An Ode To Deodorant

An Ode To Deodorant

Every day we go to work, eat our lunch, and watch TV. Learning, Growing, Living our lives never mindful of the thick, white substance that stays idle, caked along the outer lining our arm pit. The chemical compound of cosmetic fragrance and manufactured bodily protection, is assembled into a plastic tube and put on a store shelf, which can only be described as an armory of weapons used to fight the forces of odor and defend the freedoms of hygiene. We give them names like “Old Spice” and “Secret,” defiant and loyal to its purpose in the universe we wake up day by day and slap it on, knowing its job and meaning of existence: to de-odor.

Deodorant; our guardian from bacterial breakdown known as perspiration, our protector of bad looks, curled up noses, and smells which leave bad impressions upon us, our body guards of our bodies; well mainly our arm pits . . . sometimes the crouch. We are subconsciously praised by its use and admired by its scent. Never thinking about that time that we had to run for the bus to get some where and said to our self “Man I sure am glad that this deodorant, which I have under my arms, stopped my bodies natural release of sweat and perspiration, which in turn will keep my body as well as the air around me dry and smelling like which ever brand I have on from Walgreen’s last Thursday.” We leave it to perform its duties no questions asked, trusting it with our lively hood and reputation which we are given via the benefit of the doubt as a “clean person.”

How ever we are only truly mind full of our unsung hero during two instances; when it had come to its slow demise, and when it appears smeared on the most likely of places, our shirt. Then the unofficially, scientifically named Aluminum zirconium tetrachlorohydrexgly aka deodorant becomes our subject of ridicule. We detest the presence of it, scolding its being, and for the one and only time, we think the unthinkable, we wish we didn’t have it on. Only then does it become a bane in the world. Its creators are forced by the mass public to “remake it.” Funny how something so useful, recommended, and sometimes wished upon a fellow human, can be turned on by the masses because it got on their little black dress, assumingly ruining their date. How can we down on something that has done nothing but help the lively hood of man. We would never turn on air, why would we turn on deodorant.

We can not, we must not forget that it has done its job, and done its job well thus far. We must recognize and acknowledge our sentinel of smell and not look down upon what keeps us sanitary. Because think, what if we woke up tomorrow and it was all gone? No more Speed Stick, no more Axe with its clever and catchy body spray products.

We must never forget deodorant