Iv read sweat is naturally cleansing of bacteria, and it only smells because of the interaction with the bacteria. So why do we treat it as such a “gross” thing? I mean you should probably wipe down fluid off stuff because you don’t want it to get on you, but it seems more of a comfort thing than a hygene thing.
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It’s a comfort and hygiene thing – sweat, like all moist environments, provides a good environment for bacteria to grown on surfaces/clothing etc. It’s not in any way “antibacterial”, it’s just water with some salt, some amino acids and whatever oils your skin added to it, all of which can be food source for microorganisms.
It makes surfaces sticky and fabrics smelly. I want neither on things I own so I clean them.
Plus as sweat rolls down your skin it picks up whatever else is one it. So if I’m outside playing soccer there is bound to be some dirt on my skin as well.
There are limits to sweat’s anti-baterial properties. Moisture tends to cause other substances to stick to clothes and skin and some bacteria is well adapted to survive sweat to begin with. Remember, you’ve got some symbiotic bacteria on your skin to begin with.
Antibacterial properties of sweat are a very recent finding, most people do not know about it.
There are bacterias that love eating sweat, and they produce nasty smell that we dislike.
also, smell of old sweat means the cloth or person were not washed recently, so they might contain dirt or mold spores or lice (since antibiotics do not kill them)
Antibacterial doesn’t mean the bacteria don’t eat, poop, die, rot, and stink.
The anti-minimalist-bot deleted that, so I’ll post again. You can’t wear me down, bot. OK, you can.
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