I can admit that breaking a habit you've been doing for over a decade isn't easy. The first few days were OK because there was still plenty of product buildup under my armpits to protect me. But a week in, I was already sneaking swipes of my favorite antiperspirant before important meetings and date night for fear of being the stinky girl in the room.
Some days without deodorant, I would feel a little tingling under my arms. Other times, I would get that swampy, musky feeling that had me doing discreet armpit sniffing in the bathroom. On the worst days, I would clean my underarms with makeup-remover wipes by midday just to get rid of all the moisture.
My wardrobe also suffered from the lack of protection. My jackets, sweaters, bras, and shirts had more pungent underarm stains, causing me to wash everything a little bit sooner than usual (which is highly inconvenient when you have to walk three blocks to do laundry). For the record, no one ever moved subway cars because I funked up the place. The guy I was seeing didn't even notice I gave up deodorant until I revealed the experiment a month later. I was the only one who could smell my funky pits (believe me, I asked).
