5 Deodorant Mistakes You Are Making

Have you seen little kids going all dumbstruck when they are taken to a top-notch confectionery for the first time? That was exactly how I looked when I first ventured into the deodorant section of the supermarket. I just picked up an artistic bottle with loads of blue flowers on it and thought that would be it. It was only when I developed a mild rash after using it that I realized I needed to know what’s going into my skin. I am sure unknowingly we are all making some or the other deodorant mistakes that need to be fixed immediately. Read on to know the most common mistakes people make while using a deo. If you are doing them too, stop immediately.

 1) Not Understanding That A Deodorant Is Not Equal To An Anti-Perspirant

 The first thing you should do is ask yourself if you want to neutralize your body odor or you want to sweat lesser. If it is a yes for the first question, you need a deodorant, and if it is a yes for the latter, then you are searching for an antiperspirant. Knowing how stuff work is important if you don’t want to make mistakes while using beauty or body products. If you think that the sweat itself is the problem, then choose an antiperspirant. It contains aluminum salts and zirconium salts that prevent your sweat ducts from producing sweat by forming a plug-like cover.

 2) Using A Deodorant On Sensitive Skin

The fragrance imparting substances present in your deodorant tend to give you a burning sensation if you use it on your just-shaved skin. If you have just shaved your pits, the blades must have already caused slight irritation or maybe even nicks in some rare cases. Wait until the skin heals before you spray deodorant on it. Also, if the skin on your pits is prone to breakage and damage, avoid using a deodorant. Otherwise, you will end up with itchy and painful underarms. If the pits feel itchy after using deodorants, stop using them temporarily. Or, change your product to a mild or fragrance-free one.

3) Spilling It On Your Clothes

White sloppy deo patches on your nicely ironed black dress? Yes, that is something I always managed to do. Blacks never seem to escape this spill, do they? There’s a fix for everything and the one for this is to use a nylon cloth to clean it.This will remove all the stains from your clothes. You could also use a deodorant sponge remover or rather invest in a deo that has an all-clear formula, and the ordeal of having to clean the stains can be entirely skipped forever.

4) Replacing Your Bath With A Deo

A deo is used to nullify bad odor or sometimes just mask it. The chemical formula helps in killing the bacteria that is causing the stench and sometimes in just covering up the bad odor. That said, it is not a license to use it on skin that has not been cleaned or washed for ages. When deodorants don’t bind directly to the skin and sweat pores, they don’t work that efficiently as they otherwise would. Also, sweaty pits mixed with deo sounds a bit grosser than just sweaty pits. The most efficient way of using a deo is after having a bath when your skin is clean and dry.

5) Not Choosing The Right Product

With the kind of variety the market today offers, there’s no place for an excuse for choosing the wrong product and suffering the shortcomings of it. If you feel you do not want to use a loud fragrance, shift to mild ones. If you want to stop sweating, choose an antiperspirant instead of a deodorant. Also, be careful while choosing an antiperspirant. Some of them are mild with lesser aluminum and zirconium content, while others are strong, and the salts tend to irritate and cause damage to the skin. Pick either a stick or a spray, whatever your skin is comfortable with. If your pits feel dry and parched, choose a deo that has a moisturizer in it. Do a full-fledged market research and make yourself aware of your skin and body type before choosing a deodorant. This way you wouldn’t make a mistake and face any of its adverse repercussions.

After realizing that I have been making the mistake of choosing a 30% antiperspirant, I quickly switched it to a milder 20% one. I haven’t experienced any itch or irritation ever since. Also, on some days when I know there wouldn’t be much perspiration, I find it best to use a natural deodorant like coconut oil, and I sometimes love to go on a detox spree by ditching the chemical-loaded products altogether. Pick your deodorant bottle up and look for the ingredients in them. Get it off your dressing table if you find yourself sensitive to any of the ingredients in that product. Comment below and tell me if you have been making any such mistakes and if this information helped you.

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Rachana C

Twenty seventeen says Rachana Chandrasekhar is a content writer at IncNut Digital. Of course, twenty twelve thought she'd be a vegetable vendor in an Italian countryside. Don't be too overwhelmed if twenty twenty finds her basking in the raptures of driving the fastest car on some obscure racing course.

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