I Wore Men’s Deodorant for a Week. Here’s What I Thought…

After learning that so many of you wear men’s deodorant, I decided to lend my armpits up for a week see what all the fuss was about. I even gave the experiment a name (“The Men’s Deodorant Challenge”) and invited our readers to try it with me. But before I get to my full report I should disclose that there was one kind of hilarious unexpected side effect that actually made me end the test a bit early….

Men’s deodorant makes me absolutely 100 percent boy crazy. You see, usually when I’m close enough to a guy to smell his deodorant, we’re, you know, ahem, close. It was so distracting. I actually had to switch back to my regular stick during the day and just started wearing the stuff to the gym where I’m way too focused on working my booty off to daydream about making out.

But I will say that other than that, the men’s stick was great. I used the Gillette 3x Invisible Solid (a tube you guys gave high marks) in a musky scent called Power Rush I picked because it seemed lighter than the others in the store. It held off wetness as well as (and possibly a little better than) the best women’s sticks I’ve ever used. And it really did make workouts more pleasant—the musky scent sort of blends in with your body chemistry to mask odor in a way that’s less sticky-sweet and nauseating than I find women’s powdery scents can get.

Oh, and the scent really lasted, so by bedtime, it was still there, hiding anything icky that could be going on. Yet, strangely, no one seemed to notice it on me. I didn’t get one comment or question all week. I even asked some of my friends to hug me and see if they noticed a new scent I was playing around with and none of them picked it up (although it’s possible that they were trying to be polite).

The verdict: Pretty good stuff. I can see why so many of you like men’s formulas. But in the interest of actually being a productive person and not sitting around and thinking about Boys! Boys! Boys!, I’ll be sticking with my women’s stick and swapping in the men’s for particularly grueling gym visits.

Did any of you guys ever get around to trying men’s deodorant this week? Have you worn it before? Do you wear it now? Are you thinking of switching?

Oh, and feel free to laugh at my boy-craziness. It was distracting, yes, but also kind of entertaining.

p.s. Here’s another use for deodorant that has nothing to do with B.O.