I Wear Old Spice Deodorant

Old Spice Bearglove, $4 at Target

Fun Fact: I’m a twenty-something woman, and I wear Old Spice deodorant. Bearglove, to be precise – and just the deodorant, not the antiperspirant. I like girly things and I have more dresses in my wardrobe than anything else.

I’m not:

• Conducting some strange social experiment
• Making a statement to society
• Stealing my husband’s grooming items
  (He does wear Old Spice, but a different variety that smells way more masculine to us.)

There are plenty of reasons why many ladies like myself have ditched the feminine deodorants.

My top reasons:

On Sweat

I don’t tend to sweat much, so my issue is less with perspiration. Why block a basic bodily function if it isn’t usually a nuisance for you? Beyond that, the stick-based antiperspirants have a tendency to give clothing hell.

The bottom line on the antiperspirant front is that I don’t need it every day. Studies have not yet made a conclusion regarding suspected links between aluminum-based antiperspirants, but why wear it when I don’t need it?

When I want an antiperspirant, I reach for my trusty, gloriously unscented, aerosol Sure. It treats me right, and I can use it with my Old Spice Bearglove if I want to. I usually don’t need to.

Fragrance

Sometimes, synthetic (non-breathable) fabrics or stress can cause you to produce body odor you’d prefer to deny having. Most ladies’ antiperspirant deodorants did NOT play nicely with my body chemistry, and I didn’t like how I smelled or felt with them.

Then, most of the fragrances marketed to ladies are cloying fragrances. God-awful, “powder fresh,” scents. Some random person’s interpretation of, “shower clean.” Florals that gag. No thanks.

At the initial time I switched, finding a ladies’ antiperspirant-free deodorant that isn’t basically 1 part baking soda, 1 part essential oils or patchouli, and 1 part denial about efficacy is virtually impossible.

The Pink Tax

Take Old Spice and Secret. Both fall under parent company Proctor and Gamble. My 3 ounce stick of Old Spice Bearglove costs me $3.97 at Target – or $1.32 per ounce. A 2.6 ounce stick of Secret Cool Waterlily costs $5.49 – or $2.11 per ounce. The Secret product costs 160% per ounce more than Old Spice.

Yeah. The pink tax is a thing

On the Switch

A couple years ago, I switched to Old Spice Fiji. At the time, it seemed the least masculine to me, but did exactly what I needed it to with zero harm to my wardrobe. After a while, much like we can become accustomed to shampoo, it seemed like I was too used to Fiji (and it wasn’t working as well as it once did).

Then, I switched to the Arm & Hammer deodorant I’ve shared. It does a fair job, but last month I found myself in the same boat with my body getting too used to it.

Fortunately, Old Spice released a ton of new stuff – and I’m a happy wearer of Old Spice Bearglove. My husband is not off-put and no one is asking what the hell is wrong with me, so I say win!

The Bottom Line

Don’t let yourself be boxed-in to feminine branding and packaging. It’s perfectly fine if you ACTUALLY LIKE the products they’re selling. If they aren’t working for you, though, try thinking outside the box. You might find something you like more, and you might save some money!

Even though it is Terry Crews’ preferred variety, Bearglove has a very neutral fragrance. On me, it does not pull masculine in the slightest.

PS.

Shoutout to Dove, though, because their Cool Moisture line of everything smells really nice. I’d love to see a Cool Moisture deodorant that isn’t an antiperspirant.

Also, Colgate, if you could bring back Orchard Blossom Teen Spirit Stick – even in an antiperspirant variety – I would buy the hell out of it.