I get my first stick of deodorant as a preteenager . It was Teen Spirit and made me smell like child powder and Chuck Berry . From the first swipe I loved it " “ it called me TEEN " “ and have continue to love this special production that keeps me so fresh and so clean . I would n’t call it an obsession " “ I reserve that for my Book and shoe " “ but these day I keep at least a XII dissimilar kinds of deodorant and antiperspirant on hand . Unfortunately , not everyone portion out my love of smell good . On many occasions throughout history , things have flummox downright funky .
Being stinky and human evolution
When we lived in cave and had just figured out the whole standing just affair , we were less concerned about body odor . Put simply , man stunk . Anthropologists now believe that our funky selves helped keep us from being some piranha ’s dinner . Our smell was so absolute that the animal about to eat us would actually recoil in horror at the smell and would move on to eat something less repulsive . Now that ’s a defense mechanism .
Ancient Egyptians
When they were n’t build pyramids , the ancient Egyptians were working hard at mask their own fetor . They invented the scented bath and would keep abreast it up by practice a liberal amount of scent to their underarms . Egyptians also tried using carob , incense , and even porridge as deodourant . Women would place globs of sweet wax on their head that would slowly unfreeze throughout the sidereal day , spreading the pleasing perfume as well as masking the not so pleasant . Messy , but effective .
Ancient Romans and Greeks
The ancient Greeks direct a Thomas Nelson Page from the Egyptians , constantly bathe and dousing themselves in aroma . Grecian poet Homer once tell that good boniface offered their node bath and aromatic oils . Romans were so fanatical about smell good that they not only took bath in perfume , they soaked their clothes in it , doused their sawbuck in it , and even perfume their household pets .
The Middle Ages
thing took a turn for the stank during the Middle Ages , when the church determine that being naked was bad . Even in the bath . So people all but stopped houseclean themselves . Those with the money for it adjudicate to cover the malodor by using perfume , a practice that proceed well into the 19th century . Those without money just continue fragrant .
Mums the word
The first trademarked deodorant " “ Mum " “ amount out in 1888 . create by an unknown Philadelphia inventor , Mum was a spread utilize to the underarms . It was shortly followed by Everdry , the first efficacious antiperspirant . Everdry was an aluminum chloride solution that was swob on with a cotton swab to less than desirable issue . Everdry took forever to dry out , was messy , and had a tight habit of stinging the substance abuser and run through through clothes . But hey , at least you were n’t sweating . In the mid 1950s , inspired by the ball point penitentiary , the first roll on ( Ban ) was released . Ten twelvemonth later , the first aerosol ( Right Guard ) launch a multi - billion one dollar bill industry .
[ 1971 Right Guard advertizing good manners ofmy Rear in Sears . ]
Today , about 95 % of Americans use deodorant . Whether you wear out roll on , use a vitreous silica , take an national deodourant pill ( does that really do work ? ) or even make your own home mixture , just jazz that the rest of us truly appreciate it .
Stefanie Fontanez is an episodic contributor to mentalfloss.com . Her last story was aboutthe plague .
