Apparently not. OTOH, from when I did market research with men when I worked on anti-perspirants and deodorants, I can tell you that some men aren’t aware that there’s a difference between one type of product and the other (yes, they can be that clueless).
There are a couple of deodorants for women, but they are mostly antiperspirants. I don’t know about any problems with aluminum in antiperspirants, but I’ve mostly stopped using them (switched to plain deodorants) because my armpits started to smell really weird (like tomato soup, to speak plainly). It took a couple of months of deodorant use only to clear up the weird smell, and now I only use antiperspirants if I know I’m going to be working hard (gardening in the sun, etc.).
Two notes for my personal story - I’m not a very sweaty person to start with, and I have somewhat unusual skin in that I don’t seem to get infections, ever. It’s possible that whatever is different in my skin that stops me from getting infections also reacts badly with antiperspirants.
Sometimes I forget to put on deodorant and it’s not a big deal. I shower in an air-conditioned home, drive to work in an air-conditioned car, and work in an air-conditioned office. I don’t sweat much at all on the average day. I would guess I sweat more at night, and then I get a shower the next morning so… no biggie.
I might start doing the underboob swipe, though. My tits sweat more than my pits.
I’m tired, and thought this thread was “Democrates vs. Antiprespirants” and had to open it to figure out WTF?
Yeah, but you’re a hippy. 
It depends on the guy, unfortunately. For some guys, I totally agree. For my last SO? sigh No.
No, it isn’t. Deodorants are supposed to neutralize the odor-causing bacteria, not just mask one scent with another. Deodorants don’t have to contain any fragrance of their own at all.
No. If I’m sweating enough for my shirt to actually get wet in the arm pits, then it’s also wet on the chest and back. My whole body is probably sweaty by then.
Huh? Could you explain? Because “masking one scent with another” is exactly what I thought deodorants did. How does a deodorant with no fragrance work? Are you talking about antiperspirant but saying deodorant?
I don’t get wet pits. When I start sweating, it starts on the neckline, both in front and in back. The most visible parts of my shirt get soaked long before my pits start to contribute.
When I was a lad, my father once said something like, “Anti-perspirant!? Harrumph! Your body is supposed to sweat. Use deodorant.” I have no idea if Dad was anywhere near the facts on this point, but I believed him at the time. Dad was a Right Guard man, and naturally I followed his lead. Now I use Right Guard mostly out of habit and because whenever I consider switching, I look at the roughly 752 kinds of products on the shelf and say, “Fuck it, I’m buying the same thing I bought last time.” (Also the roll-on kind makes my pits hurt). I work in an office all day, so sweat is not a big deal for me in any case.
ETA: I imagine loyalty to the products you used in adolescence is a big factor in most adults’ hygeine product buys, but that’s just a guess.
No. Smelly pits are the product of bacterial activity. The primary action of a deodorant–the only action of an unscented one–is to inhibit the growth of microbes.
So there are three different things being talked about here:
- antiperspirants - stop you from sweating,
- deodorants - stop the sweat from smelling bad,
- fragrances - put a nicer smell on top of the bad smell.
Okay. From my experience with scented deodorants, (never tried unscented) the “stop the sweat from smelling bad” is just a myth. Or at most, it’s a feature that lasts about a couple of hours tops.
It’s mostly just alcohol right? Whatever it is, that stuff just evaporates and provides zero protection in short order. But I’m a guy who sweats profusely living in about the most humid environment possible, so YMMV.