An Experiment

I've tried just about every antiperspirant/deodorant out there, including clinical strength. They all keep me from stinking, but I've yet to find one that keeps me dry. Commercial deodorants/antiperspirants also have the unpleasant side effect of chemically reacting with my sweat in such a way that ruins any white shirt I wear within a few months, so I generally don't even bother to try wearing white shirts. Well, I was thrilled to come across a recent post by Mary at Slow This Ride Down entitled 5 Steps to a Thrifty Face. What does a face have to do with an armpit, you ask? Well, in this post Mary introduced (to me) the idea of using Milk of Magnesia instead of commercial deodorant. A little bit of Googling showed me that this was not, in fact, as crazy as it might seem at first, so I decided to give it a try. A brand name bottle (no flavors, I don't need minty armpits) cost all of $5 and some change; one stick of clinical strength deodorant costs that much. All you do is shake up the MoM and use a cotton ball to apply to your underarms. So far I'm 2 days into the experiment; I don't stink and I haven't been too wet either. I have reapplied the MoM toward the end of the afternoon both days, but mainly that was because it was disgustingly hot out and I just wanted to see if that would cut down on my sweating.

Generally, when I wear regular antiperspirant, my left side stays totally dry while my right side doesn't seem to notice that it shouldn't be sopping wet. Lovely, right? Well, the past couple days, my right side is slightly damp at worst, while my left side is even less damp (though not totally dry). I think once my body adjusts to the change, this will get better. I love not having to deal with residue in my pits all the time, and I won't complain one bit about not smelling like flowers or baby powder or whathaveyou. It's actually nice, I don't feel overpowered by conflicting fragrances now (shampoo vs bodywash vs deodorant). Anyway, this is also nice in that I will no longer be putting aluminum near my boobies. I just thought I'd share my experience, in case anyone out there wanted to test it out too.