Poll about underarm deodorant use

[Ginevra]

I'm curious about this in relation to a conversation I had with dh. To make it short, he feels that I should urge dd to wear deodorant every day. This is fine; I don't object to it, but I did tell him that I don't always wear it. Unless it's hot/humid or I know I will be very active, I don't necessarily make it a point to put it on. I do know of at least one other woman who said this is her policy also and she never has noticeable B.O. So, it made me curious. How much importance do you place on wearing underarm deodorant?

 

Poll to follow.

 

ETA: This is a multi-choice poll. Check all that apply.

To keep the poll simple, I'm lumping antiperspirant and deodorant into the same category. If you put anything there to fight sweat and/or odor, answer that way. :)

Edited September 27, 2011 by Quill

[Snickerdoodle]

Deodorant or antiperspirant?

 

I think that most deodorants make people smell worse (eww...perfumed B.O.) and that most antiperspirants don't really work.

[Kathleen in VA]

Deodorant or antiperspirant?

 

I think that most deodorants make people smell worse (eww...perfumed B.O.) and that most antiperspirants don't really work.

 

I didn't think of that - I voted about anti-perspirant. I think a lot of people use the terms interchangeably even though they aren't really the same thing.

[Ginevra]

I'm thinking of them as either/or. Many products have both properties and if you're interested in either property or both, I consider that fitting into the poll. :001_smile:

[mom31257]

Teens and preteens have a lot more body odor than adults do, and it has a distinctively worse smell. I've not tried it, but recently my sister told me that if you wash your underarms with anti-bacterial soap, you won't have as much odor. It's bacteria that causes the smell. I think with teens, it probably has to do with hormones.

 

I encourage dd to wear it when we are going out or going to be active.

[Crissy]

I live in a cool climate, and only wear deodorant when I know I will be working out and exposed to other people, or if the weather is warm. I don't wear it if I am exercising alone and can get into the shower immediately afterward, or when I will just be working around the house, which we keep at a maximum of 62 degrees most of the year.

I don't think I have an issue with body odor, but I hope that if I am wrong my friends or family will let me know that I need to use the deodorant more often!

 

My mom was a daily user of deodorant. She was always afraid of offending anyone with any measure of the natural scent of her body. I tend to wonder if 40+ years of daily wear contributed to her breast cancer.

[Truscifi]

I use mine daily as part of my routine. But I do live in a very hot, humid area. And I work out almost every day. And I have outside chores/taking care of animals. Yeah, I get sweaty every.day.

[KungFuPanda]

I wear deodorant/anti-perspirant every day. I don't sweat all that much, but I can't take the sticky feeling if I forget. I tend to notice when people don't wear deodorant and it creeps me out a bit. I've had conversations with people who believed they didn't need deodorant and chose not to wear any. It's their choice and I didn't argue with them. It did, however, confirm my suspicion that the range of normal for smelling ability is VERY VERY wide. my hyper-sensitive nose is MY problem.

[Lovin Learnin]

I only wear antiperspirant when I know I will be active and the weather is warm, and I don't wear it at all from mid-autumn to late spring. I just don't need to. I only encourage dd to wear it when she is playing sports, and so far that has been sufficient. Dh and both ds wear it daily.

[Crissy]

It's their choice and I didn't argue with them. It did, however, confirm my suspicion that the range of normal for smelling ability is VERY VERY wide. my hyper-sensitive nose is MY problem.

 

I tend to be hyper-sensitive about scents as well, but I wonder if that applies to my own.

Now I'm nervous that I stink and don't realize it.

 

:001_huh:

[elegantlion]

I only wear it when I'm going to be hot or active. Granted, I've had radiation on my torso area and that affected my need for deodorant.

 

I do think teens need deodorant more than some adults.

[Julie in CA]

I think sometimes people who don't *think* they need it have become desensitized to their own smell. Even close friends & family, I think, don't always notice the smell of the people close to them. :001_huh:

 

I'm not saying that all of you who don't wear deodorant daily stink, just that it's theoretically possible for you to do so and not notice...:D

[Scuff]

So, hve any of you noticed a change in need? I've always worn it rarely. Even as a teen. I've only needed it on hot or active days. And even then it was not so much for the smell as much as that I just didn't like the sticky feeling. The last couple years, though (early 30s) I've noticed that I really do need it.

[Julie Smith]

I wear it, if I happen to remember to put it on. I'm not a stinky person.

 

I forgot to put it on before going to play paint ball outside for 3 hours. In the summer! Afterwards we all went back to my parents house where 60+ people where for a party. I didn't get a chance to shower since the other stinky paint ball players were first. So I just changed clothes into something not covered with paint.

 

When talking about my adventures several people commented that I was lucky to be the first one in the shower. I had to point out that I hadn't washed since the game.

 

Now my youngest son and his butt. Two days of no washing and he smells like a fart. Yes, I still do wipe his bum. Even If I use a cloth and water he still stinks. He needs a through soap butt scrub every other day.

[chepyl]

I wear it everyday. I dance everyday. If I am not going anywhere, I might forgo the deodorant; but it is part of my routine.

[Ginevra]

I tend to be hyper-sensitive about scents as well, but I wonder if that applies to my own.

Now I'm nervous that I stink and don't realize it.

 

:001_huh:

 

I think sometimes people who don't *think* they need it have become desensitized to their own smell. Even close friends & family, I think, don't always notice the smell of the people close to them. :001_huh:

 

I'm not saying that all of you who don't wear deodorant daily stink, just that it's theoretically possible for you to do so and not notice...:D

 

Well, that is the interesting question, isn't it? I know that I do not have a large range of scent detection (it's strange; there's no measurement for smell-ability that I know of), and I have considered that I might have detectable odor to some that I don't smell myself. Same could be true with dd.

 

Then again, I'm not sure I care if I do sometimes have a faint odor that somebody else could smell if they tried. :D Maybe I'm not so opposed to any detectable scent that I feel I have to be certain that isn't possible. OTOH, maybe I should care more than I do. Hmmmm....

 

I'm not a super-crunchy nature type, but it does give me pause a little to rub chemicals there day after day. It could be an underlying thought that makes me skip it if I don't expect it's really necessary.

[Peela]

I wear a natural deodorant daily- it doesn't work brilliantly, but I refuse to put aluminium under my armpits.

My teens like to wear tacky spelling anti perspirant daily - I have actually discouraged it and tried to get them to wear more natural products- but they are teens, and know best :)

[Ginevra]

I wear it, if I happen to remember to put it on. I'm not a stinky person.

 

I forgot to put it on before going to play paint ball outside for 3 hours. In the summer! Afterwards we all went back to my parents house where 60+ people where for a party. I didn't get a chance to shower since the other stinky paint ball players were first. So I just changed clothes into something not covered with paint.

 

When talking about my adventures several people commented that I was lucky to be the first one in the shower. I had to point out that I hadn't washed since the game.

 

Now my youngest son and his butt. Two days of no washing and he smells like a fart. Yes, I still do wipe his bum. Even If I use a cloth and water he still stinks. He needs a through soap butt scrub every other day.

 

:lol: That cracked me right up! I thought that when my sons were young, too. They needed a bath more for their lingering poo-smell than anything else. :glare:

[kitten18]

I voted "most days". I generally apply deodorant every other day, I try to do it at night, it works better then.

[sparrow]

I wear deodorant/anti-perspirant every day. I don't sweat all that much, but I can't take the sticky feeling if I forget. I tend to notice when people don't wear deodorant and it creeps me out a bit. I've had conversations with people who believed they didn't need deodorant and chose not to wear any. It's their choice and I didn't argue with them. It did, however, confirm my suspicion that the range of normal for smelling ability is VERY VERY wide. my hyper-sensitive nose is MY problem.

 

 

:iagree:

 

I've got an overactive sniffer, too. I have willed my eyebrows to stay down as someone told me how they "have really never needed to wear deodorant" that they "just don't smell" :001_huh:.

[kitten18]

Teens and preteens have a lot more body odor than adults do, and it has a distinctively worse smell. I've not tried it, but recently my sister told me that if you wash your underarms with anti-bacterial soap, you won't have as much odor. It's bacteria that causes the smell. I think with teens, it probably has to do with hormones.

 

You can also use a wipe of astringent (like Sea Breeze) to lower the bacteria in the armpits. Just don't do it right after shaving. :w00t:

 

 

Now my youngest son and his butt. Two days of no washing and he smells like a fart. Yes, I still do wipe his bum. Even If I use a cloth and water he still stinks. He needs a through soap butt scrub every other day.

:lol: I understand that.

[dirty ethel rackham]

I use a natural crystal deodorant every day. If I forget, I can't stand myself. I have to remind my kids to make it a habit because they smell bad too. Even dd11.

[Grover]

I wear it every day. I smell if I don't, and sometimes I smell by the end of the day anyway. I have not been able to go with out it since my early teens and spent a long time trying to find one that worked properly for me. In my teens I went through a run of becoming 'immune' to deodorants after about a month - my mother bought all that sort of thing and refused to buy a new one until the other one ran out so I'd get very stinky. I finally found one that worked long term when I got my own income and have used it ever since, I have to import it myself now because they stopped stocking it in this country. I use a 'crystal' and then antiperspirant on top... that keeps a cap on it most of the time.

[justamouse]

I don't wear it. Only occasionally if I'm nervous. Nervous sweat smells different than working hard sweat. In the summer I just use baby powder and wash often.

 

When my Dh audited labs with an FDA liaison, the chemists told him two things-don't take Tylenol, and don't wear antiperspirant.

 

We know know why they said no Tylenol. I'm waiting for the antiperspirant.

[nitascool]

My 9yo needs it daily, boy does he stink. Taking out the dies in his food has helped some though. My 11yo only occasionally. I have to shower and deodorizer myself daily, even when I was thin and young I had too. I also wash my hair daily, if I don't it's major itchy. When I was nursing my oldest I didn't deodorize because he had allergies to every little thing. I don't use aluminum based deodorant though, it brakes me out.

[Ginevra]

I admit, I am surprised...maybe shocked...that such a lot of people chose "YES! Every day."

 

I wear it every day. I smell if I don't, and sometimes I smell by the end of the day anyway. I have not been able to go with out it since my early teens and spent a long time trying to find one that worked properly for me. In my teens I went through a run of becoming 'immune' to deodorants after about a month - my mother bought all that sort of thing and refused to buy a new one until the other one ran out so I'd get very stinky. I finally found one that worked long term when I got my own income and have used it ever since, I have to import it myself now because they stopped stocking it in this country. I use a 'crystal' and then antiperspirant on top... that keeps a cap on it most of the time.

 

Grover, can I just say I love reading your "voice"? I was recently wondering to myself if you were still around, because I like your written speaking patterns. So happy I get to read it in my very own thread! :001_smile:

[Paz]

I voted I may or may not wear it and I don't really care. If I sweated more and had body odor I probably would care but the truth is, I do not sweat. We live in Florida and I don't sweat. I have some health problems so I wonder if this is part of it in that I can't detox. I can go for a walk around our neighborhood in 95 degree weather and come back and not be sweating. And my mom and I both have a really good sense of smell. Believe me, if I needed it, she would let me know. :lol:

[blondeviolin]

I go through MAYBE a travel-sized deodorant before it expires. (Did you know deodorant has a use-by date? :lol:)

[SKL]

I need it every day. I use a more-or-less natural deodorant.

 

I figured I'd tell my kids to start wearing it routinely before they "badly" needed it. It seems better than cornering a hormonal tween and telling her she is foul and socially unacceptable.

[nukeswife]

I usually just wear it if I'm going to be working out, do heavy duty chores, or yardwork. I've never had anyone tell me I stink, in fact one night I showered before bed and put some on because it was a humid night and figured I'd get warm while sleeping. My dh said "Hey honey, what's that new perfume I really like that" I said "Umm... my deodorant" we both got a good laugh out of that. Apparently I need to find a perfume that smells like Dove's cool essentials cucumber and green tea deodorant (and the spray they make isn't quite the same)

[Tap]

I said that I wear it if it is hot and if I am going out of the house. The main place that I wear it is to work. We literally work side by side. Reaching in front of one another and it isn't uncommon for us to reaching up to pull a medication off the shelf with someone right under us.

 

At home, I am not likely to wear it unless it is hot or I expect to be working outside a lot around somebody. If I am alone, and I plan to shower after, I don't wear it if I am working in the yard.

 

I would say it is 50/50 or less.

[Ellie]

She's 14? Oh, yes, she should be in the habit of using it every day.

[Susie in SWVA]

I can't wear deodorants. I have extremely sensitive skin and I get a rash no matter what I try. I use medicated powder and replace it as frequently as I can. I hope that is good enough.

 

Susie in SWVA

[Trilliums]

We are hosting a First Lego League group in our basement and with 8 kids ranging from 9-14 years old, I have a new esteem for deodorants. :) I have even been considering mentioning it to the neighbor child...or giving her a toiletries gift bag for xmas including a natural deodorant. So yes, even if it is not particularly hot, but she is in groups of people, she may want to use a deodorant.

 

Around age 13 I provided my sons with deodorant (we use Tom's of Maine and it seems adequate). DH uses an aluminum based product, which I use occasionally if I am stinky and need to go out but don't have time for a shower...ah that sounds kind of bad, but you know, those times do arise. :)

[eternalknot]

I never wear it, but I'm not philosophically opposed; just disinterested (in selecting, purchasing, using). It's just as easy for me to freshen up throughout the day, as needed. Fortunately I don't come from a family of heavy sweaters. I feel for my kids, though, who seem to have inherited that unfortunate gene from their father's side. I was wondering just a few weeks ago about how I'd handle the deoderant thing for them. I don't think they'll be able to get away with not using it regularly but choosing and using one is completely foreign to me. Most of my family doesn't use it.

[Tohru]

I think every person's body chemistry is different and some individuals need it more than others. If your dd is smelling, then yes, she should wear it, but if she doesn't smell, then there isn't a need.

 

My 14yo son does not wear any. His underarms and feet do not smell at all and I have a VERY sensitive nose.

[eternalknot]

I tend to be hyper-sensitive about scents as well, but I wonder if that applies to my own.

Now I'm nervous that I stink and don't realize it.

 

:001_huh:

 

I don't think odor always needs to equal "stink" - I think so many of us are acclimated to smelling certain aromas, which we internalize as smelling "nice" or not.

 

For example, if I walk into your kitchen and smell Pine Sol I'm smelling an artificial clean scent. If I walk into your hug and smell deoderant, it's the same thing (IMO). I don't find normal odor to (always) be stinky, even though I'm not getting wafts of roses coming from the direction of your armpits.

 

That sometimes musky scent is normal to me; neither stinky, nor sweet ... it just is what it is. To someone who uses a lot of scented products, from handsoap to shampoo to shower gel to lotion to deoderant, well yes I may very well smell stinky to them but that doesn't mean I necessarily stink! It just means that their nose has forgotten what normal humans smell like without the artificial add-ons.

 

Of course, the flip side is also true; just because I can't smell my funk, doesn't mean it ain't there. But generally you can tell by reading people's body language if they think you're ripe ... the majority of us aren't very good actors!

[HiddenJewel]

I've been surprised that most people don't wear it every day. If I don't I stink by the end of the day. I do not use antiperspirant because of the ingredients and because sweating is an important function of the body. I have recently started making my own deodorant and have been very pleased with the results.

[Grover]

Grover, can I just say I love reading your "voice"? I was recently wondering to myself if you were still around, because I like your written speaking patterns. So happy I get to read it in my very own thread! :001_smile:

 

I'm not sure whether to be flattered that someone notices me or worried about what kind of "voice" I might have :blushing:<<< this is my best toe-kicking "aww shucks". I'm glad I have brought joy to your day by existing :lol:

[Laurie4b]

Is he urging it because she has a strong odor or on principle? If on principle, I would ask if he has ever noticed you having an odor and if not share with him your "secret" that you don't always use it. People's odors are different--and can also change during certain phases of life. (Peri-menopause was awful for odor for me! Horrible, onion-y . A few friends had the same experience. Was so glad to get through that! Adolescence can also bring a peak in odor.)

[Jean in Newcastle]

I live in a cool climate, and only wear deodorant when I know I will be working out and exposed to other people, or if the weather is warm. I don't wear it if I am exercising alone and can get into the shower immediately afterward, or when I will just be working around the house, which we keep at a maximum of 62 degrees most of the year.

I don't think I have an issue with body odor, but I hope that if I am wrong my friends or family will let me know that I need to use the deodorant more often!

 

 

You don't stink and I don't wear it most of the time either.

 

BTW - the Japanese always said that foreigners "stank" in their opinion because of their diet. Japanese who ate traditional food had their own smell that was different from those who ate Western food.

[JennyD]

I sweat a lot AND have a hypersensitive nose, and if I do not wear antiperspirant daily by the afternoon I will be both (1) wet; and (2) smelly. (And if I don't shave my armpits often enough, even antiperspirant can't save me.) Attractive, no? :tongue_smilie: By way of comparison, DH never uses it, rarely sweats, and hardly ever smells, although his clothes definitely need washing more often than he thinks they do.

 

That said, I am not at all convinced that antiperspirant is all that safe and when pregnant have just thrown social nicety to the wind and gone with mostly useless natural-type alternatives. DH has never seeemed to notice, but my mom -- from whom I inherited the hypersensitive nose -- once showed up when I was pregnant with #2 and pointedly started opening all the windows. ("It's so STUFFY in here!")

 

So as a general rule, I don't think I can really go without, but I would love to find another option that actually worked.

[----]

.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

I voted I wear it if I plan to be hot or active. But, I just wear a natural deodorant, not antiperspirant. I don't believe in antiperspirants. We need to sweat if we are hot and blocking it in doesn't seem right.

[Tree House Academy]

I couldn't imagine not wearing deodorant. I don't sweat much, but my underarms feel sticky and stinky to me if I do not have it on. Maybe it is just habit?

[EthiopianFood]

I'm not a super-crunchy nature type, but it does give me pause a little to rub chemicals there day after day. It could be an underlying thought that makes me skip it if I don't expect it's really necessary.

 

Baking soda. It's amazing! If you want a buffer or nice scent, try Funk Butter. I have ZERO smell with that stuff. It's the baking soda, really!

[LucyStoner]

I did not used to but I do now that I am really physically active. I am sensitive to most of them. The crystal roll on one seems to help me and it does not cause a rash.

[Liz CA]

A little coconut oil, baking soda, and essential lavender oil make a fairly effective anti-perspirant.

[bellabee03]

Unfortunately I was blessed with extreme anxiety and overactive sweat glands. If I didn't use deoderant/antipersperant my family would not want me near, LOL. If I know it's going to be a really hot day, or I will be doing something out of the norm where I will be nervous, I have a special routine. I wash and shave really well, use an alcohol based sanitizing gel (tried vinegar, can't stand the smell), make sure they are completely dry, and then a strong antipersperant like secret. Sometimes I will use certain dri for a few nights before if I know I will be doing something to make me anxious.

 

My 10 year old ds has really bad odor if he doesn't shower and scrub his armpits daily. Sometimes if we're in a hurry and he can't shower I will scrub his armpits with a washcloth and then have him use the sanitizing gel. (I don't think he really gets in and scrubs them when he showers...instead he gently rubs the soap over them) It seems to work better than deoderant for the smells.

[missesd]

My answers aren't on there...

 

I wear it if:

 

-I just showered, especially if I shaved, because the conditioning solid helps relieve the irritation

-If I am leaving my house

-If I am going to be doing something active, or getting hot

-For dressy/special occasions

-If I take a whiff, and am I like "ewww" LOL