To the deodorant faithful out there: some of you may not actually need to use it.
At least, that's according to the results of a new study in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. The study showed that most people who possess a certain gene don't actually produce odor from their armpits -- thereby making their use of deodorant unnecessary.
The study included data from 6,495 women who participated in the "Children of the 90s" study from the University of Bristol. Of all those women, around 2 percent of them -- or 117 -- had a rare version of the ABCC11 gene, which means they don't have armpit odor.
However, researchers found that 78 percent of the women who have this no-odor gene still put on deodorant every day.
"We believe that these people simply follow socio-cultural norms," study researcher Ian Day, a professor at the University of Bristol, said in a statement.
The no-odor gene is also linked with dry earwax (versus sticky earwax), which is how people may be able to tell if they possess the gene, researchers noted.
Not one of the lucky people who possess this version of the gene? (Or just want to play it safe and wear deodorant anyway?) Check out this slideshow of natural deodorant options: