More about Armpits!

[recuntulous]

I think I started this once before.  Maybe this is a continuation.  I want to talk about armpits.  I like armpits.  (NO, not that way, not as far as I know anyway!)  My armpits and I have had quite a varied relationship over the years, and we're doing an experiment now.  I really enjoy smelling like a human, but right now I'm living with my parents

Comments

[thegelf]

I never, and have never worn, deodorant. I have never gotten complaints about how I smell. I do use soap in the shower, and shower regularly, but I'm convinced that as long as your clean, most people don't actually smell you. It's all psychological, and they'll start imagining a stink if you tell them you're not wearing deodorant.

Or maybe I'm just lucky and don't smell much.

[maiden_midwife]

In general I agree with you, especially about the psychological conditioning around deodorant. I noticed that I did smell more right when I stopped using deodorant. I do think that some people are more smelly than others, and I think this has to do with body chemistry, but is largely influenced by diet.

[maiden_midwife]

You should tell your family that if they want you to have to suffer with breast cancer in your 50's they should keep requiring you to wear antiperspirant. As yet little known research indicates that underarm shaving and the wearing of antiperspirants may contribute to the incidence of breast cancer. Breast cancer often starts in the lymph nodes of the armpit and I really agree with the theory that this is because women suppress their axillary sweat glads with antiperspirant and abrade their skin by shaving, which allows toxins in the antiperspirant products to get into their bodies

[recuntulous]

this is interesting! I don't think it's that I was more smelly after I stopped using them, because I really hadn't been using them for a long time before I came back to the US. I think mostly it's that my family likes the soap smell and doesn't want to smell me. I also know that I tend to smell better when I'm sleeping enough and eating well and getting exercise. I'm sort of doing those things, but I'm really not happy here now. I'll try the zinc!

[thegelf]

Research on the breast cancer link has been inconclusive. They keep looking for one, and for each study that seems to find one, another study finds nothing. And rarely are the numbers in either direction statistically significant. No, I don't know who was funding the studies, though.

I'm not worried about cancer, I just don't like strongly scented stuff.

[recuntulous]

Yes. I see these studies too, and don't know what to think. I imagine that no smelly and no controversy might be healthier, but wouldn't base it on cancer alone. It's not a strong enough argument from what I've read.

[figsareflowers]

annie, i love you. and i really like the way you smell, too.

i love talking about armpits too. have you seen my curl?

[demidyke]

via hippie parenting, i've always been told to NOT use antiperspirant. in my family, we grew up with my mother's attempts at natural deodorant (mostly crystals that our co-op sold), but this did not prove to be effective for the kind of sweating my dad and i did. i have been using mennen speed stick deodorant for nearly ten years. as the label reads, it has a clean masculine scent. i have wooed many a woman with this smell; bethany used to get me to roll in her bed after i'd showered and put on deodorant. in high school i tried antiperspirant like every young woman who is afraid of being different, but it turned the pits of my light colored clothes yellow and it never really stopped the sweating

Re: i love talking about armpits too. have you seen my curl?

[recuntulous]

:) I haven't seen your curl!

And yes, the idea is to keep a stick around for special occasions, and first to decide what kind of a stick that will be.

When I first quit the antiperspirant, I turned to my dad's mennen speed stick. clean, masculine scent. also, it smells like my dad. I tried that one again about a month ago, and really the only disadvantage was that I kept wondering where my dad was/if he'd snuck up on me. It's a smell I could get used to, and wooing the ladies is a tempting thought! Maybe I'll write for way too long about the clean masculine version of the speed stick too!

[anonymous]

Whoops, I almost used your real name...bad man!

My only observation: skunks don't think they smell bad, at all. That, and I'm really glad I know you.

Your pal, the old gringo from Indian Territory

[recuntulous]

haha. of course not! But. Do other skunks think skunks smell bad? I'd like to know.