I’ve been using the same brand/scent of deodorant for about 20 years. When I bought some a couple of weeks ago, they didn’t have the one that I usually got so I bought one from the same brand but with a different scent.
Using the new scent, I noticed that I started to smell later in the afternoon. Sure enough, when I read the small print, I found I had bought an anti-perspirant by mistake. Anti-perspirants don’t seem to work for me.
Free Old Spice shopping tip:
In the old days, Old Spice used to smell like gin and tonic. If you go to buy Old Spice these days, there will be 57 varieties and they all smell like flowers. All except one.
If you want to smell like your dad, look for “Classic Original”. Don’t buy “Classic”—it smells like flowers. “Original” also smells like flowers. Only “Classic Original” smells like gin and tonic.
I often wonder what marketing genius at Old Spice is so determined to stop me smelling like gin and tonic that they try to trick me with this misleading labelling.
Are you saying that Asians haven’t developed other social signaling methods? Because you’re objecting to a statement that humans have developed such signals.
As for aluminum, it’s conceivable that elemental aluminum might cause some sort of problems in the body (though nobody’s ever managed to find any good evidence for it). But it’s ludicrous to think that aluminum oxide would. If aluminum oxide or other aluminum salts were bad for us, we’d all be dead already, because they’re incredibly common in the natural environment.
There is only one aspect I miss about chemo - it killed off whatever beasties that cause acne and body odor. I did not have one blemish or blackhead, nor did I have any body odor [except for the smell of chemo, oddly enough. My cats hated me and would actively avoid me, I smelled wrong. Once I detoxed from chemo and went back to my normal stinky self, they were back to being friendly again. Go figure.]
I use antiperspirants that are oriented for men [current one is a solid Mitchem] because I apparently have that gene - I probably could make candles from the wax in my ears, and I sweat apocrine sweat like no tomorrow, sigh
True, but the body is an ecosystem, and there’s a vast territory in between “vital” and “vestigial”. You may not even notice a tiny piece of sand in your shoe, until a year later when your gait is becoming slightly asymmetrical and you start wondering if it’s just your imagination lol
The more important question for me would be, given I’m not worried about a huge wet spot and just the potential odor
Is deodorant alone ineffective for minimizing body odor?
Could odor be effectively mitigated by monitoring consumption of food and intoxicants?
Are you killing the good with the bad? Does getting rid of sweat also block any desired pheromones, etc
Depends on the person, how active their apocrine and eccrine sweat glands are, the chemical composition of their apocrine sweat, as well as the deodorant itself
Depends on the person (see above)
As far as I can tell, if there is any “good” from underarm sweat (and the accompanying odors), it’s likely pretty minimal in most cases
According to this paper, the mutation that results in lack of stinky sweat (as well as dry earwax) is evolutionary beneficial, at least in Asia. That suggests whatever the benefits of pheromones etc, they are outweighed by the disadvantages of smelling bad.
Way back when I first started using deodorant in my early teens, which would have been in the early 1990s, I used Old Spice just because that was what my dad used so my mom bought me the same stuff. That was their older formula, and it was fine. Then some time in maybe late 1990s they came out with their “High Endurance” formula. That stuff made my armpits seriously itchy, and if I kept using it it might progress into what might be described as a burn (although I suppose part of that might have been due to me scratching now that I think about it). I’ve found I’ve gotten the same reaction from other brands of stick deodorant. I discovered the gel kind doesn’t make me itchy, so that’s what I use now. Although the gel kind has the slight downside that the TSA won’t allow in on a plane, so I have to get different deodorant for travel.
I must be in a small subgroup that doesn’t use anti-perspirant or deodorant at all. I haven’t since high school, I just don’t sweat that much and when I do I take a shower. My original thought was why add something like aluminum oxides to your skin if there was a risk, but generally its developed into why buy a product just because marketing people tell me I need it? Been married, had several GFs and people in general don’t avoid me due to BO so its more of a why bother thing. So have them make a new category for me!
I also don’t buy shaving cream and rarely use lotions. My hands are soft and there is no dirt under my fingernails. My GF says it’s because all I do is count money, money saved by not buying these products I say.
