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The Great Deodorant Experiment

by | Jun 18, 2019

This post is not about writing, editing, publishing, or book marketing. This is just me, a consumer, letting people know about my experiment with deodorant.

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There comes a time when products that you’ve been faithful to for…forever are no longer faithful to you. With deodorant, it’s usually during a big hormonal change. Because life isn’t unbalanced enough during a hormonal change without your deodorant quitting on you too.

The Problem:

After nearly 20 years of using the exact same deodorant, it began to no longer last through the afternoons. This would be due to peri-menopause coming early. I suspect. So, like any self-sufficient, strong, independent woman would do, I went to my friends that have already been there and said, “Yo, what’s up with this insanity? How’d you handle this?” Some had had their deodorants quit on them during peri-menopause, others didn’t. 

The Suggestions:

1. Buy several different types and rotate through them.
2. Fill a spray bottle with tea tree oil and/or eucalyptus oil and 80% rubbing alcohol and spray down armpits before applying deodorant.

The Decisions:

So I decided to go on a shopping spree and get a bunch of new deodorant, then test them all like any good scientist. First was the difficult decision of which deodorants to buy. Then the decision about which order to try them in. Then the decision about how to fairly score everything. It was great fun.

The Materials:

I’ve always preferred clear gels. And I’ve always preferred lavender scent. So, as often as possible, I got whatever matched up most with that. I did move out of my comfort zone to try a couple of sprays, a roll-on, and even a solid. I usually hate solids. But I tried. I also compromised and got a couple of “unscented,” “clean,” and “fresh” scents when a lavender wasn’t available. 

The Method:

Each deodorant got two days. On the first day, I would shower and shave. On the second day, I would use the alcohol spray. I would keep track of both how I smelt and felt each morning and afternoon. I also made sure to keep my bodywash consistent throughout the experiment (though I did run out of the old bottle and had to start a new one after the third deodorant.)  It was a hot spring with lots of activity and stress in my life, so I know they all got a good trial. Then, after 20 days, I ordered them by rating and used each of the top three scorers for a week solid to see if I felt differently using them over an extended period of time.

Order Used:

Order Least Expensive to Most Expensive:

Order of Lowest Score to Highest Score:

The Results:

In the end, I learned that I still really, really, really love my Secret, Clear Gel, Lavender. It’s just now I mix it with Clinical, Outlast, and Sport versions of that, as well as the other top-performers that I liked using. I now rotate through all of these deodorants each day. And I still use the spray on days I don’t shower. 

Also…I discovered when I was done with the entire experiment that my husband had been sneakily using my loofah, so his bodywash might have been messing with my deodorant’s effectiveness from the very beginning. Tainted results after a tainted problem to begin with.

What I’m doing now:

The Conclusion:

I learned that price and effectiveness aren’t necessarily a direct correlation. But then that should have been suspected from the beginning. I ended up giving the deodorants I didn’t keep to my kids. My son (who is too young to need deodorant) is now the proud owner of the two spray ones; he sprays his shoes every night. The others, my girls split up. I shouldn’t need to buy either of them deodorant for a while. Or myself, truth be told. And that makes me happy.

Adriel Wiggins

Adriel Wiggins

Owner, Adriel Wiggins Author Services and Consulting

Hello! I’m Adriel Wiggins, wife, mother of three, bibliophile, art geek, and all around student. I’ve been on a quest all of my life to learn as much as I possibly can about everything I possibly can. This has helped me tremendously in what eventually became my life’s purpose: to help other people become the best version of themselves. It is in that line that I became an assistant.

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