“Kili-kiling maputi, kili-kiling maitim, kili-kiling brown, kili-kiling magaspang, kili-kiling may buhok, kili kiling may “putok.”

Let’s admit it. We tag so many labels for that small part of our skin we can never hide--- though we try so hard. (forgive my pun) especially when we are lazy about keeping our armpit looking "sweet".

Armpits, under arms or in tagalog, kili-kili is one of the delicate parts of our body.  Delicate in the sense that, there will be times that even our emotional or social aspect is affected whenever “it lets us down.”

Issues concerning underarm are various and tends to be subjective in nature---cultural, racial and gender-based. Filipinos like it hair-free, French women love it otherwise and yet they find it sexy and seducing. Men and women struggle from their individual issues concerning their pits, different nationalities have unique regards on their armpits. Individual and commercial preferences likewise apply (such as… how do you think models sell themselves? Kili-kili is included of corz!).

Men worry mostly about the odor since underarm hair is just natural to them, though sometimes it is an issue amongst their partners when their pits do not grow much hair like (they are supposed to be there, right? 0.o). Women on the other hand worry about the texture of their pits—how smooth they are, how chicken-skinned as well.  Odor is an issue as it gives them a negative impression amongst crowd (men and women), skin tone also matters---the question whether why it turned brown or “sunog” or why it is so Belo-white! (And. HOW).

The thing is, how your kili-kili looks like apparently suggests something about the kind of person you are (or so they say). Who wouldn’t appreciate white, smooth and hair-free kili-kili right?

But is this proper? I mean, if she is a morena, why would you expect her to have rosy white pits? 

Major concerns of the Pit:

Arm pit color and hair aside from odor or too much sweating are the major concerns of Filipinas. 

According to research, the most common cause of darkening of armpits is its natural characteristic. Our pits’ skin are located UNDER arms hence it is just natural that friction transpire because it is “under” and hence, it causes skin irritation due to the rubbing of skin.  Those that have fairer complexion may not suffer significantly from this but those that are morena or those who have darker complexion (kayumanggi, morena, etc.) may have darker armpits due to the darkening pigments called melanin that work whenever skin cells die due to irritation from friction.

“The most common cause of darkening of the armpits is in the anatomy, the rubbing of the armpits against each other,” says dermatologist Isabel Ballesteros-Mangubat, MD. She explains that, as a rule, anything that traumatizes the skin darkens it. Trauma or irritation alerts your melanocytes, cells that carry the darkening pigments known as melamin. Once stimulated, the melanocytes grow bigger. Consequently, your skin becomes darker (direct quote from femalenetwork.com).”

Other causes may be due to hormones, pregnancy (but not all), irritation from shaving, peeling, waxing, plucking, and deo use.  Hence our desire to be hair-free may consequently be affecting our normal armpit skin-tone causing two problems now.

Based on the researches I made, shaving traumatizes the skin 100%.  When we are shaving, it is actually the skin that we are shaving and not our hair!  We are causing damage to the skin just to keep it free of hair.  If you are then tempted to shave, think about the blades that glide on your skin.   

I must admit I had this bad habit for many years until I listened to my pits.
Underarm products, services, commercials and brands should then be reviewed critically before we just apply one to our pits!

Bottom line

It is just normal and proper that we look after the welfare of our dear armpit.  However, I just hope that people would also try to lessen the stereotype they created amongst people who have darker underarms or those who prefer it with some hair present.

We do not really know what happened along the way.  Allergies, hormonal changes, pregnancy, and even economical status can be factors that may have affected negatively people’s armpits. 

We shouldn’t be OC about armpits of other people.
"Mas maganda parin ang taong may totoo ot mabuting ugali kaysa maputing kili-kili lang. "
BUT OF COURSE, let’s still keep our kili-kili clean.  Our kili-kili is part of our entire body, so give it extra-care.

Caroleen’s brief pit tips:

a.    STOP shaving. The blades remember.
b.    take a bath regularly and make sure you rinse off the soap in that area well.
c.    Mind your deo/anti-perspirant brand.  Some are too strong they burn your underarm skin.
d.    Go for natural treatment like use dayap, or kalamansi to whiten or smoothen it as other chemicals from your underarm whitening set can WORSEN the case.