It seems like a lot of stuff men use to smell and sweat less have names which are masculine, but really kind of bizarre.
Arctic Force. Manly. Canadians know it takes toughness to fight the cold. And a whole bunch of them, apparently, equipped to do so. A whole platoon, it seems, though it seems like a lot of people for a mundane task. Although groups of men usually smell like hot dog water, what does Arctic Force smell like? Comraderie. Possibly recycled beer. Or boondoggling.
Wild Moss. Manly. Not only is it untamed and savagely independent, but it evokes the peace and spirit of the rugged wilderness. Specifically, the part that is said to grow on the north side of trees. But actually gets you lost, since this is not true. It is fuzzy like arm hair. But thick and green.
Deep Musk. Manly. Smells like deer glands, or possibly the Twitter feed of a billionaire who has been sleeping at his factory for the last three weeks. Like hard work and raw meat.
Ocean Fresh. Manly. They probably mean to invoke adventure. Not those massive islands of floating plastic ensnaring seagulls in the remote Pacific, or big cities that can’t be bothered to treat their sewage.
I suspect deodorants for women likely are given direct names that describe the actual smell, lavender, lily of the valley, rose - maybe fancied up to make Persian Spice Market or whatever. Maybe this isn’t true though.
Is it true men want to invoke their ancestral fighting spirit when buying routine toiletries?
Are their other amusing names?
Is this even true - men prefer non-descriptive things implying toughness, but women prefer direct descriptions?
I just happened to be in the store today looking at the deodorants, and I noticed that Old Spice had one called MAMBAKING.
Judging by the picture of the snake, I assume this is supposed to be MAMBA KING. But I originally interpreted it as MAM BAKING, which is considerably less manly.
That’s how I read it too. No one made cookies like dear Mam. Being a Mambo King would be kind of cool. The smushed word, repeated twice (why that?) and that snake makes it look like a product designed for twelve year old boys, though. Amusing, but no Arctic Force.
Sometimes - the brand I use has Clean Lavender but also Stress Response, Completely Clean, Shower Fresh and so on. There are about 10 scents between the three different forms and the only one that actually tells you what it will smell like is the lavender although I suppose the Powder Protection scent might count.
Sorry, that’s just the way the product was displayed on the website in the clearest picture I could find. Here’s a better picture showing just the product itself:
Back in the early '90s, when I worked on Degree antiperspirant at Helene Curtis, we had a male-targeted scent that was called, non-descriptively, “Sport.” (That fragrance of Degree is still sold today, strongly suggesting that it continues to be popular.)
We worked with a fragrance house to develop the scent; the scent is, in fact, a knockoff of the men’s cologne Drakkar Noir (which, too, was very popular at that time).
What I find interesting is that I cannot find a deodorant stick marketed for women that’s JUST a deodorant–they’re also antiperspirants. I happen to think there’s really good reasons to sweat and have a big problem with wiping aluminum salts near my lymph nodes so I buy a deodorant that’s supposed to be all manly and shit. Arm & Hammer Essentials, scent is “Fresh.” Hmm, not super manly manly man flavored I guess, but it’s in the man side of the aisle so…
I’m dying at OP’s descriptions. I will say that, while my grownup lady deodorant tends to come in straightforward fragrances like cucumber or lavender, I definitely had a stick of Teen Spirit “Caribbean Cool” back in the day, and I still have no idea what that was supposed to smell like. A hot, carefree bikini body, perhaps.
Men also like velocity. Things that move fast, like race cars and explosives. Not only do you get Speed Stick (the quickest accelerating toiletry), but you used to get to shave with Mach 3. Mach 2 is obsolete - too slow, so yesterday, who wants that?
You want sharp cutting blades against your face moving at three times the speed of sound. The more blades the better too, we up to five? Six? What if the first blade did its job of cutting hair, instead of just exfoliating, or gently lifting, or greeting sensitive skin?
Women, from my experience, like shiny things. This does not seem reflected in the names of deodorants, however.
From deodorant names, men also like mountains and breezes. Mountains seem manly, I guess. Breezes are basically just drafts old people with rheumatism complain about. Are breezes manly?
When I worked in the industry, female-targeted deodorant-only products were very uncommon, at least with the national brands. I think that Secret carried one SKU, and that was it.
The reason why there weren’t (and aren’t, today) more deodorant-only products for women was simply that they didn’t sell well (and didn’t test well in market research), as the large majority of women wanted to reduce sweating as well as odor.
I think that a number of newer, more “niche” natural, deodorant-only products are available now, but they likely aren’t carried at the big stores. You may want to look online, or try places like Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. (And, yeah, they are also likely to cost more than the mass-market brands.)
Those “niche, natural” products are basically some kind of bullshit skin shredding crystal or whatever the fuck that simply doesn’t work. I’m just looking for some normal, non slick, non foamy stuff that changes my BO to something innocuous long enough to get me to my next shower at a price that’s less than a mortgage payment. I used to use Speed Stick musk but they had to manify it to the point where the stank off the stick gave me migraines. If A&H ever stops making Essentials I’m screwed.
For fifteen bucks I expect it to use a live baby otter as an applicator! Does sound like it would smell good though. I think I get my stuff for like three bucks a stick. Yeah, I’m cheap, sue me lol.
