Temperatures are up as we soak in the summer heat. So why are we wringing wet? Basking in the sun? Sort of. Rainy days? Not really, despite August’s doom-laden forecasts. Getting in a right sweat? Yes – for well over half of us.
The new Lowdown on Sweat Survey[1] shows that 54.7% of Brits suffer from heavy sweating, with nearly two thirds (60.5%) of 25-34s pouring with it.
It’s hot in the UK’s cities, with some sweatier than others – two thirds of Glaswegians (65.8%), Mancunians (59.3%) and Bristolians (57%) are all showing the wettest numbers on record. A quarter of survey respondents live in London – with well over half of them (54.9%) dripping their way through their own body heat.
What puts a real dampener on it is that sweating’s not just for summer. In fact, nearly a third of adults nationwide (31.1%) say they sweat excessively nearly every day[2], with nearly half (48.5%) of all 25-34 year-olds getting too wet for comfort.
[1] Lowdown on Sweat Survey, 2,000+ adults, July 2017. Commissioned by Odaban, sweat treatment specialist.
[2] 10.4% suffer every day, 6.8% 4-6 days/week, 13.9% 3 days/week
Hot summer fashion takes a dive as nearly half of people (47.7%) do their best to hide sweating by avoiding light or bright attention-grabbing colours (31.1%) and cool cottons or linens (16.4%), which they worry reveal damp patches under their sweaty armpits. So people feel forced to swelter in off-season clothes, a massive no-no for the fashion forward.
Clothing gets people in a sweat at work too – Jack Wise, a 23 year old Hospital Manager from Kent says: “Wearing suits is a nightmare, even dark colours are difficult. I started avoiding situations where I had to meet large groups of people at work. It knocked my confidence ten-fold.”
As for getting some hot summer lovin’ – forget it! A quarter of 24-34 year-olds (24.2%) said they cancel a date or have left dates early because they are so worried about their sweaty appearance. 34 year-old Abi, a Brand Manager from London says “I’m going to be single forever at this rate. I keep cancelling dates because I think I’m going to be a total turn off. I’ve made loads of excuses to leave dates early – especially if I actually really like someone because I’m so nervous about how sweaty I look. Not good!”
Katy Fuentes, a 42 year old Funeral Consultant from Watford who suffers from facial sweating, agrees. “In my job, it’s so important for people to see a calm, collected, together person talking to them during one of the most difficult times of their lives. I just looked a total mess.”
Even getting up a sweat in the gym can seem abnormal for over 16% of 25-34 year-olds if it means that certain exercises make them sweat uncontrollably. Casey Harish, a 29 year old Managing Director from Wolverhampton, found that his work outs were nowhere near as effective as he wanted them to be because he hated raising his arms in front of others at the gym.
Casey says: “Excessive sweating’s a taboo subject and it really shouldn’t be, because I’m certainly not alone, as I’ve discovered by talking to friends. I’ve been helped by realising that – plus I managed to discover Odaban® Antiperspirant Spray, which specialises in this type of problem.”
The Lowdown on Sweat Survey shows that most Brits think the summer is the pits – because it makes everyone even hotter under the collar than normal. But as Casey points out, you’re not sweating it out alone.
For further information contact Gillian Waddell or Alex Douch at Gillian@fuelrefuel.com / alex@fuelrefuel.com or call 0208 891 0895.