced by the breast tissue flows through the lymphatic vessels at the lateral edge of the pectoralis major muscle first to the axillary lymph nodes and then to the subclavian lymph nodes. Therefore, most breast cancer lymph node metastases also occur in the axillary lymph nodes.

Conclusion: Rumors Debunked

The rumor that shaving armpit hair causes breast cancer is untenable both in terms of arguments and conclusions. There is currently no clinical evidence to support that shaving armpit hair can cause breast cancer, nor is there any research showing that the location of breast cancer is related to shaving armpit hair. Whether shaving armpit hair is aesthetically good or bad depends on the individual, but based on current medical knowledge, people who choose to shave their armpit hair do not have to worry about negative effects on breast health.

Complaint: "The reason why men are less likely to get breast cancer is that they never shave their armpit hair" is probably the most ridiculous argument in the rumor. The occurrence of breast cancer is affected by many factors, including genetics, external environment, breast tissue content, and estrogen, and these factors affect both men and women. The main reason why men are less likely to develop breast cancer is that the amount of breast tissue in men is much smaller than that in women. Men who have diseases that cause excessive estrogen secretion in their bodies have a significantly increased incidence of breast cancer. Some cosmetics that contain substances that may affect estrogen metabolism have therefore been questioned.