Do you remember awhile back we talked about things we don’t want but can’t get rid of because otherwise we will keep buying them? For example, I need to keep two headbands (one wide, one narrow) among my possessions forever, because otherwise I will think a headband will be cute on me and I will buy another one. I need to keep a couple of tank tops for the same reason: they are just never going to look right on me, but if I get rid of them, I will forget that they don’t look right on me and buy more.
I thought of another example: hair-removal lotion.
(image from Amazon.com)
If I don’t keep a container of Veet or Nair in the bathroom closet for ALL ETERNITY, I will keep purchasing it. Because for some reason, I periodically think, “Hey, instead of spending 30 seconds shaving my underarms, which is no big deal, why don’t I cover them with NASTY-smelling lotion and sit there in the bathroom with my elbows sticking out for 10 minutes, then try to get the stuff off in the shower, then find that not all the hair is removed, but then not be able to shave or use deodorant for a couple of days because the skin feels weird and irritated and sort of unpleasantly, stickily smooth? All for the huge, huge benefit of ‘lasting up to twice as long as shaving’? How about THAT great idea?” –Swistle, who is spending the day discreetly sniffing down the neckline of her shirt.
I tried to explain this phenomenon to my learning-to-shave daughters. Too much wasted time with icky results. Just get a razor and call it a day!
I tried this recently, but since I hadn’t used it in ages I decided to “patch test” on my fingers, because smooth fingers = appealing to me, and also it was the toughest testing place I could think of in the ten seconds I thought about it (which wasn’t enough, it turned out). I ended up with chemical burns and missing skin in places. I couldn’t wear my wedding ring for weeks. The “unpleasantly, stickily smooth” description is so spot-on, and I’m getting chills just thinking of it.
I tried that stuff once and learned my lesson! Yuck. Although laser hair removal does, occasionally sound appealing.
I wasn’t commenting for that though. I was commenting to say that both my college roommate and I (and, actually a mom friend) have all almost completely stopped wearing deodorant to very little ill effect. I mean, if it’s 90 with 90% humidity and you’re playing outdoor hide and seek in the sun, you’re going to stink. But so is everyone else on earth, deodorant or no. But for the normal, run of the mill, living, it’s fine. I do keep some natural stuff from Chagrin Valley Soap around to use – and that’s mostly for the 3rd day, no shower. I’ve noticed, as well, that there’s no deodorant residue in the clothes holding in all the stink, so they smell cleaner and don’t hold onto odors that I keep needing to hide. I just sniffed the pits on the shirt I’ve been wearing since Thursday (maybe) and it is far less stinky than you would expect from a shirt having been worn for 3 straight days (sometimes I change my shirts more often, but then, inevitably the toddler gets something or other all over it as a christening immediately. If I continue to wear the same clothes, there will be no more grossness but as soon as I change, chocolate covered hands MUST grab for my breasts)
To Alyson (above): while I’m sure no one in real life will say this to you, I will play your friendly internet stranger and comment that while *you* may not think you smell after not showering/wearing deodorant/changing your shirt for three days, rest assured the people around you are aware that you do, indeed, smell. I would bet good money on it.
Well, day 3 I wear deodorant. But, otherwise, people would tell me. And I can tell. And, if you’re not wearing old funk around trapped in deodorant residue in your clothes, you’d be surprised at how you DON’T smell.
I have a cousin who uses the rock salt stuff and his advise (a while ago, to his sister, about using it) was – it works. It’s not you that stinks. It’s your clothes. It’s true.
Another voice chiming in that is unwilling to admit their real name to the public. :) I’m a pretty sweaty person in general, but I’ve found a system that works fairly well that doesn’t involve the standard deodorant every single day routine. I use Secret Platinum Protection because that stuff WORKS, but I find it leaves a yellowish cast to my armpit area that I am not fond of at all, which is one of the main reasons I try to limit applications.
Anyway, I usually put it on at night (as directed) before I go to sleep, then shower the next morning so there’s no actual gluey residue hanging around to get on my clothes. I can usually get three days out of one application (and that’s showering daily — I skimp on deodorant but never on showers. ) before I start FEELING sweaty under my arms again. And as far as stink hanging around on my clothes, I have several thin camis and undershirts that I usually wear under my work blouses, that way if there DOES happen to be any residue, or if things happen to get a little ripe in the last day or so before the next application, I can easily launder the camis and save the wear and tear on my nicer tops. In the winter I might wear deodorant once a week tops.
One other thought — I think the level of deodorant necessity has a lot to do with your diet, too. I can normally get away with wearing it every three days , but if I’m eating a lot of onions or garlic or something? All bets are off and it’s deo every day and that shirt’s going in the wash no matter what! ;)
Oh, and, maybe I do stink. But mom friend and college roommate do not stink. So, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.
Re: Alyson
I’ve found that do I need to put on deodorant right after showering, but it lasts all week until the next shower. If I forget after showering, then I stink for that day. But it doesn’t need to be reapplied every day like most people expect (at least for me).
Also, I wear a different shirt everyday, because that is what people expect, but often I don’t launder them before wearing them again. Laundering reduces the time that clothes last. And showering every day is bad for your skin.
–Anonymous (because I expect many people will be outraged).
I’ve found that if I skip deodorant every once in a while I don’t smell too bad. (My peers are the kind of people who would tell me if I did!) Even so, I wear deodorant every day. It takes like ten seconds to apply, and better safe than sorry.
Or, if you have the darkest, thickest, coarsest hair on earth, you have to relearn every few years that Nair just doesn’t WORK on your stubble. All that will happen is a waste of time and money and you smell weirdly chemical. Very little hair will actually “wipe off.”
My daughter recently started middle school and decided to get rid of the hair on her legs. I bought this same Nair and a pack of (fancier than I’LL ever use on myself) razors. She took one look at the razors, grabbed the Nair and practically ran away. It works SO well on removing her leg hair that I’m guessing she won’t come over to Team Razor until she needs to shave under her arms.
To Jill and Alyson – as I read Allyson’s post, I was reminded of a college “friend” I had who stopped wearing deodorant. She said almost the exact same thing as Allyson, that after a few days, you don’t stink. I put “friend” in quotes, because as she was standing there excitedly telling me and my other friend this, I was holding my breath in to keep from smelling her B.O. Because she was so excited and earnest, I did not have the heart to tell her she did, in fact, stink. If I were really her friend, I would have said something. I think that after a few days, you acclimate to yourself and you don’t notice it. So to Jill, that was good of you to speak up.
And Alyson, I am sure that you are also right in that our clothes probably do trap the smell and hold on to it, deodorant or no.
As someone who has recently used Nair while multi-tasking (dying my hair) with horrible reluts…I was hair free but ended up with chemical burns on my thighs and? Less than a week later I can see stubble. Sigh, one of these days I’ll learn.
1) It seems I’m fine with just simply only shaving my armpits every few weeks. But I get that many don’t care for that approach. Fully intend to continue using deodorant, don’t care if anyone else does.
2) Other things I need to keep, in order to prevent re-purchase:
-> Knitting gear – knitting seems like a wonderful hobby! I fully intend to start up, about every two years. Best keep the needles and yarn, even when I lose interest after the first scarf.
-> Tinted moisturizer. Turns out even the most minimal possible approach to makeup makes me look at the mirror like it’s a painted lady in there.
-> Cat. Sigh. Best keep the one I have, even though he just peed (again) on a pile of dirty clothes, or I’ll just go to the shelter and get another one.
-> Pencil skirts. Never wear the damn things. But the idea is so appealing!
LOL to the cat. seriously
I’m sitting at my desk in my office and my family is in the other room wondering why I’m weeping with knowing laughter. BEEN THERE.
It just always seems like a good idea! Just WIPE the hair off!!
One of my Can’t Toss or Will Buy Again things is self tanning lotion (seems so easy! I always wear lotion anyway and what a quick seamless way to get a little color! Cue gagging at the smell and orange palms and streaky calves. Then twelve months later, they have probably figured out a solution to the smell!).
No joke, I bought a bottle of this recently even though I had a bottle that was already 5 years old, because I thought “it must have been a good idea I forgot about”. I threw the old one away, used the new one and immediately remembered why I stopped using the old stuff.
It drives me nuts to have all this excess product around that I don’t like, but I actually write on there what was not so great about it for me. Then if say my sister is rummaging around in my bathroom, she has a little added knowledge from my experience.
I’ve used hair removal lotion a grand total of one time and NOPE NOPE NOPE NEVER AGAIN. Shaving isn’t that big of a deal! And I usually wear long pants so no one even sees my legs most of the time anyway!
My product that I don’t like but can’t get rid of is jewelry. It’s not that I don’t like it–I do! But I have one necklace, one pair of dangly earrings, and two or three pairs of stud earrings that I wear pretty much exclusively. They go with everything, they’re decent quality, and I like them better than any of the other jewelry I own. Any cheap jewelry I buy gets worn once and then never again, but if I don’t keep it around I just end up buying more.
Oh, and hats. I am not a hat person–the only time I ever wear a hat is if it’s cold out and I’m wearing it to keep warm, and even then I feel a bit self-conscious. But sometimes I’ll be out shopping and see a super cute hat and the only thing that keeps me from buying it is remembering the half-dozen hats I have at home that I never, ever wear.
My product that I keep so I don’t continue to purchase is false eyelashes. I always think I’ll look glamorous and sexy with them, but it just looks like I have spiders on my eyes.
“… it just looks like I have spiders on my eyes.”
This made me snort out loud.
Round brushes. If I get rid of the one I own, eventually I’ll become convinced that if I buy a new one, I will use it to style my hair while blowdrying it. Keeping it reminds me that I am really no good at that.
Re the deodorant discussion: I have worked with two women in my office job that smelled very strongly of armpit on a regular basis and no, I did not tell them. One was my boss, one was the admin support worker, but as neither reported directly to me I didn’t feel it was my place.
I know for a fact I smell like armpit myself if I don’t use it, but I usually only apply it right after I shower. I shower roughly every other day – more often if going to the gym would normally fall on a “non shower” day. If it’s only been a day since I showered I’ll do a sniff test in the morning and if I get a whiff of “pit smell” I’ll put on some new deodorant, but the only automatic application is post-shower.