If my deodorant doesn't work, should I use it more often or switch the brand?

Ad4mWayn3@lemmy.world to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 43 points –
31

this is also not really a normal thing to do, but I tried trimming my armpit hair and had a huge reduction in sweat marks and BO immediately

Trimming arm pit hair isn’t uncommon. Depends on the hair growth.

Another tip is to wipe down your armpits with anti bacterial wet wipes once every few weeks. It kills the bacteria on your skin and resets the biome. You'll notice you won't stink for a couple of days afterwards even without using deodorant. And once it comes back, it isn't as bad or it smells a different way that your deodorant will be more effective.

Why is this not a normal thing to do? I have huge bushes when I don't trim. I know many people who trim. It's just like any other body hair, it needs to be trimmed if it gets out of control.

Worked great for me too. I used to stink and sweat constantly. Then I started shaving my pits. Now I rarely use deodorant and never stink or sweat much unless I am exercising or playing a sport.

What do you mean by “doesn’t work”? Your pits still stink, or what?

Try different deodorants from different brands until you find one with ingredients that jive with your body’s chemistry.

You want deodorant that says "antiperspirant" on it.

Not for everyone. Antiperspirants irritate my skin. There are deodorants that work well for me, like Dove.

Depends on if his issue of "not working" is that he visibly sweats, in which case he needs an antiperspirant, or that he smells, in which case a deodorant may be enough. I can't do deodorants or I literally just drip from the armpits lol

Use a potassium alum/crystal/mineral deodorant stick, or shaving bar. Used it for years and it works.

If you are already using an antiperspirant and it's not working you can increase the strength by using OTC clinical strengths or getting a prescription strength, but it also increases your risk of breast cancer. If you have hyperhidrosis there are other medical options to stop you sweating through your clothes. I take Oxybutinin at the moment but I am considering Botox to avoid daily medication.

There is no evidence to support a link between antiperspirants and any kind of cancer.

I'm sure my pharmacist didn't give me a warning for no reason.

Pharmacist and doctors are just people and are susceptible to miss information just like us all. I encourage you to look into it yourself though. The National Cancer Institute and American Cancer Society both have informative articles about it because the myth is so prevalent.

What worked for me was benzoyl peroxide. Get it in a cleaning wash and use it everyday for a week. I now just hit the pits with it once a week. This is all in the shower btw, it has to be washed off but I do let it sit for a couple of mins.

Sometimes letting the deo or antiperspirant to dry before putting your shirt on helps.

Can you elaborate on "doesn't work"? What isn't it doing exactly?

Also, if you're talking about the smell: Are you showering before putting on deodorant? If not, that would be highly recommended.

Like others mentioned, telling apart deodorants and antitranspirants is important. I used antitranspirants for a long time an had often to deal with pain in my armpits and hard stains in the armpit region of my shirts. One day it dawned on me that this might be because of the antitranspirants, so I planned to make a switch to deodorants. What followed were two to three weeks of heavy sweating and way more body smell than I was used to. BUT after this time everything got way better. I had zero ruined shirts since that, because the antitranspirant remains smelled strongly like sweat and could not be washed out. What was even way better, no more pain under my arms, my sweating is reduced and I smell better in general.

Just kind of my opinion man.

I had the same problem and used lots of extra dedorant, but I was still sweating. Then I found Odorex Extra Dry Spray. You don't use it like regular deodorant, but instead you spray it on your armpits before you go to bed. You won't sweat for the next two days! I use it for work, I hate it when my shirt shows wet spots when I am hosting a meeting for example. This is for sale in The Netherlands, but I am sure there are alternate brands that offer similar products.

You have to be careful with things like this as they increase your risk of breast cancer. I opted out of using clinical strengths when my pharmacist warned me of this.