Nicky Champ

By NICKY CHAMP

I can’t tell you how many random, stray, roll-on deodorants I have in my bathroom cabinet.

Actually, that’s a lie, I can, because I just purged my bathroom of beauty products and I found not one, but six deodorant sticks I had no intention of ever using again.

Invisible ones, clinical ones, 48hr intensive ones, crystal ones, organic ones. If your supermarket is having a shortage, it’s probably because I’m hoarding them all at my house.

In case you’re wondering if I suffer from casual kleptomania, I do, but that’s not why I have six spare deodorants.

You see, I try them, they don’t work and then I can’t bear to throw them out. Then they build up and instead of disposing of just one it’s a whole collection, and I can’t be responsible for that much wastage. I mean, it’s not like you can pass them on to a friend, can you? 

But I’ve just tried a deodorant that finally has me binning all the rest. It’s come out on top where others have spectacularly failed (the editorial team sit really close to each other).

I’ve been road-testing Dove’s Invisible Dry Anti-White Mark anti-perspirant deodorant this week, and after several surreptitious sniffs to my armpit I have come to the conclusion that it works. It actually works. It’s a deodorant that actually does what it says. I’m not sure if in my long history of applying deodorants, this has ever happened before.

It worked so much that I became obsessed with trying to detect even just the slightest hint of a whiff under my arms.

Even under deadline pressure, there wasn’t the slightest hint of a whiff.

After my brisk morning commute: no. After the morning editorial meeting, which can get heated: no. Under deadline pressure: no. After a stress-inducing celebrity interview: no. After the gym: no. After I’d been at work all day and then attended an awards night without re-applying: no. After I peeled my clothes off at the end of the day: no.

Not only did it do its main job, it didn’t mark my clothes either. I think we’ve all been in the situation where we’ve quickly applied deodorant before getting dressed and immediately regretted it when the entire garment has become unwearable with visible white stripes down the front or on the underarm area. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Or another clean outfit to sub in for that matter.

And I hear that this deodorant doesn’t sting or irritate when applied directly after shaving. I can‘t tell you that myself because the old razors I had hidden in the back of the bathroom cabinet didn’t survive the purge.

So if the forest growing under my arms is anything to go by, this is one your boyfriend/husband/significant other/flatmate is definitely going to want to steal for themselves.   

What do you look for in a deodorant?