With the close of the draining summer heat comes the return of a universally rock-bottom experience as a student—having to smell the rank odor your peers emit around you. Instead of thick fabrics, students start to cover themselves with thick odors, smelling up the whole school.
Obviously, most people probably don’t notice their smell because of olfactory adaptation. It’s where the brain no longer registers a smell due to it being a constant scent and to rather focus on new smells instead.
Like, think of when you’ve entered a room with a distinct perfume. At some point you no longer can pick out the smell until you leave and reenter entirely, where the brain then registers the scent again.
Even with the whole olfactory function, is no one telling them that they’re stinking up the area? There’s literally around fifteen thousand different brands alone for deodorants. Anyone can buy a decent stick or spray at the local Big Y or closest store selling them.
“I don’t have a car!”
“I’m not allowed to walk that far!”
Literally don’t care, oh my god. Ask a parent, or even a friend if you’re bold enough, to buy some deodorant for you. I only care about this because the other day I physically reacted to a student’s smell, something that had never occurred to me before until then. I’m so serious when I say that no one should smell rank enough that it physically cannot be ignored when in the presence of it.
It didn’t help that it was before school even started, it was while we were waiting for the bus doors to open!
Honestly, it just boils down to whether they’re actually showering properly or not. I don’t think you guys are just forgetting to wash behind the ears and knees if you’re managing to bring this practically visible cloud of stench into the building everyday.
Is soap ringing a bell for anyone? No? Yeah, I didn’t really think so.
Believe me, perfume and cologne won’t save you either! It just makes it worse and this weird gross mix between the alcohol percentage in the mixture with sweat.
Though, I think the average person would rather drown in an exaggerated amount of Japanese Cherry Blossom or Strawberry Pound Cake than ol’ John Doe’s stench he brought from his gym period into the class you need to lock in for during a timed essay.
I’ve also noticed that the same people that practically present their poor hygiene skills to everyone are usually the ones that complain and whine about the girl beside them pumping one or two extra sprays of her perfume. It’s almost two sides of the same coin, in the sense where one side reeks of alcohol and the other emits a stinky green aura.
Whether you’re on the side of vibrant bottles containing varying smells or rawdog the school day with no products to prevent the funky smell, I don’t think it wouldn’t look over the multiple deodorants listed under up for buying.
Stick : The most popular version of most deodorant types in my opinion. They’re reliable and common to find in any store that sells hygiene products. If you ask what type of deodorant a friend uses, they would most likely say this one.
Spray-On : A common one to catch people using when changing back into their original clothes after gym. I think this is a hit or miss to be honest? Brand-wise of course, but still.
Roll-On : I don’t really hear or see people talk about this one, though I wouldn’t say this is a bad one to go with depending on which one you pick.
Overall, it doesn’t matter what type of deodorant you pick out. Though the brand of the deodorant usually decides whether or not it actually provides what it says quality-wise.
A bad stick of deodorant is worse than no deodorant. Only because you’ve then placed yourself under a placebo, when in reality you still smell bad.
There’s a million things I could say on this topic and keep you scrolling on this page, though I don’t think this will change much besides creating a placebo effect for students already worried about their appearance. For the sake of your peers, please at least take a good extra ten minutes in that shower and always apply deodorant in both the morning and after gym class.