I recently saw a discovery channel special on submariners that said the crew is not allowed to wear deodorant because it interferes with the air-scrubbing system. How does that system work and what is in deodorant that would interfere? Isn’t it mostly metals to retard bacterial growth and scent? In addition, they’re only allowed very short showers. Can you imagine the stench?
How the air scrubber works, but I don’t see how wearing underarm deodorant would interfere with it.
http://express.howstuffworks.com/neatstuff-subs2.htm
http://www.naval-technology.com/contractors/hvac/dornier/index.html
I’d guess they’re not allowed to use aerosol deodorants. As far as I know, roll-on deodorants/antiperspirants are standard. BTW, deodorant is basically just perfumy stuff; the stuff that uses metals to actively prevent sweating is antiperspirant.
Ex-bubblehead here, '81-87. No, both what DDG and Nametag said. No aerosol deodorants, but roll-ons, etc. Two, short showers are the norm due to we have to make our own potable water. So, you get in and wet down, turn off the water, soap up, turn on the water and rinse off, turn off the water. That’s why some guys used to bring stools into the shower in port, just to sit and waste hundreds of gallons in the shower.
Well, the question’s already been answered, so I’ll just add that submarines do stink. It’s not usually the guys (or at least the one I’m married to,) but all the oil, chemicals, food smells etc. get into the air and never get completely out. When dh comes home from a deployment he smells fine, but all the work suits* go in the trash and he buys new.
*He calls them “poopysuits” I have no idea what their proper name is.
Coveralls.
*<hijack>*Do they serve those Navy baked beans on the subs?I used to love 'em.
During bootcap,in one of our many classes meant to indoctrinate us to various branches of the fleet,one of our instructors mentioned the test of Navy interdepence on each other was:“If you wind up in a sub crew,and one person farts,everyone should take one deep wiff to clear the air faster”
I took those words to heart and went into the Aviation branch 
An Airedale to the ex-swabbies,and never regretted it.
That is their “proper” name on the boat. As far as ordering the items, yes, they were called coveralls, but you had to differentiate between the light duty “poopysuit” and the heavy duty green coveralls used for grunge work.
Wearing poopysuits and taking your stools into the shower with you and filtering your neighbors farts with your nose and you’re suppossed to remain ultra quiet after all that? I’d fail miserably.
I am really hoping “poopysuits” refers to poop deck or something and not actual “poop”…
I always understood they were referred to as “poopysuits” simply because they were worn for several days at a stretch. Personally, as long as both of the desalinators were operable, I did laundry once a week.
Overall, modern sub life is not generally as gross as implied by the OP. I took a shower every other watch. This works out to every 36 hours. (Every 18 hours is too frequent.) I changed my underwear (briefs, T-shirt, and socks) every watch (every 18 hours). I used deodorant. Wearing the same poopysuit for several days is really not much different than wearing a pair of jeans for several days. We also had nuclear-powered air conditioning.
This is all a far cry from the WWII “pig boats” that were extremely hot, smelly, and with limited fresh water.
BTW, in the event that one of the desalinating plants went down, we did have to secure (halt) showers and laundry. The first priority for fresh water was make-up water for the steam plant. For hygienic reasons, all of the cooks and mess cranks were permitted to continue bathing and laundry. The longest we ever had reduced water usage in a circumstance such as this was a week. I personally used LOTS of deodorant!
Finally, subs do have an unusual smell, due to the CO[sub]2[/sub]-absorbing amine. It kind of permeates everything. I never noticed it while at sea, but upon returning to port, if you dragged all of your clothes home in a seabag, stashed in a corner, and opened it up a few days later for laundering, the smell really hit you. Not really offensive, but pungent. I never had any trouble removing the smell with proper laundering.
There are other smells, too, that really make me nostalgic when I re-encounter them–kind of a mixture of diesel and hydraulic fluid, I think.
*…Suzy, oh Suzy, won’t you be mine
A submariner’s wife has a hell of a time
You’ll live like a duchess with cash on the nail
If you don’t mind the smell of the diesel and shale
Diesel and shale, diesel and shale
If you don’t mind the smell of the diesel and shale…*
–Tom Lewis, Diesel and Shale
And no, I don’t have anything particularly useful to add - just the soundtrack. 
Every other watch, huh robby? Bet you were a coner, weren’t you…? Oh, wait… You’re an O-ganger. Wasting our water! The water is for cooking, drinking, the bomb, and the reactor, dammit! Laundry and showers come last!
Atmosphere contaminants are a serious no-no, and are closely controlled on boats. Aerosols are generally in this catagory. Boats stink, but as generally it’s quite tollerable, as you begin to stink along with the boat, and don’t notice it. Amine, rotting lube oil, garbage and the smell of a hundred or so semi-washed male bodies pales though, to the indescribable stnch of venting Sans inboard. That’s sanitary tanks, to you non-quals. To dump them while out to sea, you pressurize them to over submergance pressure, but you can’t vent the excess pressure out to sea too, or you’ll make a God-awful racket, and attract much unwelcome attention from people who might not be so friendly. So, instead, the excess pressure is vented back into the people tank. The stench is beyond vile.
And sometimes you sail with a guy like Animal Andrews. Yup, the guy from Blind Man’s Bluff**. He was every bit as nasty as described, for all that he was a superiour nuclear mechanic. ::shudder::
Make that: Blind Man’s Bluff.