Curavature Magazine D6

NATURE STUDY REVEALS
Women with BMI Over 30 Produce 3x More Body Odor Compounds

Plus Size > I Sweat So Much In My Folds

I'm a size 20 and I spent six years thinking my body was broken until A nurse in a plus-size Facebook group showed me it wasn't me.

It was something coming out of my blood.

If your folds smell even right after a shower — this is exactly why. And what finally worked.

By Megan Torres | 13 April, 2026

3,214 Ratings

Reviewed by Dr. Sarah Kim, Board-Certified Dermatologist | 6 min read

Plus-size girlies — if you are literally always WET no matter what you use, no matter when you showered, no matter how much powder you applied this morning... this is going to piss you off.

Because I just found out why none of it has been working.

Not the Gold Bond. Not the Lume. Not the Secret Clinical I've been applying in places the label definitely did not suggest. Not the wipes I've been keeping in a ziplock in my desk drawer for two years because that's just what you do when you're managing this.

A nurse in a Facebook group explained it in like four sentences.

I sat at my kitchen counter at 11pm reading it four times in a row.

I'd been blaming my hygiene for six years.

I have NEVER been the problem.

The way this whole thing actually works was.

Okay so quick context, because I want you to know I'm not some wellness influencer trying to sell you anything.

And I still spent six years feeling like my body was dirty and smelly no matter what I did.

Not metaphorically. Literally. The first thought when I'd step out of the shower was always: how long until this stops working.

Because I knew.

Two hours, maybe three in AC. By lunch I was doing the check. By 2pm I was in the bathroom lifting my bra band, checking the belly fold, making sure I was still okay. Every. Single. Day.

By 4pm I was reapplying powder in a stall like a criminal. By 6pm I was praying the day would end before anyone got too close.

I had a whole second purse.

A second purse. Inside my actual purse. Just for the situation.

Baby wipes in a ziplock so they wouldn't dry out. A travel-size Lume because the regular one wouldn't fit. A pack of those individual deodorant wipes from the gas station that I wasn't proud to admit I bought. Folded paper towels for emergencies. A backup pair of cotton underwear in a different ziplock.

I told one friend about the backup underwear once. She thought I was joking.

I wasn't.

And every night I'd lie in bed thinking: this is just my body. This is just what it does. I'm just broken like this.

The window kept shrinking. It used to be the shower bought me four hours. Then three. Then two. By year four I'd shower at 4pm and start checking at 6.

I thought I was just failing at something every other woman had figured out.

That's the lie this problem tells you. Over and over.

Have you ever:

I had a whole second purse. A second purse. Inside my actual purse. Just for the situation. Baby wipes in a ziplock so they wouldn't dry out. A travel-size Lume because the regular one wouldn't fit. A pack of those individual deodorant wipes from the gas station that I wasn't proud to admit I bought. Folded paper towels for emergencies. A backup pair of cotton underwear in a different ziplock.

I told one friend about the backup underwear once. She thought I was joking.

I wasn't.

I was 31 years old running a real life and spending part of every single day managing something nobody else in my life knew was happening.

And every night I'd lie in bed thinking: this is just how it's going to be. I'm just going to be the woman who has to do this. Forever. Because it's not getting better. It's getting worse.

The window kept shrinking.

It used to be the shower bought me four hours. Then three. Then two. Then by year four I'd shower at 4pm and start checking at 6.

I thought I was just becoming a worse person at hygiene.

That's how stupid we let ourselves feel.

Have you ever:

☐ Sniffed your own bra band when nobody was watching just to know where you stood

☐ Cut up a cotton bandana, a t-shirt, or an old pillowcase to wear between your underwear and your skin

☐ Kept baby wipes in your car, your desk, your purse, AND your gym bag — and used all four

☐ Showered at 7pm on a date night even though you already showered at 8am

☐ Had a "safe window" in your head that you actually count down from

☐ Reapplied Gold Bond in a public bathroom and felt like a criminal

☐ Stopped wearing white anything because you were scared of what might show

☐ Sat in your car before walking into somewhere and did the check first because you needed to know

If you checked even three of those — keep reading. What I'm about to tell you is going to make all of it make sense.

If you checked all eight — you're me. And I promise you, you're not the problem.

Okay so here's what the nurse said.

I'm going to write it the way she wrote it, because I tried explaining it to my sister and I butchered it the first three times.

The smell we deal with in our folds isn't being produced on the skin.

It starts in your gut.

And it travels through your blood before it ever shows up on the surface.

Wait what?

Yeah.

I read it four times too.

Here's the mechanism. There's a compound called TMA — trimethylamine. It's made by certain bacteria in the gut when you eat normal stuff. Eggs. Fish. Meat.

Anything with choline in it. Your liver is supposed to convert it into something odorless before it hits your bloodstream.

In a balanced gut, that works fine.

But — and this is the part that genuinely made me angry — gut microbiome imbalance is measurably more common in plus-size women.

Not because of what we eat. Not because of our habits. Because of the way our biology interacts with body weight. It's in the research. We were never told.

More TMA gets produced than the liver can clear. The excess enters the bloodstream.

And then.

It exits through your sweat.

Specifically through warm enclosed areas. Folds. Underboob. Belly. Thigh creases. Anywhere skin touches skin.

That's the smell.

It's coming from your blood. Through your sweat. Into your folds. Continuously. All day. Regardless of how recently you showered.

The shower resets the surface. Your gut keeps producing TMA the entire time. Within 90 minutes the bloodstream has caught up and the surface is contaminated again.

That's why the window kept shrinking. That's why no product lasted. That's why showering twice a day made no difference. That's why Gold Bond turned to paste by lunch.

And here's the part that broke me.

Armpits are open skin. They air out. TMA evaporates as fast as it arrives.

Folds are enclosed. Warm. Skin pressed on skin. The TMA can't evaporate. It concentrates. And the bacteria on the surface feed on it and amplify it.

Two completely different problems. Different mechanisms. Different solutions needed.

And every product in the personal care market — every single one — was designed for armpits.

Zero of them were designed for folds.

Dr. Sarah Kim, a women's health nutritionist who specializes in the gut-skin axis, wrote about this same mechanism and someone in the group shared her work.
She put it like this:

"The TMA gut pathway is one of the most overlooked sources of persistent body odor in women — and it's the one no topical product can reach. By the time the compound reaches the skin, it's already been delivered through the blood. You can't wash it off because it's continuously being resupplied from the inside."

Dr. Sarah Kim, Board-Certified Dermatologist

You're not failing at hygiene.

You're trying to mop a floor while the pipe underneath is still leaking.

Every product I've used for six years. Why each one failed.

Special Offer

Because the failure wasn't yours. It wasn't mine. The failure was structural.

Gold Bond Original. Works for about two hours. Turns to paste in the fold the second I sweat. By lunch I was reapplying. The powder mixed with TMA-loaded sweat and basically became a smell paste sitting on my skin.

Lume. The whole-body one. I was so hopeful for this. Worked great on armpits. In folds it lasted about four hours. Because it was never designed for the inside-supplied odor we were dealing with.

Secret Clinical. I was using armpit deodorant under my breasts and between my thighs because I was that desperate. It blocked the surface. The TMA was still being delivered. It just sat under the antiperspirant layer until it broke through.

Baby wipes. Ten different brands. 20 minutes of feeling human. Then back to managing. Because the wipe cleaned the surface. The blood was still delivering more.

Biker shorts under every dress for three summers straight. Helped the chafing. Did absolutely nothing for what was coming out of my blood. I was less sore but still smelling. Still checking. Still managing.

The cotton bandana I cut up and wore between my underwear and my skin for a year. Someone on Reddit told me to do it. It absorbed the sweat. The smell was still there. Because the sweat was just the carrier. The thing in the sweat was the problem.

Prescription antiperspirant. I begged my doctor for it. That felt like the real move — going clinical. Getting the serious stuff. She prescribed it. I used it every day for two months. By 2pm. Gone. The strongest thing medicine had available. And it still failed by afternoon. Because the smell wasn't waiting for the prescription. It was being delivered through my blood on a schedule I couldn't interrupt.

Every. Single. One.

Surface products. Surface fixes. None of them touched the source.

You can't fix a chemistry problem with a paper towel.

Then one woman in the group commented something that made me stop.

She said she'd been using a daily gummy for three weeks and had forgotten to do the bathroom check for the first time in four years.

I read that sentence three times.

I went down a rabbit hole. Three nights in a row. I read every paper I could find on gut microbiome and body odor. I read about a compound called sodium copper chlorophyllin — a chlorophyll derivative that has a molecular structure that binds TMA in the gut before it ever enters the bloodstream.

There were studies. From 1980. Then 2005. Then 2019. All saying the same thing: this compound binds TMA at the gut level and stops it from entering circulation.

Sixty years of research that nobody bothered to put in front of plus-size women.

The product is called Crave Candy. A daily gummy. 200mg of sodium copper chlorophyllin per serving. Plus prebiotic fibers that support the gut microbiome long-term. Designed specifically for the inside-out odor pathway in women.

Not a feminine wash. Not a deodorant. Not a powder.

A gummy.

That works at the layer no topical product can reach.

I'll be honest — I almost didn't order it.

I'd spent so much money on so many products that I'd hit the part where I just didn't trust anything new. The skepticism was its own muscle by then.

But it was $33.99 for the first month. With a 90-day money-back guarantee. I'd spent more than that on a single bottle of Gold Bond in the last year.

I figured if it didn't work, I'd get my money back and add it to the list.

I ordered it that night.

Here's what happened week by week. I'm telling you exactly. Because I've read too many supplement reviews from women claiming miracle results in three days and I do not want to lie to you.

Week 1: Nothing. Literally nothing. I was ready to write it off. I emailed customer service at day 6 asking how long it usually takes. They said two to four weeks for most women. I rolled my eyes.

Week 2: Okay, maybe something. I noticed I made it to 3pm without checking. I assumed it was a fluke. I checked twice at 4pm to make up for it.

Week 3. I was at my desk on a Wednesday. It was 5:30pm and I was packing up my bag to leave.

And I stopped.

I hadn't done the check. Not once. Not at 11. Not at 2. Not at 4.

I sat back down.

I've done that check every single workday for six years. And I'd just... forgotten. I sat there for a second trying to figure out when it stopped and I couldn't.

I checked when I got home because I had to know. Everything was fine. Just normal skin. No paste. No funk. No urgency.

Week 5: I threw away the wipes in my desk drawer. They'd been there for two years.

Week 6: My husband pulled me close on a Saturday night. I didn't flinch. I didn't do the mental check. I didn't tally hours since shower. I didn't tense up wondering if he could smell what I could.

I just leaned in.

He kissed the top of my head. Said I seemed more relaxed lately. I just smiled.

I haven't told him about the gummy. He doesn't know about the bathroom math or the strategic 7pm showers or the second purse. He just noticed I stopped pulling away.

Day 90. I sleep in a t-shirt now. Just a normal t-shirt. I cancelled the $40 Lume autoship. I wore a white shirt to work last Tuesday. I hugged my sister at her birthday without doing the math. I went to happy hour with two of my coworkers and I wasn't counting hours since my last shower the whole time.

I was just there.

That's the thing nobody tells you. You don't realize how loud the monitoring is until it finally goes quiet.

I posted about Crave Candy in the same Facebook group where the nurse had explained TMA to me. Three women messaged me within an hour.

I used Secret Clinical under my arms and body deodorant in myfolds. That combo kept me functional. But "functional" and "not worried about smelling" are two very different things.

I owned more Gold Bond than the CVS down the street from me. It kept things dry for maybe 45 minutes in a fold. Then it mixed with sweat and turned into a clumpy paste that actually made the rubbing WORSE. By afternoon I was worse off than when I started.

I usually used Lume. Then I wanted to see if there were cheaper alternatives. Then I'd go back to Lume. Then I'd try the next thing someone on Reddit swore by. Rinse and repeat. Every month. For years.

I put a cotton bandana on as a layer between me and my underwear. I kept extras in my bag and changed them out during the day. I just wore biker shorts under dresses because that's the only thing that ever worked for the thigh situation.

1️⃣: Stops the smell at the source. Sodium copper chlorophyllin, the same compound used for internal odor support since 1951, binds to TMA in your gut before it can enter your bloodstream. Organic parsley adds another layer of natural chlorophyll for deodorizing support. What gets bound gets eliminated as waste. What doesn't enter your blood doesn't get sweated out through your folds.

2️⃣: Soothes the gut producing it. Slippery elm bark the highest-dose ingredient in the formula — coats and supports your gut lining, so your microbiome can rebalance and stop overproducing TMA in the first place. Peppermint adds gentle digestive support. Less of the problem gets made. The internal environment shifts.

3️⃣: Calms the chemistry running the loop. Remember that stress sweat thing? where the fear of smelling literally makes you smell more? That's hormonal. Maca root, fenugreek, and red clover support hormonal balance, the foundation of your natural body chemistry. Calmer hormones = leaner sweat = bacteria have less to feed on. The loop loses its fuel. And your body starts producing the clean, subtle scent baseline it was designed for.

Plus a quiet supporting cast - L-arginine, beetroot, and vitamin E. that helps strengthen your skin barrier from the inside. The same skin barrier that takes daily damage from friction and trapped moisture.

Tasha K., 41, Atlanta

"The underboob and belly area specifically — that was my problem. By the time I picked my kids up at 3pm I was already uncomfortable. Three weeks in and I made it through the whole school pickup without thinking about it once."

Verified Purchase

Danielle R., 33, Dallas

"I work in healthcare. Long shifts, scrubs, no break to deal with anything. I was using Gold Bond AND a baby wipe stash AND biker shorts. Three weeks on Crave Candy and I made it through a double without reapplying once. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop."

Verified Purchase

Keisha M., 36, Houston

"I'm gonna be honest with you ladies — I didn't believe a gummy was going to do anything. I was that skeptical. My boyfriend noticed something before I did. Said I seemed more relaxed lately. I hadn't told him I was taking anything. He was right."

Verified Purchase

Three women. Three jobs. Three lives. Same problem. Same shift.

Before I link you, the four things I would have asked:

Does this work for everyone?

No. Nothing works for everyone. The mechanism addresses gut-produced TMA, which is one source of fold odor. For most plus-size women, it's the primary source. For some, there are other factors. That's why there's a 90-day guarantee — if you give it a real shot and nothing changes, every dollar back.

How long until I notice anything?

No. Nothing works for everyone. The mechanism addresses gut-produced TMA, which is one source of fold odor. For most plus-size women, it's the primary source. For some, there are other factors. That's why there's a 60-day guarantee — if you give it a real shot and nothing changes, every dollar back.

Is this just chlorophyll thing? I've seen those TikToks.

No. Chlorophyll water uses a different compound at lower concentrations and isn't formulated for the TMA-binding pathway. Crave Candy uses sodium copper chlorophyllin specifically — the compound with the strongest documented binding affinity for these compounds — at clinically relevant doses.

"$33.99 feels like a lot for a gummy."

How much are you spending on your current routine? Gold Bond is $12 a bottle and you go through it in two weeks. Lume is $22. Plus the wipes, the biker shorts, the extra underwear. Most women in this situation are spending $40-60 a month on things that address the symptom. This addresses the source. At a lower monthly cost than most of them are already paying.

Here's what tomorrow looks like if nothing changes.

Same check. Same 2pm bathroom trip. Same second purse. Same math running in your head every time someone gets too close.

That's not a hygiene problem. You know that now.

It's a chemistry problem.

And there's one thing that addresses it at the actual source.

Crave Candy. $33.99 first month. 90 days to try it. Every dollar back if nothing changes.

You've already spent more than that this month on things that couldn't reach where this starts.

👉 Try Crave Candy here

The 3-month option is what most women in the group are buying. The gut chemistry needs consistency to shift. Week 1 will probably feel like nothing. Week 3 is where it usually starts.

If anything in this post made your stomach drop because you recognized yourself — drop a 💛 below. You're not alone in this. There are a LOT of us.

We had to laugh through tears.

There's a lot of us out here, y'all.

P.S. My sister called me last week. She's a 16 on a good day and she'd been doing the math too. For 11 years.

I told her about the gummy. She cried on the phone.

She ordered Crave Candy that night. She texted me yesterday — week 3 — and said her husband told her she seems different lately. Same exact words mine used. We had to laugh through tears.

There's a lot of us out here, y'all.

The only thing I wish is I'd known two years earlier. Two years of the math. Two years of the check. Two years of pulling away. That time doesn't come back.

But the next two years can be different.

If you've been carrying this — try it. Worst case you get your money back. Best case you get the next two years.

The QUIET-FRESH™ Promise:

Try it for 60 days. If your folds don't smell different if you don't catch yourself thinking about it less and I'll give you every penny back.

No questions. No judgment. Just email support@cravecandy.com with your order number. Because if it doesn't give you your evenings back, we don't want your money.

CHECK AVAILABILITY

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Lab Tested

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'Feminine Balance' Gummies

Due to high demand and small-batch runs, Our stock is at high risk of selling out ⚠️

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*These statements have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Testimonials found at heycravecandy.com are unverified results, and may not reflect the typical purchaser's experience, may not apply to the average person and are not intended to represent or guarantee that anyone will achieve the same or similar results.

Information on the Crave Candy site is provided for informational purposes only. It is not meant to substitute for medical advice from your physician or other medical professional. You should not use the information contained herein for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication. Carefully read all product documentation. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, promptly contact your regular health care provider.

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