Blog

Jan 22, 2024

What Causes Excessive Face Sweat, and How Can I Stop It?

By Julia Ries If you clicked on this article, I’m guessing you know the

By Julia Ries

If you clicked on this article, I’m guessing you know the frustrations of sweating buckets from your face in the summertime. First you feel a little toasty, then a film of perspiration collects on your forehead, and before long, beads of sweat are pouring down your cheeks and dripping off your chin. It's uncomfortable. It's annoying. It's hell.

Face sweat is a pretty common conundrum. Your face is packed with sweat glands that pump out moisture when it's hot and muggy out to help keep you cool (a process called thermoregulation). Basically, everyone experiences face sweat to some degree—it's just the price we pay to enjoy the beautiful summer weather.

That being said, certain people's faces get excessively moist. There are two main reasons for this, the first of which is primary hyperhidrosis, a condition in which your sweat glands are hyperactive. Hyperhidrosis is largely genetic and can be triggered by heat, along with stress and anxiety and certain foods (like coffee). There's no guide for what constitutes "excessive sweating," but here are a few clues that something may be amiss: Your clothes are constantly soaked, your skin stays wet for hours on end, or you’re prone to skin infections in the areas you tend to get sweaty.

There's also secondary hyperhidrosis, where facial sweating is triggered by an underlying condition like pregnancy, menopause, fever, an infection, a metabolic problem, or heart disease, among others. Secondary hyperhidrosis can also be caused by certain medications, including antidepressants (like nortriptyline and desipramine), opiates, and some nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs).

Your stress levels, body size, and age can also influence how much you perspire, as can certain lifestyle factors, like smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, and consuming caffeine. It's normal to have swampier days from time to time, but if the sweat doesn't relent and starts impacting your ability to go about your everyday life, it's probably time to see a doctor.

"Although sweating is an essential function of the body, too much sweat, particularly on the face, can be uncomfortable, inconvenient, and embarrassing," Rebecca Marcus, MD, FAAD, board-certified dermatologist and founder of Maei MD, tells SELF. If you feel like your head becomes a spicket whenever it gets hot out, there are a few things you can do to stay cool and dry (other than, ya know, racing inside to get near some air conditioning). Here's how to cope.

You may presume that drinking more water equals more sweat (guilty!), but that's not the case. Keeping your body hydrated actually helps regulate your body temperature so you won't sweat quite as much, Shoshana Marmon, MD, PhD, FAAD, an assistant professor of dermatology at New York Medical College, tells SELF. "When dehydrated, the body can produce more sweat in an attempt to cool down," says Dr. Marmon.

The fix: Drink water throughout the day, especially if you’re physically active or if it's particularly toasty outside, Dr. Marmon says. The Mayo Clinic recommends between 11 to 16 cups of fluid a day, some of which can be consumed via water-rich foods like fruits and veggies. If you tend to lose track of how many cups of water you’ve thrown back each day, follow this simple rule: Drink whenever you feel thirsty. The goal is to rarely feel parched and for your pee to be colorless or a light yellow. Relatively clear pee equals less sweat.

There are a handful of foods known to exacerbate sweating in some folks, per the Cleveland Clinic. The most common culprits are chocolate, citrusy foods, and spicy or hot foods (think: hot peppers, chili powder, spicy curries, horseradish, and wasabi). Spicy and hot foods contain an ingredient called capsaicin, which sends "a signal to the brain that something is burning and the body responds by sweating to cool it down," says Dr. Marmon.

By Kayla Blanton

By Ali Francis

By Pam Moore, C.P.T., OTR/L

Caffeinated beverages, like coffee, and alcohol can also make you feel steamy. Alcohol, research shows, increases your body temperature, which causes your body to sweat to bring its temp back down. Coffee has a similar effect: It boosts your body and skin temps, thereby increasing your sweat response.

Some people will heat up after ingesting even a small amount of alcohol or peppers, for example, whereas others can handle much more, says Dr. Marmon. If you notice these substances make you extra sweaty, try avoiding them as best as you can—but if that's not in the cards for you, just do your best to keep your caffeine, alcohol, and spicy food intake to a minimum, especially when it's sweltering outside. "Everyone's tolerance and reactions are different, so the point is to listen to your body and adjust as needed," she says.

Did you know not all deodorant is for your underarms? Yep—there are plenty of antiperspirants specifically designed to target face and head sweating. Dr. Marmon says they work by blocking the sweat ducts in and around your face to, in turn, reduce perspiration. She recommended Facade's Aluminum-Free Antiperspirant for Facial Hyperhidrosis ($25, Amazon) and SweatBlock Daily Antiperspirant Face Wipes ($14, Amazon).

Look for terms like "nonirritating" or "safe on sensitive skin" when you’re choosing a product to use on your face. Test out the product on a small area of your skin first, like the underside of your arm, to make sure you don't have a reaction. (A note if you’re acne-prone: Most of these products aren't noncomedogenic, so you may want to ask a dermatologist for a rec instead.)

Keeping a tiny sweat rag in your pocket may seem like a last-ditch effort, but hear us out. Face wipes, like Carpe's Sweat Absorbing Face Wipes ($20, Amazon), are quick to use, portable, and efficient. You can also find blotting papers at just about any drugstore, and they’re "designed to absorb excess oil and sweat without disrupting makeup or irritating the skin," says Dr. Marmon.

You can use them as much as you need to throughout the day, she adds, and it's really the simplest way to remove sweat, oil, and dirt from your face and cleanse and refresh your skin on the go. Another trick: Carry a tiny handheld fan, like Jisulife's Handheld Mini Fan ($15, Amazon), or a mister, like FANTEXY's Nano Facial Mister ($17, Amazon), with you, Dr. Marcus recommends, so you can blast your face with some cool air whenever you feel like you’re melting.

If you feel like you can't tame your face sweats, you may want to talk to a primary care physician or a dermatologist. If you have hyperhidrosis or a condition that triggers it, there are a handful of treatments that can help keep you drier.

Prescription drugs, like oral or topical anticholinergics, block the chemical that activates your sweat glands. Oral meds are commonly taken for facial hyperhidrosis and do a great job of keeping the droplets of sweat at bay, says Dr. Marcus.

Another option is Botox injections. When they’re administered near the forehead, they can quell facial sweating by blocking the nerves that activate your sweat glands. "Botox injections are usually very effective for controlling excessive sweating in any area of the body, and can definitely be used for this purpose on the face," says Dr. Marcus. (Botox is costly, but your insurance may cover it. If not, there are some savings programs worth looking into!)

Staying completely dry, as dreamy as that sounds, isn't gonna happen for anyone, but that doesn't mean you need to live in fear that your scalp's going to produce buckets of water whenever you leave your house. If you feel embarrassed, remember that we’re all out here trying to pretend that we don't sweat as much as we do. And don't forget your teeny fan.

Related: