How To Beat The Stink

By BR Kellie

I’m sure we’ve all smelt it, that not-so-fresh odour that tells us we may well have forgotten to apply deodorant in the morning or reapply after the gym. That rather pungent scent that ensures we keep our arms firmly pressed to our sides for the rest of the day while trying to avoid being near fellow humans in order not to offend.

Ah the joys of body odour. One of the good things about winter is that B.O doesn’t tend to play such a potentially embarrassing part of your day but summer is upon us, the temperature gauge is slowly climbing, layers are being peeled off and our armpits are feeling the heat. 

Luckily we live in an age where there are plenty of options to help us beat the stink, from all natural to scientifically concocted and because options are great things we thought we’d present them to you.

Now the first one is the one that comes to my mind because it’s my favourite and it’s the only kind of deodorant I ever saw growing up – the good ol’ reliable roll-on. Reliable? Well mostly. Sometimes that ball can get a bit sticky and refuse to roll the deodorant over your pits in which case the drag would have you going ‘ow ow’ then fiddling with the ball and then forgetting you fiddled with the ball and then putting your fingers in your mouth at some stage and then getting a taste of Mum Shower Fresh deodorant… what? Just me? ‘Kay. But in all seriousness, roll-on can be a great option as it’s small, portable and comes in a range of scents. 

Stick deodorant is another option when you don’t want to do a Le Pew. This solid form of deodorant is also compact and is simply screwed up when you require more. Upsides? Easy to use, effective (especially if it’s combined with an anti-perspirant) and portable. Downsides? Marks can be left on clothes if you use too much and don’t let it adequately dry before dressing. 

If you’re looking for a quick-drying deodorant an aerosol may well be your best friend. However it does have its draw backs in that you have to be careful about how you position it, otherwise you could end up with spray on your clothing, or in the air (where it’s rendered useless if you want to beat the stink) or in your mouth or eyes. And I don’t know about you but the only eye stinging I’m prepared to put up with is from sweat rolling down my forehead into my eyes whilst I sip on a cocktail on a stunningly hot day. 

If you like to keep your underarms smell-free naturally you can always get your hands on a crystal deodorant, such as those made by Body Crystal. Crystal deodorants are made with mineral salts and works by stopping body odour-forming bacteria in its tracks. The trick with these though is that they have to be applied as soon as you’ve cleaned yourself. Putting it on once you’ve started smelling is akin to putting on SPF once you’ve started to burn. Those who use crystal deodorants, and use them correctly, swear by them as you can see by Beauty Review member’s reviews. 

Another form of natural deodorant to come to our attention is the balm. Bossy Cosmetics’ Bossette Balm to be specific. Before we saw this pop up on their website we’d only heard of the crystal, roll-on, stick and aerosol options, but this one has us intrigued! According to Bossy’s website, their Bossette Balm ‘fights the bacteria that causes odour gently without using harsh chemicals or aluminium’. Sounds good to us! Application is easy too, you just pat a small amount onto your pits and off you go. Easy peasy. 

So do tell, what is your deodorant of choice? Will you be changing it up this summer or will you stick to old faithful? Chat away…