Wait, does your whole body need deodorant?

NEW YORK – If you suddenly feel as if you are being inundated with advertisements for something called “whole body deodorant”, you are not alone.

The personal care product, which is being advertised as a solution to sweat and body odour that cannot be controlled by traditional underarm deodorants, exploded in popularity in 2024.

Whole body deodorants are made to be used on areas like the groin, feet and breasts, and act similarly to those designed for armpits.

According to Google Trends, searches for the product have skyrocketed.

Sales for Lume, one of the original whole body deodorants, more than doubled in 2023 to US$125.8 million (S$166.6 million), according to The Wall Street Journal.

In 2024 alone, Dove hit the market with Whole Body Deo, Secret started a Whole Body collection and Native released its own “cruelty-free” whole body deodorant spray.

Dr Susan Massick, a board-certified dermatologist and a clinical associate professor of dermatology at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, said that whole body deodorant has become “the answer to a problem people didn’t even know they have”.

“People used to associate deodorants with just the armpits, but whole body deodorants turned that concept on its head with products designed to be used on larger surface areas of the body, wherever you feel you smell,” she added.

Deodorants use fragrance to neutralise odours and bacteria by creating a more acidic pH level on your skin, she said, making them different from antiperspirants, which use ingredients that form a plug that blocks the secretion of sweat from the eccrine glands.

“As a dermatologist, I believe that antiperspirants, regular deodorants and whole body deodorants are generally safe to use as you wish,” she said. “Whole body deodorants are an option if you are concerned about body odour in the typical hot spots like armpits, groin and feet. They’re okay to use, but okay to skip as well.”

The sudden influx of whole body deodorant products has not been lost on social media users, who have flocked to platforms like X and TikTok to discuss them.

While some have expressed enthusiasm, others are more sceptical, with suggestions that showering may be a better answer.

And though there are whole body deodorants marketed to male consumers, including Mando and Dove Men+Care, many are quick to point out that a vast majority of new products are aimed exclusively at female consumers, with some feeling it is an attempt to create a new type of body shame.

Ms Olivia Stober, a 26-year-old artist living in San Diego, said she started seeing advertisements for Secret Whole Body deodorant on YouTube earlier in 2024.

She took particular issue with one commercial that showed a montage of women exercising and hiking that began: “Want to know a secret? More than just my armpits stink.”

She said: “I’m just, like, you’ve got to be kidding me. God forbid we go up for a hike and then smell like we have gone for a hike, right?”

In response, she created a TikTok video lamenting the commercial. “They will invent something new for women to be ashamed of until the end of time,” she said in the clip. “We will never be free from those shackles, I fear.”

Ms Stober said that she feels confident in her decision to eschew whole body deodorant, but that may not be the case for other women and girls. She was particularly worried about tweens and teens hearing about the products and deciding there was something wrong with them that they needed to fix.

“You have a body and you’re allowed to smell like you have a body,” she added. NYTIMES