Am I the only one?

I stopped wearing deodorant/anti-perspirant a couple years ago.  I generally like the way humans smell unless they do something like work outside all day and then don't rinse off after.  Which is another thing I do now.  I rarely, very rarely, use soap.  I just rinse with water and scrub off with a brush.  Soap dries my skin badly and I don't like that.  I don't like perfume, cologne, pretty much any "fake" smells.  Am I the only one?

Funny, the similar threads thing just popped up with this thread:  Permies - stinky people thread and I see I commented on it years ago.  I guess I was already on this path then...

Years ago I learned from my MD that he and his wife never used deodorant. They did wash under their arms a few times a day and used talcum. I never noticed any odor.  I find myself using deodorant less often now that I have retired.

I only use water when I wash, and haven't used "normal" deodorants for years, since I developed allergies to almost all personal care products, especially synthetic perfumes.  I use a squirt of rosewater with a drop of vetiver and patchouli essential oils. then a rub of alum stone (the type used to stop bleeding for shaving nicks, a supercheap PitRok alternative) daily.

The weird thing is, I can get seriously sweaty working on a hot day with no stink at all. But a little bit of stress sweat turns into a major stink fast. There's clearly something in my stress sweat that feeds the odour causing bacteria.

The other thing I notice is that the more frequently I wash, the more likely I am to get smelly faster. Going longer between washes but washing my clothes daily works better than washing myself daily.

With the exception of working hard in a hot place, I notice a strong link between stress and BO. Now that I spend lots of time out in the garden and working with non-verbal animals, I find that most of the time, I'm not in the sort of stressful situations that resulted in BO. I'd rather go in and wash my arm-pits than put artificial, plastic packaged "stuff" on them.

I do admit that I haven't gone "soap-free", but I was given a nice "liquid body soap" by a friend which I started using 2 years ago and the 400ml container isn't empty yet...

Jay Angler wrote:With the exception of working hard in a hot place, I notice a strong link between stress and BO. Now that I spend lots of time out in the garden and working with non-verbal animals, I find that most of the time, I'm not in the sort of stressful situations that resulted in BO. I'd rather go in and wash my arm-pits than put artificial, plastic packaged "stuff" on them.

I do admit that I haven't gone "soap-free", but I was given a nice "liquid body soap" by a friend which I started using 2 years ago and the 400ml container isn't empty yet...

That is so interesting to hear the connection between stress and body odour. I wasn't aware of that but it makes sense to me anecdotally. I found when I was teaching grade six, I was constantly perspiring and was very stressed.

Something I learned about recently was how the sweat glands are part of the lymphatic system, which detoxes our whole body. When we clog up that system, we risk not detoxing, according to my understanding. This video by Dr. Mindy Pelz explains how we need to use a non-toxic deodorant to avoid clogging up our detox pathways:



I do use deodorant, just because otherwise, I smell very bad but I try to use a natural bodywash and would like to get some natural deodorant. Great topic!

If you eat clean you don’t stink is what the wife and I always say. We can smell the Burger King people coming. Our sense of smell has improved since distancing from the stanky peeps! Never did never will use deodorant. My cousin was a corpsman and in his platoon while deployed some guys rubbed deodorant all over some other guy as a prank or something well that guy had to get hospitalized. If you close your pores you can’t excrete toxins!  Deodorant is another marketing scam. Never was needed.

Dalton Dycer wrote:If you eat clean you don’t stink is what the wife and I always say. We can smell the Burger King people coming. Our sense of smell has improved since distancing from the stanky peeps! Never did never will use deodorant. My cousin was a corpsman and in his platoon while deployed some guys rubbed deodorant all over some other guy as a prank or something well that guy had to get hospitalized. If you close your pores you can’t excrete toxins!  Deodorant is another marketing scam. Never was needed.

Interesting, Dalton! I do eat clean with almost no processed food ever but find I still need deodorant. I do think it may vary from person to person.

Usually it’s your body telling you something. Pheromones are the lost psychic sense that the stupid cologne and perfume industries has ruined. I can read a vibe by walking behind people. If my eyes water and I gotta hold my breath because their old spice spray axed on too hard I know. When you know you know 😂
I will admit it must be person to person but in my personal experience the stinkiest people were the most processed cheep cheep beer drinking people who usually slide from this couch to that couch.

Ps that’s not to offend any stinkies sleeping on some buddie’s couch reading this longing for their stinky friend to deodorant with. Got love for you couch surfers too! Lol Funny feed. That guy who had deodorant put all over his body may have died I’ll have to come back to you on that after I talk to my cousin. So kids DO NOT PUT DEODORANT ALL OVER YOUR BODIES.

I wear deodorant about three times per year, when I know I'm going into a very stressful situation -- interviews, dental work, etc. Switching to baking soda and vinegar instead of commercial shampoo was easy, but if I don't use soap (though mild and "natural"), I smell in a way that I'm not willing to. I've tried that and it doesn't work for me.

Christopher Weeks wrote:I wear deodorant about three times per year, when I know I'm going into a very stressful situation -- interviews, dental work, etc. Switching to baking soda and vinegar instead of commercial shampoo was easy, but if I don't use soap (though mild and "natural"), I smell in a way that I'm not willing to. I've tried that and it doesn't work for me.

As long as it doesn’t have aluminum in it do whatever you need brother! Lol 😂

Jane Mulberry wrote:

The weird thing is, I can get seriously sweaty working on a hot day with no stink at all. But a little bit of stress sweat turns into a major stink fast. There's clearly something in my stress sweat that feeds the odour causing bacteria.

I have noticed a similar phenomenon. I think it was in the book, The Woman Code, where I first read about the stress and stink connection.

They quit making my favorite deodorant.
It was 75% aloe sooo I thought; I have an aloe plant.
I'll just rub a split leaf under my arm.

Don't do that. It was way worse than no deodorant at all.
Like fermented aloe and arm pits.

craig howard wrote:They quit making my favorite deodorant.
It was 75% aloe sooo I thought; I have an aloe plant.
I'll just rub a split leaf under my arm.

Don't do that. It was way worse than no deodorant at all.
Like fermented aloe and arm pits.

This made me laugh so hard!  I don't even want to begin to think what that smelled like!

The actual active ingredient might have been magnesium sulphate (good old Epsom salts). It works well as an alternative to aluminium and is an ingredient in many natural deodorants. Unfortunately it gives me a rash.

craig howard wrote:
Don't do that. It was way worse than no deodorant at all.
Like fermented aloe and arm pits.

The humorous joys of permie experimentation!

Some friends and i used this brand of Aloe deodorant for some time with good results. It rates a 4 on the Think Dirty app, so it’s not completely clean ingredients.

 Right, that's the stuff.
It worked great.
They quit making it.

I have 1/2 a roll-on left.
The only ingredients I don't recognize are TEA and glyceryl stearate.

I will add my voice with the stress link, from experience. Or perhaps, overexcited and overstimulated.

I have noticed the same with dogs too, as there is a definite excited or stressed dog smell. Otherwise they smell very pleasant.

Well unfortunately I'm stuck with using deodorant, when I don't people complain.  But I do get away with it sometimes in the winter or if I'm not going out anywhere that day.  I have not noticed a link between stress and stink for me, if I'm exerting myself in any way or I get slightly warm I start stinking  Oh well.

craig howard wrote: The only ingredients I don't recognize are TEA and glyceryl stearate.

Glyceryl stearate sounds like it would just be a partially de-esterified fat. Fats are (normally) triglycerides, that is, made up of one molecule of glycerol and three fatty acids. Stearic acid is a fatty acid, so sounds like your mystery ingredient is a fat without two of its fatty acids. On the other hand, a quick look on Wikipedia turns up a slightly different substance called glyceryl hydroxystearate which is apparently often used in cosmetics and skin care products.

I feel like I kind of hijacked this thread.
 I stopped washing my arm pits with soap because of this topic.
Basically to prove that if I quit washing them with soap they would stink more.
But instead they stopped being stinky:
https://permies.com/t/232645/personal-care/Phenomenal-stop-washing-skin-soap

I found another roll-on of my favorite deodorant when I cleaned under the bathroom sink.
Not sure I need it now. I'll try using it and see if it makes me smell pitish again.

Interesting, that so many of us have experimented with ditching the soaps and deodorants - and we all came to the same conclusion.
I stopped washing my hair with chemicals. It used to be dry and brittle, but now my hair is nicer than ever before! I used all kinds of conditioners before, but it seems washing all natural protection from the hair and scalp cannot be corrected with moisturisers.

Trace Oswald wrote:I stopped wearing deodorant/anti-perspirant a couple years ago.  I generally like the way humans smell unless they do something like work outside all day and then don't rinse off after.  Which is another thing I do now.  I rarely, very rarely, use soap.  I just rinse with water and scrub off with a brush.  Soap dries my skin badly and I don't like that.  I don't like perfume, cologne, pretty much any "fake" smells.  Am I the only one?

I quit using any deodorant products a long time ago. I haven't bought any for dear hubby in at least 5 years if not ten.

Bathing is the key component.  At least under the arms and other places.

Bath daily and there is no need to buy deodorant.

Not the only one...I haven't used deodorant of any kind for about 15 years. I used to do a shot of liquid chlorophyll in the morning bc I read it helped internally but don't do that anymore. I very occasionally (read every couple years) do a clay & ACV mask on my pits. I also don't shave them which could help. After a few days I start to stink but everyone is right about the stress. It definitely increases odor. I don't mind my partners pit smell but if he's been stressed I can tell and it gets a bit too much. I think our bodies are self cleaning and we really should just let them do their thing for the most part. I do use soap when I shower every few days but I recognize it's from social conditioning and I could probably just use water. Soap probably sends our bodies out of whack?

With enough chlorophyll in the diet, a person generally has no odor.  There was a desert  tribe of indigenous people who never bathed, yet had no smell.  They ate lots of cactus, high in vitamin C and minerals.  If you need something to kill offensive bacteria which can cause odor, try rubbing underarms with a cut lemon.  

No, you are not the only one.  Natural is always better.   And I think most Permies want to be as natural as possible.  

We make our own, and frankly its better than any store bought either of us has ever used. 1/2 cup melted coconut oil, 1/4 cup each, baking soda and cornstarch, a few drops of tea tree oil. Mix let it cool