Hot weather can cause embarrassment. While Tuesday’s 87-degree, thermostat-breaking day was something to smile about, the potential for ‘sweat shame’ was at an all-time high.

Our bodies can’t prevent sweat. Uncontrolled sweating can leave you flustered and flapping around campus like a socially awkward penguin. My ‘sweat score’ is a solid A. So what’s the biology behind my 4.0? Sweating controls our body temperature and body water. Butjust because it’s natural doesn’t mean it’s socially acceptable.

Unfortunately, sweat strikes in all social situations: You resist dancing with hands in the air in case anyone stares at your armpits instead of your cleavage. You choose not to hug a friend because you might leave a damp sample. You bypass the ‘You’re hired’ handshake at an interview, arms pinned to your side.

So what can we do about our body’s built-in temperature regulation system? Although there are multiple rumors of scary stories linking antiperspirant and cancer research, the American Cancer Society found no conclusive link.Deodorant masks odor, but it has no effect on visible sweat marks. If you want to stay dry, choose antiperspirant.

But before you comb the cosmetic aisle in Tops’ Market, I’ve gathered a few DIY sweat tips from my own years of sweat shame.

My life should have ended during cadet training in high school when I had to double salute my captain in sunny June. But I got the last laugh, marching around with sanitary towels stuck inside the armpits of my shirt. Absorbent, discrete and great at multitasking, sanitary towels have power over sweat shame.

If you don’t have sanitary towels handy, don’t dance all night without breaks. If you know you start sweating after 27 minutes of dancing at house parties, slink off after 25 and stick your wrists under cold water, a surefire way to lower body temperature, according to Living Well’s website. Stick your head under the hand dryer if sweat is making your poof wilt. Then get back to the dance floor.

Lots of nervous undergraduates sat sweating in the Panasci Lounge this week while waiting for summer internship interviews. But even if your suit doesn’t fit properly, keep your jacket on. No one else knows a river is running down your back apart from you and your shirt.

A friend at my summer job experienced men who hide their sweat well. She met a policeman last month, took him home and realized he was a human faucet. But Haley Bomboy and Zach McCarrell, junior and freshman communication and rhetorical studies majors, respectively, and a couple of four months, don’t think there’s anything wrong with a bit of sex sweat.

‘He said to me the other day, ‘I’m glad you sweat because I do, too,” Bomboy said.

But for some, sweat washes the sex out of sexy. After several ‘maybe he won’t drown me this time’ thoughts, my friend has resigned herself to only having shower sex. The elephant perspiring in the room ultimately became their relationship deal breaker.

Whatever social situation you’re in, don’t say, ‘Oh my god, I’m sweating like a b****,’ to someone you barely know. It’s too much information.

Sweat never killed anyone: Don’t let it ruin spring heat waves. Get to know your flow and, if in doubt, flap like a penguin.

Iona Holloway is a magazine journalism and psychology dual major. Her column appears every Wednesday. Never underestimate the shame of butt sweat: Avoid yoga pants at all costs – even boys. She can be reached at ijhollow@syr.edu.

Published on April 17, 2012 at 12:00 pm