The Tale of Two Deodorants

Hi everyone,

Perhaps one of the categories least reviewed in this blog is deodorants. It's not like everyday that I run out of deodorants and have the need to get a new one, you know. But it's been hot lately and those who are following me via Twitter know I have been lamenting about it. The heat brings sweats, which may or may not give the body a certain type of unpleasant body odor. On top of that, I am now exercising more frequently and rigorously, which means only one thing: I stink louder than a locker room after a football practice.


The Nivea Extra Whitening anti-perspirant was something I used for almost a year. The only reason I bought it was the two words written in pink. Yeah, the promise of having extra-whitening armpits got me. It claims to have cell repair properties and can make darken armpits a lot lighter with the help of licorice extracts, witch hazel and avocado oil.

The Rexona Skin Light anti-perspirant is a recent purchase. This claims to also lighten the armpits with the help of sunflower seed oil. All whitening, all giving a 24-hour of stink-free armpits with almost the same prices. Which one comes out on top?


First of all, let me talk about the Nivea Extra Whitening deodorant. It was the first of its kind in the market and I loved, loved, loved the glass jar. It felt cool and solid in my hand. Also, Nivea has a good reputation for making affordable and reliable products. And it came with a free scarf, too. Sold!

I must have bought it before the heat came last year. The first few days were fine as I smelled nice and dandy, like a flower almost. Then, the heat came and that was when the Nivea deodorant showed its true color. It was gentle and felt like a lotion to me. Because of that, it took forever to dry. Usually, I would put on my deodorant after showering with hope that it would work better. Well, it did while I was sleeping. But when I was awake and kicking some kempo ass, the efficacy wore off. I stank even worse than before I used it with a mixture of BO and floral fragrance, yuck!

Well, since it was not such a good deodorant, I was hoping it would lighten up my armpits. That was the reason that kept me from chucking it. I kept on applying and applying on a daily basis and saw almost no change at all. So I did a test: I stopped using the product and to my surprise, my armpits actually became lighter from the scrubbing I did during showering.


To my discourse, I kept on using it while looking for a replacement. Then came the Rexona Skin Light deodorant. Have I told you Asians have a thing for lightening skincare products? While I may not approve the use of skin bleaches, skin lightening deodorants are the necessary evils. I want to be able to put my hands up while wearing tank tops, ok?


The Rexona Skin Light was a new product as Rexona, a brand from Unilever, only had regular non-skin whitening deodorants before. I have to admit buying this product because of the cute lilac color and the weird egg-like packaging.


This product has everything that the Nivea deodorant lacks: it actually keeps me smelling fresh for 24 hours while manages to whiten my armpits. I ain't gonna lie, I was surprised that the wings beneath my wings got lighter, too! The only downside is it tends to cling on to the skin and I have to scrub it out harder than usual. Maybe that's how I lighten up my armpits? But anyways, it works under extreme heat and P90X. I have to give it credit for that.

In conclusion: buy Rexona, not Nivea. Also, if you have Dove Clinical Care deodorant, buy that one, too. It's a good anti-perspirant without the skin lightening property. Also, while writing this, I realized these deodorants are available at Amazon.com but at marked up prices. Here, I got them for less than $2 USD but at Amazon.com, the Rexona one is on sale for 9 bucks!

Change-change-change!

Have you noticed some changes around the blog lately? Well, I am in a slow and painful process of giving the blog a different look. The last time I did a new banner was last year and that was it. No changes in the structure of the blog at all. Now that I am in a different part of my life, I think this blog should reflect that as well. From now on, there will be no more ads on this blog. I don't see a point of doing so. The ads only clutter up my blog and I don't earn a lot of money from it at all. Without them, my blog loads faster and looks less cluttered as well.

At this point, it is still a work-in-progress. I have a few ideas to do with the blog and hopefully, it will come together soon.

Also, and this is a major also, I am not going to blog as often. With all the assignments I have, once a week is all I can do without feeling like I'm killing myself. Those deadlines do run fast and some articles require research as well. So please don't miss me. I'm sure there are interesting things you can find in the archives as well as in my friends' blogs.

Love y'all!
Dao xoxo


P.S: Please show your support by following my blog and subscribing to my feed. Thanks a lot!