I am what many would call a deodorant devotee. I use it consistently and frequently, usually more than once a day. There is my usual morning freshening, the post-work/pre-gym touch up, and then finally the post sweaty shower dose. I love my deodorant and, well, being smelly is a personal (petrifying) fear of mine. So when Secret's new Clinical Strength deodorant came across my desk, I was thrilled, automatically assuming it was some super power deodorant with the ability to totally relieve my stinky paranoia. That was until I read the directions...
Plain, simple and straight to the point, they read: "Apply two clicks of product to underarms at bedtime". That can't be right I thought, who applies deodorant only once a day...and at bedtime for that matter? So onto Google I go to find out what exactly this product is all about. On the Secret website an (overly) informative little
video tells me how this new product has been designed to provide "prescription strength wetness protection for the most demanding body chemistry's". Okay, fair enough...anyone who has set foot in an overcrowded elevator at 5pm knows there are definitely people in this world with more demanding body chemistry's, but was I one? I didn't think so. Then again, this little video is telling me that my normal deodorant should be protecting me for 24-hours after one application...maybe my body is a little more demanding then I thought.
The video explains that the product is designed to be applied at night to take advantage of your body's natural temperature variation. Our sweating is more controlled in our sleep (unless of course you're sleep involves visions of you and G.Clooney getting steamy together) and this allows for the deodorant to create a more effective barrier in your sweat ducts. Oh all right, enough of the technical stuff....go watch the
video for yourself and then come back and I'll tell you if it works!
Ah, welcome back! Visual aid #1 over. So, did anticipations meet expectations? Well obviously I was a little skeptical so I had to put this product to the
ultimate test. After a late night shower I applied the product the night before my hardcore double duty morning at the gym: BodyPump and BodyFlow Thursdays (p.s...for those of you who haven't tried LesMills classes, get to your gym now and take one, they will rock your world!)
Admittedly it was very difficult to wake up the next morning and head to the gym without my usually dose of baby powder freshness but I left with the optimism that even if this product (and its odor fighting capsules) didn't work, there was likely going to be someone else in my class who smelled equally as bad as I did. Stepping into my weight training class the room was already a sweltering temperature and I could feel my poor little glands just waiting to burst. I reach for my underarms in some sort of Molly Shannon-type instant reflex. Still dry. Phew. After the crazy hard squat track? Still dry. After 150 shoulder presses? Still dry. After 60 more minutes of bending myself into every insane yoga, pilates, and tai chi pose in the book? You guessed it...still dry.
I'm admittedly amazed (and it takes a lot to do that to me), but it got better. Convinced that I would give this stuff a go for the
full 24-hours, I hit the showers and put in a full 9-hour day at work and I was still dry and odourless as I headed into the showers at 9pm that evening. Still not quite believe it wasn't a completely fluke (hey, you can expect to convert a deodorant devotee overnight can you?!) So I tried it the next day...and the next...and the next. It is now Monday evening and here I sit, pre-evening shower, and yes...I am still dry.
Secret's new Clinical Strength deodorant is available from all major retailers and pharmacies nationwide.
