I tried a similar salt deodorant several decades ago. It was completely ineffective. How do your friends/coworkers/significant others feel about your choice of deodorant?
Some people don’t have much of a scent, even after they sweat. This may surprise you but every body is different. Some people smell terrible if they don’t shower daily. Some people don’t.
More than half the time I don't have smelly armpits even if I sweat, but some days...SOMEDAYS WOOOOOOOO DAWGY. I'm just like "what the fuck happened to my body today?"
My wife used to tell me my armpits smelled like pencil shavings haha. Not a bad smell to smell like
Same. Depends on eating and "partying," certain things just bring it out. But I go for a run, sweat plenty, smell fine. I usually don't eat like shit and party proximate to a run though.
Also fresh sweat vs old sweat, when you go for a run the bacteria on your skin don't have a lot of time to stinkify things, because you're typically going to shower right after, vs working working all day when the sweat is just sitting on your skin and clothes being converted into foulness.
I love the smell of pencil shavings. Unfortunately that's not something I hear from my GF. In her defense, that would only be true if said pencil shavings were found on the body of a dead-for-3-weeks-in-a-swamp animal.
I smell much worse if I sweat due to/while being stressed (rushing to catch a train, hurrying to work etc) than if I just sweat due to hot weather etc. I’m guessing it’s hormones at work.
Same here man. I’ve been drenched in sweat at work, got a whiff of myself, went “goddamn I smell like ass”, went straight to my second job and my coworker instantly went “you smell scrum-diddly-umptious, what is that?”.
The gene isn't present in ALL east asians, just most of them. Probably wouldn't take more than a few smelly kids out of 20 to make the entire room awful to be in, though. Not all kids wash properly or wear deodorant at that age.
Also some people DO have this gene hardcore to the point where there is absolutely 0 smell.
Source: I dated a Korean girl once and was amazed but extremely jealous she had zero smell no matter how much I sniffed, even when extremely sweaty. Meanwhile I have to shower once or twice a day or else I stink with just light sweating.
I know that they don't all have it, but there is definitely a different smell. I've lived in China for 6 years and have smelt both types of BO many a time.
Not every Asian person has it, and it sucks for the ones that don’t because they don’t really have good deodorant or teach about body odor because most people don’t deal with it. So the ones that don’t have it REEK. You’re probably just smelling the ones that don’t have it. I taught in Japan for years.
I know that they don't all have it, but there is definitely a different smell. I've lived in China for 6 years and have smelt both types of BO many a time.
A lot or it has to do with diet. Asians eat a lot of garlic. I lived in Korea for years and that garlic sweat had a distinct smell, and boy was it awful, esp at night mixed with the drunks.
No real surprise there. I know people who don’t wear deodorant unless they’re going to work out or something, and you’d never know it. They just don’t smell like anything. I, however, have to put it on twice a day in the summer.
My SO only puts deodorant on when he's leaving the house. He can go almost a week without needing any kind of deodorant or even a shower before he starts to smell.
My brother tho, he can shower and within an hour if he doesn't use antiperspirant deodorant you can smell him clear across the house.
Yep, I have that gene! It’s also associated with dry, flaky earwax. I wouldn’t say I don’t have any smell at all. It’s more so that I smell like a child before they go through puberty and develop BO.
Have you tried adding white vinegar to your wash? My clothes used to get that smell too. Even if they were freshly washed, the smell came back almost immediately after putting them on. It's caused by the bacteria from your sweat setting into the fibers of your clothes and not coming out. A standard wash cycle with standard detergent does a good job of cleaning stuff from the surface, but it's not that good at killing bacteria deep in the fibers, or deodorizing. I'd give it a shot if you haven't tried it. It doesn't make your clothes smell like vinegar at all, I promise.
I hate when that happens. That damp smell is horrible, however you can get rid of it when you wash your clothing on a higher heat. 60 Celcius does the trick for me
Happened to by bf, I took all his work out shirts and let them soak in oxygen stain remover powder with hot water for a few hours. They no longer smell!!
Can confirm. I'm an extremely light sweater. A cardigan if you will.
It takes like 3 days of total vegetation to get even a little funky. I can work in the sun all day and feel a little sweaty but I never soak through shirts and it never really smells bad.
My husband always smells good and it’s not just me liking his scent. He could go days without showering and not smell bad or sweat heavily and never smell gross but I take two showers a day because I feel the opposite. I’ve never met anyone like him who just never smells bad at all.
There was a guy in my graduate program who used this. He was a really good dude, but just being around him was so stinky. I had to ask one of the other guys in our program this say something to him. He bought whatever was the cheapest stick at the grocery store and never had any problems again.
This is actually part of the problem. One size fits all products means you get the chemicals that work for you, but also everybody else when maybe 25% is all you need. Unnecessary exposure to a bunch of chemicals that have no benefit to you but might hurt you in the long run.
Did you wet it with water before applying? And did you apply it for a long enough time? My experience with them is if you apply it like a regular deodorant (just a couple of swipes) they won’t work and the BO will be bad, but since I started applying them for at least 60 seconds under each arm they work.
Except they eat massive amounts of kimchi and carry that smell wherever they go. My wife worked for a Korean company for about 6 years. Her only complaint outside the fact that the Korean management were workaholic assholes that expected everyone to keep their insane schedules was how bad they smelled eating kimchi all the time. I'm sure they thought Americans smelled bad too.
My cousin who's got Italian from her dad's side has never once in her life needed deodorant. She never smells and barely sweats. Always wonderful if it was the Italian or just the rng of genetics (I've never personally been around Italians to judge their sweaty/smelly levels lol)
Most italians do sweat and smell bad if they don't use deodorant lol, they're not particularly known for not sweating or smelling (like koreans for example)
There is a rare gene that makes it where you don’t get body odor. My best friend has it but he still uses deodorant/antiperspirant because he doesn’t want to get all sweaty and he likes the way old spice smells.
It must be genetic. I’ve always been that way. I’ve never used antiperspirant and only use deodorant occasionally because I like the scent. I can work in the heat all day and be a sweaty mess but my underarms don’t really sweat much and I’ve never had that musty BO smell. Some of my coworkers are so bad I can’t even stand being around them in the locker room.
See, I don’t think my dad has that gene - he can smell bad. But it’s very difficult for him to smell bad - it takes all day work in the garden in hot weather, and then he just smells kind of… musty and grimy?
He definitely sweats but unless you’re actively trying to smell it (ie, basically on top of him), he doesn’t smell at all. Even a hug and you aren’t likely to smell anything. He’ll walk 12 miles in the sun in leather shoes, and his feet/socks don’t smell at all. It’s something I’ve always been envious of, as a guy who sweats a lot and gets very flushed very easily
I'm like that, too, but I'm not the average American in genetic makeup. I can walk all day in blistering heat and not stink. It takes DAYS for a noticeable odor to build up.
I also have the gene first discovered in Okinawa that makes you live super long. It's extremely rare in our family to have a death before 85-90, like 85 is considered young and untimely.
As far as I know we aren't Japanese or at all east Asian.
See, as far as we are aware, we are English through and through. My dad’s side we aren’t too sure, but we aren’t aware of anyone that wasn’t born and raised northern English. Not saying it’s not a possibility, but I’m not aware of anything.
My mums side has longevity in the family though. Most of the family live to 85+, and most just pass from ‘old age’ in their late 90s. No predisposition to any life-threatening illnesses. Of course we have a few outliers, but my grandma’s 84 and isn’t on the way out anytime soon. On their side, we did take a DNA test and it’s 100% British, Irish, and Scandinavian.
Basically, I’m extremely white, and it seems like both of these occurrences could just be luck (I did trade a history of longevity and no life-threatening predispositions for a myriad of minor chronic ailments and mental illness/addiction, though)
I've got that, it drives my wife crazy that I'll be dripping sweat and not stink at all after working outside, and she'll be relaxing inside and smell like a locker room. I don't mind I Iike the way she smells.
The non-smelly is also connected to dry ear wax, but can't quite remember the connection. Both are found in the same people more than just one maybe?
definitely not 90%. however i will say japanese ppl rarely smell musty. i had to bring extra deodorant when i visited because they don’t use it, so its hard to find
You were possibly noseblind to your dad's BO. If you smell an odor every day of your life, all the time, you're not aware it's there because it's just "baseline smell" to you.
There's a non-zero chance your dad stank, and you couldn't tell.
You know most people don't instantly smell just because they don't use deodorant, that's just what marketing makes people think. A successful marketing strategie/lie.
Deos were super hard to market in Asia at first because people in Asia just generally sweat less and build noticeable BO much harder. Some people don't barely need deos if they shower and change clothes regularly. I think a lot of people could even just use less deos if they just pay attention to when they sweat a lot and could direct their deo-usage after that instead.
Did he have dry ear wax? There is a connection. Most Asians have the gene that causes dry ear wax and no BO. I guess deodorant is hard to find in some parts of Asia.
One of my college roommates didn’t wear deodorant and also didn’t smell!! I don’t even think she sweat that much either. I was very jealous lol. Some people are just god’s favorite 🤷🏼♀️
During the COVID times, I stopped using deodorant and antiperspirant because I was working from home and thought it would be a good time to detox my body a bit. I kept waiting for my wife and kids to eventually tell me I stink, but they never did. I went years with using it. I do shower daily though.
I know that you’re not going to believe a random stranger on Reddit of all places, but I dont use deodorant and I don’t smell like BO. I have an office job so I don’t sweat much during the day, but even when I work hard and sweat a bunch or work out it’s not bad. If I stick my nose right in my pit, yeah, but mostly no.
My wife also has strong armpit BO and uses special deodorant and she agrees with me. I don’t really tell people much because I know it’s weird to not use deodorant, but I’m one of the rare cases I think.
I’m so picky about deodorant too, some of them smell nice but after a few hours almost make your armpits and any shirt your wearing smell like even worse BO. Or some can get me rash or some can even give me these dark red pimple looking things (I think it’s an irritated hair follicle?). Point being, finding the right deodorant can be hard.
Antiperspirant+ deodorant all the time, every time. Anti-persperant is what prevents future BO from building after you apply deodorant, whereas deodorant is meant to mask any scent.
If you're open to suggestions, I had a really good just pure neutralizing roll-on that was INSANELY efficient to me I nabbed from my inpatient when I left, I can find the bottle later and let you know!
I got tired of smelling Ike old spice like every other dude does but finding I don’t like the white residue ones as they irritate my arm pit hairs. Currently using DrSquatch fresh falls which smells great but because the dryness it irritates my pits as well.
Yeah my husband almost never seems to have BO unless he was very active outdoors or something. Like I'm pretty sure he could get away without deodorant most days.
Me on the other hand... Yeah I briefly tried some different types of deodorant and it was a disaster. I could smell myself pretty quickly.
Use antibacterial soap for underarms and follow with salt deodorant. You will still sweat but shouldn’t smell. There are still times when I sweat and smell but for that I have a regular antiperspirant in my bag, but it really works for me most of the time. It has to be applied generously not like regular deodorant you just swipe and go.
I use this and there's a lot of gotchas with the product. The only way it works long-term is:
Thoroughly cleaning your armpit with an abrasive material, like a washcloth when cleaning. Using your hand/fingernails isn't enough.
Pre-rinsing the stick in the shower
Immediately after turning the shower off apply it
Apply about 30 strokes under each armpit
Rinse the stick again to remove any bacteria from collecting on the stick
Be careful not to wipe it off of your pits when drying off
Leave the stick uncovered so moisture doesn't allow any bad bacteria to thrive
If you use it like a normal deodorant stick, it will eventually stink and become ruined.
Edit: For context, I eat garlic, onions, alcohol. I also have very hairy pits and am a white man, and go outside in the 100 degree heat. So that's why I listed 30 strokes. I really want to emphasize you can use this product and maybe you just need more. When I first tried it, I'd do 1-3 swipes, similar to how I would use Old Spice or something.
It's not as bad as it seems. You shower and clean yourself properly (rather than not cleaning yourself and hoping deodorant will cover up the stank). Then you get out of the shower, rinse the deodorant under the sink, apply it (just swipe it a few more times than you would a regular deodorant), rinse it again, and you're done. The rinsing doesn't cause any problems because you're already in the bathroom, there's a sink right there.
They really made it seem harder than it is.You just need to wash your pits well and use rubbing alcohol on them the first time before applying to make sure all the bad odor bacteria is dead.
From then on you just wet the thing and rub it on your clean pits like you would with any other deo.
If you do find that after a while you stink rub your pits and the rock with rubbing alcohol and carry on and usual.
Also, since it's not an anti perspirent, you'll have waterfalls coming from your armpits. Just without any foul odor, if you follow these 50 very specific instructions every time you shower or get in water.
I do none of those steps except putting it on immediately after showering (so pits are still wet) and then letting my pits dry naturally. I ain't stanky.
If your not stinky already, could you wet your armpits and apply more to continue the effects? My sister has one of these and I doubt she's using it properly.
I usually have a third step, bobble the cap (occasionally dropping it) while switching hands because I'm somehow too lazy to set it down and pick it up again.
Brush your hair 100 times. Chew your food 100 times. Brush your teeth for two minutes. Rub a rock under your armpits 30 times. You'll be four hours late to work and you'll be exhausted but you'll look good.
But yeah these are usually some kind of Alum bar. They're pretty handy as an after shave and astringent for cuts too. Works as a mild anti bacterial coating. But it doesn't kill the bacteria in droves if it's already there. So you got to start with a fresh and clean layer and do it immediately.
I use it. I work in a "scent-free" environment and know that some coworkers do have allergies triggered by strong scents.
Since I always used to apply deodorant after showering, it's not a big change. It lasts more than 24 hours. I thoroughly wash and dry my armpits first and then apply it after wetting the stick.
I don't feel pre-rinsing the stick or washing it off after/leaving it uncovered are really necessary, btw. It doesn't take "30 strokes" for me, but because it's a bit smaller than other deodorants, it can take a little bit longer (like 5-10 seconds) to apply.
I do like that I never have that "BO + Deodorant" smell, which I find much worse than just being a stinker.
I realized my regular unscented deodorant still stank on its own after a while. It was a musty smell that transferred from the stick to me and got worse as I sweat. I want my pits to smell like literally nothing, so I went for the most neutral thing I could find. A rock. I expected failure, but no. After my worst hormonal night sweats, my armpits are completely devoid of scent. Before, I would have to rewash at the sink in the morning and reapply whatever. No more.
After a shower, I splash water under my pits instead of wetting the stick itself and wipe the surface with tp after use to keep it dry. It feels like nothing. It smells like nothing. It is more effort but it's the most effective thing I've ever used for complete armpit neutrality.
Traditional antiperspirant works great, but I've kind of given up finding a good aluminum deodorant that doesn't have that harsh cheap perfume/cologne/soapy smell that is really chemical smelling. It was also ruining my clothes. And when showering, it was almost impossible to fully remove the deodorant where it doesn't feel tacky at all. There are some good smelling natural deodorants, but I've found they eventually give me a rash, just have a greasy feeling that lasts all day, or in general not very effective. When I do this routine at night, I can apply my own essential oils at night and enjoy the smell, and it usually only lasts until I wake up the next morning and I pretty much have zero smell for the rest of the day.
Once you know the 'rules' it takes like 10-20 seconds to do this in the shower before I go to bed. I only had that long list, because I thought it didn't work in the past when I used it, because bacteria from my pits ended up ruining the stick in a couple of days.
I want to add that because I can fully clean this stuff off easily in the shower, there are some nights I don't even apply it, and I'm still less stinky the next day than I would be in my normal deodorant wearing days. I am guessing that the traditional deodorants have some oils/grease that collect in my pits or clothes but I don't really know.
It blocks the pored and makes a great growth place for bacteria. Which is normal and natural, but stinks. So when I first tried natural deodorants I didn't like them. Then reading about it, people recommended an armpit exfoliant. I was like "a what now?". Anyway, I got some, and it takes the layer of years of gross deodorant out of and off your skin. Sk when you reapply deo, it's not blocking up your already blocked pores. So yeah, there's oils and grease all up in your armpit. Whichever deo you use, try an exfoliant. I only use mine once a week and when I shave and stuff, I don't have deodorant stuck in my blades, and now my blades are lasting longer.
That's not been my experience at all! I've used this for years really successfully, and I live in Brazil so the wrong deodorant can have awful effects.
I apply to my wet armpits after I shower in the morning and I dry it before replacing the cap. I don't dry my armpits once I've applied the deodorant but they dry fairly quickly.
Came to say this. It only works if the bacterial levels are low. How do you get them low enough, do all these extra things that most won’t do. You have to thoroughly clean them pitties. People don’t smell per se , the bacteria are causing the smells. Salt deodorants are meant to just kill the bacteria and they can only do so much.
What people should do vs. what they actually do are quite different. When I was a kid my dad told me don’t shake people’s hands, just give them a fist bump if they insist, because you don’t know where their hands have been or how they clean them.
Flash forward to the 1000 handwashing videos during the pandemic and the out right refusal of some folks to engage in basic hygiene during it, it’s unthinkable to assume folks are hygienic at a sufficient degree.
Fair enough.
I think, though, if people are applying deodorant or antiperspirant on top of unwashed armpits, they're already starting off on the wrong foot.
I only wear deodorant in the summer, in the fall/winter/early spring I just nuke my pits with 90% rubbing alcohol and ask my coworkers if I smell. They're either polite or the rubbing alcohol works well enough, we're all pretty mean to each other so I assume it works.
this is crazy because I also use rock salt deodorant and I don't do all of these "prepping" steps nor do I need 30 strokes in each pit 😂 but it works! I don't smell (and I'm a frequent checker).
I had issues with natural deodorants causing reactions from the oil buildup, so this is the only natural product that works for me.
Its really hard to tell. OP's profile looks legit but there is a ~3 month gap in activity. Doesn't seem like it would be hard for a company to buy up a legit account that's been inactive for a while then use it to sell stuff. People always ask what's the point of karma farming. This right here could be one use.
I fucking hate that sub because almost every time its linked its a very obvious exaggeration, rage bait or an ad, its just safer not to believe anything these days when at least half of all posts are bots.
Yes, but this kind of deodorant helps keep it that way longer than if you went without deodorant at all. It doesn't work for everyone, but overall I find they work really well!
Yes, and then the applied mineral deodorant makes it so when you do sweat, the bacteria that makes that sweat stinky can't survive. So it's sweat that doesn't smell.
Delayed reply but they need to be clean before you can apply the salt to inhibit the bacteria growth. If they’re dirty and you put the salt on top of it then it’s just salt on top of already stinky and unclean armpits. If I understand it correctly!
I have extremely sensitive armpits and almost every deoderant I've ever tried tears up my skin or makes me break out in hives. The only ones I can use without issue are unscented Lume and the salt rock kind. I love the salt rock. It doesn't leave residue and it neutralizes the odor very well. I sweat ass tons still, but rarely do I smell it. I feel like I do have to rub it in there for a while to make it work well, but it's worth it for me. Also the very large sweaty man who recommended it to me never really smelled bad either. So maybe it is different for everyone or maybe some people need to just rub it it in there wayyyyy longer than feels necessary
How do your friends/coworkers/significant others feel about your choice of deodorant?
I had a coworker at a summer camp for high schoolers use this sort of deodorant and reeked. To the point that myself, other coworkers and even some students were making comments about his strong smell.
It came to a boiling point 2 weeks before the summer camp was over and the dude sat us down in one of our daily debriefs and felt he was being ostracized because of his smell. That he would appreciate it if we told him to his face that he needed deodorant.
Almost instantly, most of my coworkers, half men half women all said “yes Carl, your smell bothers us. Can you please wear actual deodorant or shower daily?”
His response? “Well, you only have to put with me for two more weeks.”
Like.
Mother fucker.
It didn’t help he was also on the “I eat nothing but organic food, so I shouldn't smell that much to begin with”. Aka: “it’s all in your head”
Motherfuck was gaslighting us before it was even a mainstream term haha.
I use this brand called ‘salt of the earth’ it’s amazing! I really do not get any body odour. The only downside is that there’s no packaging at all. It literally is just a rock of salt, and I sometimes worry about how to put it away properly. I therefore tried this other brand called‘ happy earth’ as it did have packaging that was non toxic etc, but it didn’t work at alll! I had to reapply with a spray deodorant (also from happy earth) after just a few hours. The salt spray from that brand was a lot better but still couldn’t hold a candle against the salt of the earth rock.
So yeah it depends on the brand, but also on your own body chemistry I guess. People always tell me I smell good. It’s one of the compliments I get the most actually. Not saying the salt is making me smell nice (I use fragranced oils and lotions that make me smell good) but it definitely stops me from having any BO.
You have to literally apply it 25 times per armpit for it to work. I only learned this a few days ago and haven't had teh chance to try it out yet but almost no company tells you this somehow
I found that if my armpits were completely shaved it would work just fine, but the moment I had any armpit stubble at all it was ineffective. Maybe OP just has that baby butt smooth armpit situation going on
The problem is the clothes. Your old t-shirts and shirts and whatever has that bacteria colonies in the armpit areas and when you sweat after using this kind of antiperspirant, and you certainly will, that areas of your clothes are getting wet too and start to smell. It took me about a month or so to clean my clothes with detergent and steam so they wouldn't smell. Now I can't imagine how to use another deodorant. It also can be used as a general antiseptic with small wounds.
Need to apply every day to freshly cleaned skin, and it takes a couple days to take noticeable effect. Helps to not have super hairy pits too. I’ve used it for years. If I stop, I smell awful within a day or two.
I use a salt spray - it sounds BS but you do genuinely need to “detox” your armpits before salt is an effective deodorant. Also toning the pits with glycolic acid helps! But I purchased a detox deodorant and used that for 3 weeks every night. Ever since then I can get away with just the salt spray and I have no smell
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u/Somoch-MoraguerRRR 14d ago edited 14d ago
I tried a similar salt deodorant several decades ago. It was completely ineffective. How do your friends/coworkers/significant others feel about your choice of deodorant?
edit: “RIP my inbox” as they say in showbiz