Why is there a surge of deodorant products mostly advertised to women in the US?
So I have balls and yeah they’re the first thing on my body to start to smell. I can skip a shower if I’m in a hurry and I don’t smell much. That’s with working a job that’s usually physical. I was a punk kid fucking punk girls when I was younger and we didn’t bathe every day. I didn’t notice much smell then.
Now I see these ads regularly that are like hey women you stink after 12 hrs 5/10. What’s up?
Believe it or not I watch regular TV! I travel for work constantly and I have TV on in the hotel room. It makes me feel less lonely. That’s how I’m seeing these ads. On my PCs it’s Firefox+ublock origin.
Part of the background noise really. I grew up with it so I’m used to it. I’m not really watchig the thing anyway, it’s just background noise while I do other shit. When it comes to PC, or something I’m actively watching, I don’t do ads at all.
Reasonable enough. I do something like that myself. When a piece of remote and highly specialized computer system shuts itself, I’m the one who flies in to fix it, in addition to the occasional mobilization and servicing.
I use an adblocker, but I also drive a very old car and unfortunately my cd player just broke. I can confirm that there are tons of vaginal deodorant ads on the radio, always presented as a conversation between two women. There’s no intention to be funny, they’re trying to sound like a natural conversation two women would have in private and completely failing at coming across as anything short of awkward.
“So it works well for you?” “Yes! It lasts up to 24 hours, and four out of five gynecologists recommend it!”
I’ve been seeing those too. And one of them says “72 hour protection” like what? You’re not showering for three days but you’re just going to febreeze you vageeze and call it good ? Insane behavior
True story after the pandemic sort of settled down I had been laid off for my job as so many others had and I started doing Uber and I noticed that people smelled bad when they got in my car but nine times out of 10 it was women that smelled bad like with body odor more than men and it was mostly younger women in their early twenties that were smelling this way so maybe it’s just that women of a certain age tend to have more body odor than guys nowadays fuck I don’t know It was just something I noticed to the point that I appointed it out to my wife
I never use shampoo, only soap. I live in a place that is always hot and humid. We’re in out coldest time of the year now and it’s currently 27 degrees Celsius outside at 0830
Trust me people nee to shower once a day or you can smell them across the street
Probably has to do with the temperature where you live though… It’s different in colder climates, which is apparently most of the world if that’s really the coldest time of year. I’d suggest to try showering with just water once in a while. It should remove most of the sweat and odor, without attacking you skin.
Yeah I think when most people say they shower every day, they don’t mean they are literally washing everywhere with soap. I shower every day (yes it’s hot here too) but shampoo hair maybe twice a week, soap on my whole body usually only once a month or so and usually because I want to exfoliate. Most showers I am very selective in what actually gets washed.
A fundamental tenet of marketing, the art of separating dollars from your wallet, is to make you feel that you are less. That you are deficient, unless you look like so and so, have such and such, so buy this and that. Consume baby, consume.
But specifically saying there is a surge across all America is anecdotal. People from different regions get different advertising, broadcast wise and different search results.
Cable ads aren’t the same across the country, and very soon won’t be the same across the city. Addressable TV will bring personalized ads no matter what you’re watching.
As to why you may see a bunch of ads for similar products all of a sudden, there are a couple causes. When a new company/product comes on the market, they may flood the airwaves with ads to get their name out there, or they may not be familiar with how buying and scheduling TV ads works and will cluster things together so it seems like a barrage instead of spread out over longer periods. Also, when new competition comes to the market, the current leaders get nervous and increase advertising to retain their customers and try to keep them from changing brands. Lastly, it’s the phenomenon about noticing something which causes you to notice it even more (I.e. “there weren’t as many of [my car] on the road before I started driving one.”)
Cable tv ads are def not the same across the country. Differ region to region, city to city, age group to age group, time slot to time slot, and are highly targeted just like online ads.
That’s interesting. I avoid ads…so I’m not seeing what you’re seeing. I think my balls get a bit of a smell after a day, but like a nice, mild balls smell. My pits, man, my fucking pits…they go rancid in about a day’s time, definitely in 2-3. Simply stating as a matter of fact, gotta deal with my pits before my balls.
Well it all goes bad anyway, it’s just good to clean up. I do not use antiperspirants, I don’t like the idea of shoving stuff into my pores to block bodily functions. Those are kind of addictive, like if you’re on them & don’t use them, sometimes I feel like the problem is even worse. Like your body is purging because you stopped it up with aluminum.
I used antiperspirants until late HS, early college; it stained, discolored my shirts. I stopped using antiperspirant, and the staining stopped, too.
I don’t know but I’m honestly convinced that they put something in women’s deodorant so that we need to buy more of it and it makes us stink more because when I start using fancy women’s deodorant I fucking stink like God awful and I can’t even stand my own smell but when I stop using deodorant or can’t afford it for a while I don’t smell bad and I can’t figure it out
I said I can smell myself and it’s more bad smelling when I wear the deodorants then when I don’t… I didn’t say I don’t fucking smell I said it’s worse when I’m wearing deodorant compared to when I don’t
Your balls start to smell first? Wonder why. Inadequate wiping? My armpits will start to go musky after about 4 days in the same clothes. That’s my first thing to go. 🤷♂️
Exactly. I started showering less often but with more naturally oily soaps (Aleppo soap mainly) and I don’t need to shower as often since a few years back now. Feels much better. Less stress, better hygiene, no such problems, no itching anywhere, no nothing.
Humid or or not I find 4 is doable but 3 is more ideal but only if I don't do any strenuous activity. If I do then I pretty much like to shower it all off.
And this is exactly what is happening with me. I don’t actually wait until 4 days, because if I do I start to smell. People in this thread are confused about that and down voting according to their confusion lol.
I actually do sunday and wednesday nights so go the four but its the end of the weekend when I can sorta afford it. Its not like I stink to high heaven. I can just sorta tell that really 3 is the sweet spot.
I usually shower after I play badminton twice a week, then Saturday on the third second day after the last badminton of the week. It’s perfect. I never feel dirty.
You get it. Most other people in this thread are being absolutely ridiculous morons (and very rude, too). I lost faith in the Lemmy community with this thread, seriously. Bunch of prejudiced assholes who won’t listen to what is being said. They don’t know me. Never met me. Seem to think they know more about me than I know about myself, when they’ve never ever met me before, or even seen what I look like. That’s some low-IQ shit. Very frustrating. It’s Reddit again.
I mean. you need to have a bit thicker skine when interacting online. Some of these folks might be ruder at one point in the day and not in another based on how much or little they thought or even just their mood. great thing about online is you should never be to vested in what people say or think.
Well, I check Lemmy a few times a day and then I forget about it, so it’s not too big of a deal lol. It’s just disappointing to see such low-quality human interaction.
It’s not very humid in the winter, no. Far in the northern hemisphere, here. Farther than 63° North. So very dry air during the winters. I guess I do shower a bit more seldom in the winter. That’s probably true.
I can tell when I do smell. I can also sense my deodorant until I start to smell. So nothing wrong with my sense of smell. It’s actually quite sensitive. I’m just very clean, I suppose. I don’t sweat much when I move a lot. 🤷♂️
My armpits will start to go musky after about 4 days in the same clothes
Why the fuck are you wearing the same clothes for 4 fucking days? The only profession in which that is remotely acceptable is if you're on the front fucking line of a warzone, fighting for your life.
Relax bud. I sit still most days. Web developer. Half the week I work from home. Usually wear the same clothes for about a week. Not socks or underwear though, change those almost every day. T-shirt normally change after 2-3 days. 👍 Shower about 2-3 times per week. I use Aleppo soap. It keeps you clean for much longer, too.
Another one who can’t grasp the fact that bodies are different. I expected more from a fellow dev. Shame. 🫤
You do realize I shower more often than 4 days, right? That’s what I’ve been saying all over this thread, that after 4 days is when I do start to stink a little bit. 👍
Nah breh ive worked with people like you too often. Theres always one on the team that fuckin stinks because they think “bodies are different”. Thank god I work remote so I never have to sit by people like you ever again.
I don’t stink. I shower way before I start to stink. I told you, all of you, I start to stink a little bit at day 4, but I shower about every other day, at the gym twice a week and at home during the weekend. It all amounts to no hygiene issues. I am also very thorough with my junk after peeing and no. 2. I wipe with paper and wash with water if I can’t get it perfectly clean. You don’t know shit about my hygiene so leave me alone. Prejudiced jerk.
The other dude might’ve overreacted, but you gotta change your clothes every day. If you wait until you start noticing you stink, everyone else around you noticed days ago.
No I don’t, every day would be insane. We’d be running the washer non-stop if everyone in the family did that. I am very aware of my smell, I check it every day, and my wife will let me know if I start smelling (at which point I already know way before her anyway, but just didn’t have time or energy to shower yet (two kids after all)).
People are overreacting about this, holy hell. Folks, everyone’s chemistry can be different. Everyone’s energy expenditure and temperature during the day can be different. I am not you. I don’t sweat much or start to smell at all during the week, unless I don’t change my clothes or shower for about 4 days. But I do change my clothes and shower more often than that. So there’s no problem here for anyone to fix(!).
I appreciate everyone’s concern and everything but please get off my back now lol.
Edit: people down voting because they’re jealous of my easy hygiene? Or what is going on? I’m just lucky in combination with some good hygiene routine choices. That’s it.
I can tell before her, because I’ll say I stink and she won’t agree. I’ve also asked my mother if she thinks I ever smell bad – never (as an adult), she says. I asked her because she asked me, as well, for this very reason (being too accustomed to your own smell, as she lives alone). She doesn’t smell either, and uses no products when she showers, just her own natural ingredients soap mix. It might be genetic, that we don’t produce much odour. I don’t f-ing know lol. All I know is my own situation, and everyone here seems to think we are all the same and alike, but humans are very different sometimes. Deal with it.
I have a really good sense of smell; trust me, you smell after one day and just can’t smell it yourself until day four. I’m sorry if this comes as a surprise.
Asked my friend today if I smell, a day after I showered. And I did some pretty rigorous activities today as well. They agreed to smell me, but said I don’t smell.
What now? Trust your smell, when you have never smelled me? You’re just as full of shit as everyone in this thread replying to me. Not because I’m saying you don’t have a good sense of smell. I bet you do, and I bet you can smell people who do smell bad. But I don’t smell bad.Deal with it. I’m really starting to think it’s a jealousy thing here. People can’t accept that I have good hygiene for some absolutely fucking absurd reason.
Well “regular” is relative. And you don’t sound regular. You sound very ir -regular. In that it’s normal for you to shower after you shit. (Jk I knew what you meant).
Why don’t you get a bidet? You’d save so much water.
Wow. I’m envious. I shit like three-four times a day (morning after waking up, possibly after breakfast, after lunch, after dinner). And I don’t eat a lot of fiber. 😭 At least it’s a proper texture, otherwise my asshole would be in trouble.
But why would they not have thought of doing this before. I haven’t noticed this uptick at least in my country but I’m curious now OP has asked. It’s strange that they’ve decided now that they could prey on people’s insecurities when it’s been an option all along and it’s largely already what they do anyway.
There was actually a push a number of decades ago (I wanna say 50’s-70’s?) Where LYSOL was advertising itself as a genital cleaning agent for women.
So not new perse, but considering how much more culterally considerate we are now about women’s health and self image than, say, the 90’s, it is weird that we’re getting these now as opposed to that time period.
It’s not that new. As another user mentioned, there’s been campaigns about smells going back to the radio and print only days. Summer’s eve has made millions with their bullshit “freshness” mentality. The only thing that’s really changed is the ability to directly talk about the product being applied to genitals/the crotch.
The entire deodorant industry trades on implying that any smell is a bad thing anywhere on the body. We can indeed produce some funky smells that are unpleasant, but it really isn’t something that can’t be handled without deodorant for most people. Deodorant is just a ton more convenient and longer lasting for the armpits. Even there, it can sometimes cause problems, though it’s less common for it to be as problematic as at the groin.
I mean, I use antiperspirant on my armpits because washing them as often as needed to get rid of the chemicals the bacteria there produce that cause odor is a time sink if you’re prone to a lot of sweating, or don’t have the freedom to do it when it’s ideal. But you can handle pit odor by cleaning rather than using deodorants.
The difference is that we all know that armpits produce unpleasant odor that isn’t from an infection, so we’ve gotten used to the idea of covering it up, or preventing out by controlling sweating and reducing bacterial presence. But the various makers of the products have been advertising their stuff for ages in a very similar way.
As a woman, I prefer to clean that area with isopropyl and tea tree oil. Call me crazy. I’ve been verbally berated for choosing to do this, by people who claim it’s “bad for your mucus membranes and flora”! You know what I don’t need because of that? Some expensive deodorant marketed specifically for that region of the body. Smells are a sign of an infection.
Ma’am, I’m not going to berate you at all. It’s your genitalia, you do what you want.
However, for anyone else coming along and taking this statement as true because someone has a vagina, please, please consult with someone that has actual knowledge before accepting that smells = infection. While some infections can be detected by smell, not all smells are signs of infection.
In truth, most people don’t get up close to female genitalia to know what smells are and aren’t “bad”. Of those infectious possibilities, two can be direct result of doing things like applying alcohol, tea tree oil, or other harsh substances.
Those two are a yeast infection, the other is bacterial vaginosis. If you’ve never smelt yeast that’s growing rapidly, you can at least have that experience by buying some and letting it grow in a jar. The scent when it’s out of control in and around the genitals is almost exactly the same, though with other scents present as well. The most common cause of a yeast infection is when something occurs to disrupt the normative balance of the genitals, giving the yeast a chance to go crazy without competition. Antibiotics in particular are very likely to cause them.
Bacterial vaginosis can be related to several different types of bacteria. Staph is possible, gardnerella, prevotella, bacterioides, and others may be present. Most often, this happens when something kills off the lactobacilli present on and in the genitals, allowing the other kinds to go crazy.
Sometimes sex with a new partner can bring new strains of those, throwing the balance off until things adjust. But, it can be caused by douche use, iron deficiency (in limited circumstances), stress, and/or as an opportunistic effect after other infections, or even after antibiotic use.
Now, please note that bacterial vaginosis being set off by sex doesn’t mean it’s an STD in the usual sense. You could have new strains of bacteria introduced in other ways, and it happens often enough after hot tub sessions you’d likely never use one at a hotel ever again if you were smart.
Again, bacterial vaginosis is not a guarantee of sexual contact with a new partner. It’s just one possibility of many.
While the smell of BV can vary a good bit, the classic smell is the “fishy” odor.
Smell is not always detectable when a yeast or bacterial infection is ongoing, so if you’re having unusual itching, changes in your normal discharges (and every cis vagina has discharge to some degree), or burning (particularly during urination), it’s worth talking to your doctor/gynecology specialist.
Now, there are plenty of other smells in and around vaginas. The two you’ll run across the most are a “musky + meaty” scent, and a slightly sour, almost tangy scent. Neither is a sign of disease or disorder, and they may occur together. There can be a sharp, citrusy scent along with those or by itself. Again, none of those smells are a problem, and many find them quite pleasant.
If you want your genitalia to smell healthy and normal, rule one is to be easy on them. No harsh cleansers, ever. No alcohol, no tea tree oil, no antibacterial soaps. Indeed, all you need to bathe genitals of any kind is plenty of warm water, two hands, and a soft cloth. Soap is not necessary, and the wrong soaps will possibly cause problems. If you can’t do without soaps, ask your gynecologist (if you have a cis vagina), or your GP, they can make recommendations as to brands. Same for penises, btw. You don’t need soap, just hands, a soft cloth, and clean water.
Seriously, genitalia are mostly self cleaning. The more you interfere in that, the more likely problems are to occur. The goal is to get rid of dead skin cells, excess oils, and any waste material that might still be present. Even the oils don’t require soap to control. Soap strips all of it away, and that’s not a good thing. You just want to keep it from building up.
For labia, you do want to lightly use a cloth or hands in all the folds. For a penis, the same, even if you’re uncircumcised. Just roll the foreskin back and gently wash with hands, or cloth, and clean water (warm is better, but not absolutely mandatory).
The source for all of this is twenty years of working as a nurse’s assistant, giving baths to patients and being directly responsible and accountable for patient hygiene and skin health. Every bit of this is what you’d get from a doctor that deals with genitals, and is current best practice for anyone and everyone.
Again, anyone can do whatever they want with their own genitals. Not saying anyone has to follow best practices. Just be aware that the more you deviate, the higher the chances of recurring problems.
Also, nobody needs deodorant on their genitals, ever. Even people with illnesses that cause bad odors that aren’t from infections, any deodorant is going to cause more problems than it fixes. Think about it, you’re applying something that holds dead skin and moisture in a warm and dark place. Any antimicrobial properties of the product are going to end eventually, and you now have damaged the normative balance. It’s setting up the worst possible outcome.
Lume? The people that own the company and do the commercials should be ashamed of themselves.
This is maybe TMI, but since you seem very knowledgeable, I’ll ask it anyway, sorry!
Generally I’m not a very active person. But lately I’ve been trying to work out more. I’ve noticed that on workout days, the scent is a lot stronger there even after showering and wiping with a cloth. If I wait a few days before working out again, the smell dissipates. So it’s not like there’s an infection or anything, just sweat. Any tips?
Generally, “gym funk” is a matter of the normative bacteria going nuts (pun intended) from the added heat and moisture. The best way to handle that is upping the exfoliation with a longer scrub, and paying extra attention to the taint/perineum and be extra thorough drying. A lot of the time, after a shower, the heat has caused the scrotum to loosen up, or labia to swell a bit. This means it can be difficult to really get everything fully exfoliated and dry.
The way I’ve described it before is that the taint is like a watershed. It’s dammed up by fabric, so it catches a lot of the detritus after the rain of a good workout. It’s a bit more difficult for guys because of the way the scrotum can hold onto things, and get in the way, but women can also run into issues with things sticking to the region if they/their caregiver doesn’t pay extra attention.
Someone else mentioned blow drying the area, and that really can work well. Towels can only pull off so much water, and the groin is usually towards the end of the drying process, so they’re damp. You sometimes see older gym rats doing it in the locker room because we’ve run into jock itch from not drying all the way, and that’s no fun at all, but you can wait until you’re home. Works just well for women, but you’d need to at least partly cover the labia, even if the labia minora are hidden by the majora.
As a guy one thing I notice - there’s a difference in how good I dry my parts after showering. Things feel cleaner during the day if I manage to get all the moisture away but before hiding my best parts in underwear shortly after showering.
I have wondered many times (and here is the place people can answer) - am I the only one who uses the hairdryer on his balls after drying his hair? (When I do, I always have this “thank god nobody sees this” feeling)
I tend to just use a towel and then stay naked for a while and let it happen gradually. But yeah, back when was still able to work, I would sometimes grab the hair dryer and get it done fast. I’ve had long hair since the eighties, so it was no big deal to add a minute or two of time to using it elsewhere too.
I’ve heard people talking about old men blow drying their pubes at the gym but never seen it myself. Personally I shave that area so drying with a towel is fine.
As a human, I prefer to clean my eyes with tea tree oil and isopropyl alcohol. People may get upset by this, but I never have to clean sleep out of my eyes.
I can understand that. I have used isopropyl on my face, followed by tea tree oil to cure my acne, in the past. Both of which got close to my tear ducts. I had grey mucus come out of my right eye, and suddenly a bunch of pressure that I thought was a sinus headache subsided. I swear by isopropyl and tea tree oil now.
Ha ha I always guilt my wife with these commercials. “Do you need that?” She hates those annoying commercials. There the equivalent to all these dumb men’s soap commercials for crap like this. www.drsquatch.com
Been there with two coworkers back when I managed a restaurant. They couldn’t believe they smelled when I had to have that terrible conversation with them. One improved, the other didn’t. I actually had to fire the second guy.
I guess you gotta trust me on this but my wife and my coworkers are quite direct. They would tell me if I smell. It’s very rare for me to skip a shower anyway.
Trolling everyone in here, huh. Bully mentality, attacking everyone and anything at their supposed weak point, when in fact it’s very ineffective. You’re cringe, bro. Having a bad day or something? Go away.
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