Don’t sweat it: City ranks 93rd

By ELISE FRANCO

Youngstown has no problem at the bottom of this list: Old Spice 100 Sweatiest Cities.

YOUNGSTOWN — Can we smell sweet in summer’s heat? When Youngstowners are doing everything they can to keep cool, sweat is last on their list of talk topics.

Even though Youngstown is named the 93rd sweatiest city in the United States in a survey done by Old Spice, people are hesitant to come clean about which deodorant keeps them dry and smelling fresh.

Wilma Brumbaugh of Poland said she has never had any embarrassing, sweaty mishaps. Her husband, Dale, on the other hand, hasn’t been as lucky. “My husband sweats a lot when he’s outside,” she said, laughing. “Actually it doesn’t matter where he is — he just sweats a lot.”

The combination of staying hydrated by drinking a lot of water and wearing Secret Platinum helps Brumbaugh stay sweat-free. “You’re getting personal now!” she said when asked what scent is her favorite. (It’s Shower Fresh.)

The Old Spice survey said some cities like Phoenix, which topped the list, don’t feel as sweaty because it’s a dry heat, so the perspiration evaporates off the skin faster than it would in a muggy heat.

Jamie Coutris of Poland said she thinks Youngstown should be even higher on the list.

“Youngstown is sweaty,” she said. “And we have a humid heat, which makes it even worse.”

Despite the high temperatures and humidity here, Coutris is — like Brumbaugh — a self-proclaimed nonsweater. It could be the Mitchell’s antiperspirant that keeps her cool, but she said places like Las Vegas, second on the list, and Houston, seventh, are much worse.

“Downtown is cool. I don’t know why, but there’s just something about it,” Coutris said. “Phelps Street is like a wind tunnel. Even when it’s really hot outside, it’s still not as bad.”

Jay Gooch, sweat expert and scientist for Old Spice, said the data was calculated through a computer model. The average temperature for the summer months and the sweat output from a person of average height and weight who walked around the city for an hour was combined to determine that Youngstown was among the coolest of large cities in the country.

This isn’t the first year for Youngstown to make the list, which was developed seven years ago. Last year, Youngstown was ranked 92nd and in 2004, 56th.

And just in case anyone was wondering, if all 81,500 of Youngstown’s residents were out walking around for an hour at the exact same time, 12,244 gallons of sweat would be produced.

It seems like a lot, but that’s still 106 times less than what would be produced in New York City.

Pretty gross, right?

“It gives us a way to talk about sweating in a way that’s a little but more fun ... there’s an important message, too,” Gooch said. “It’s the time of year when people are going to be outdoors, and when it’s this hot, you’re going to sweat. It’s your body’s mechanism for trying to stay cool.”