Read the post after lunch.

My foray into the world of body odour began at puberty. Hair appeared in strange places, blood dribbled down a certain orifice, boys suddenly were taller than me…it was an interesting period. One day I happened to sniff my under arm and almost passed out (picture that video where the monkey passes out after sniffing his finger that had been in a certain spot). It was then I began raiding my father’s bathroom supplies. I started using his razors, shaving cream (which led to a somewhat over zealous attempt at eliminating all body hair including at one point, an eyebrow), and deodorant. My first deodorant was Right Guard. Yes, this means that I did play a part in widening the ozone layer. I was determined to keep the evil that was body odour at bay. I eventually moved onto stick antiperspirants because my body chemistry was changing - Right Guard made me smell like a chemistry lab.

A few years ago, I began changing my views on antiperspirants*. What was really so horrible about sweating anyway? And being stinky was caused by other factors such as diet, and general cleanliness. And…I found an excellent argument on why it was okay for me to be occasionally smelly: kept people from getting a little too close to me. So I started experimenting with deodorants. I bought all these eco-friendly deodorants (that came in plastic containers or aluminium containers or as a rock) that didn’t work. I’m sure my diet plays a huge role here - I am a big fan of stinky food of all kinds. I am the person that loads up on onions at the work party (coworker: no one will come near you if you eat all those onions. me: Good! People shouldn’t be getting that close anyway!).

So after many failed attempts at ineffective eco-deodorants, I’ve finally decided to just dust my pits with baking soda.  I read about it, thought about it and finally decided to just toss out the enviro-deodorants that are half used into a landfill and stick with baking soda…unless someone has a better idea on what one could do with half-used deodorant sticks.

———– 

Fun little tit bit I found when looking up antiperspirants: "Offensive body odor is against the law in libraries in San Luis Obispo County, Calif. A code of conduct, officials say, is necessary to ensure that one person’s right to use a public library doesn’t infringe on the rights of another and law enforcement officers have the authority to remove library patrons who smell bad."

*I googled antiperspirants to check the spelling but it still looks wrong.