Thursday, May 01, 2008

• My Armpits Smell Like Peaches

  Currently Reading Showdown (Paradise Series, Book 1) (The Books of History Chronicles) By Ted Dekker see related

  It all happened so subtly that I didn't even see it coming.  I remember buying my very own deodorant/antiperspirant for the first time, standing there in the personal care aisle at WalMart, agonizing over powder fresh or baby powder scents.  There might have been a few more choices available, maybe something like shower fresh, but by and large, most d/ap scents made one's armpits smell like....like one had just stepped out of the shower.

  Which, to my mind, is certainly the goal.  I'm sure no company ever even tried to market just played some ball with the boys or this shirt should have been washed last week, much less saw any success.  Funny--I do come across that odor from time to time...but that's a different story.

  Anyway, over the years, I began to notice that deodorant scents became more creatively named, and that the line of scents became broader and broader.  First there was the fresh rain/cascading rapids/coastal surf line, and I sort of understood.  After all, those are all scents that evoke a fresh, clean feeling--and again, who doesn't want that?

  But as I stood in the personal care aisle at Target last week, I began to wonder just how far this could go.  I was holding two containers of deodorant:  chai vanilla and orchard peach, debating which smelled better, when it hit me that I wasn't sure I wanted my armpits to smell like either.  I had already rejected fresh apple and caramel mocha when I realized that I might pick up the same things on a trip to Albertson's.  I began to ponder what might happen if, on the rare occasion that anyone caught a whiff from my underarms, they might think--perhaps that I had been rubbing tea bags and peaches under there?

  Honestly, I just want my deodorant to smell like deodorant--not like rainforests or fruit or drinks that someone might pay $5 for at Starbucks.  I would rather they not smell like food; chances are the stuff that the baby has been smearing on my shirt will take care of that, anyway.  I don't really need a scent to relax or invigorate me--chances are I'm not going to go sniffing around my underarms for that, anyway.  I just really want not to smell like sweat.  Is that really so much to ask?

  • 6:03 PM
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