Why Deodorant and Soap Quit Working With Age (and the Simple Switch That Fixed It for Us)
She wore the same deodorant for 30 years. Her husband wore his for 40. Then both quit on them, and it wasn't the deodorant that changed.
If you're like me, you've been careful your whole life about how you come across.
I shower every morning. I iron my blouses. I've bought the same drugstore deodorant since 1994, and the same bar soap since before that. My husband Ray is the same way, only with a blue stick and a green bar.
We are creatures of habit. And for decades, our habits worked.
Lately, though, the two things we trusted most had quit on us. Our deodorant and our soap.
I noticed it on Ray first. His shirt collars came out of the wash with a stale, musty smell that would not wash out. His side of the bed smelled like a room that had been shut up too long.
I could smell it on him. I could not smell a thing on me. Then my sister hugged me goodbye at Easter and said, very gently, "Honey, have you changed soaps?"
I hadn't. That was the problem. Our bodies had changed with age, and our old routine wasn't keeping up. So we started trying other things.
Stronger Deodorant Wasn't Cutting It
We both switched to the extra-strength version of our usual deodorant. Then Ray put a second brand on top of the first. He started wearing cologne to the hardware store.
The smell didn't go away. Now it was a musty smell with perfume on top. Like a closed-up room somebody had sprayed with air freshener.
Scrubbing Harder Made It Worse
Next we tried more washing. Two showers a day. A rough washcloth. A body wash so strong it made my eyes water.
My skin got dry and itchy. Ray's back got red from the long-handled brush. And by the next afternoon, the smell was back on his collar like nothing had happened.
Feeling Stuck, I Asked My Neighbor What She Did
Faye has lived next door for 22 years. She's 70, and she has never once been shy. Her husband went through the same thing about ten years ago.
So one morning over the fence, I asked her straight out.
She didn't even blink. "It's not a sweat problem," she said. "It's an oil. Your soap can't grab it. You need something that does."
She uses a persimmon soap called True Tannin. And she told me the part she says most people get wrong: where you wash, and how long you leave the lather on.
Faye had done her reading. I went home and did mine.
What Is It, and Why Does It Work When Soap Doesn't?
As we get older, usually after 40, the skin starts making something called 2-nonenal (say it "two-NO-nuh-nal"). It's a natural oil with a faint, musty smell. It shows up on collars, pillowcases and scarves.
It isn't poor hygiene. It's biology. It happens to clean men and clean women alike.
- Soap is built for water and dirt. This smell is an oil. Regular soap slides right over it, like tap water over a greasy pan.
- Deodorant and perfume only cover it. And this smell doesn't live under your arms anyway.
- Your nose gets used to it. It's with you every day, so your brain stops noticing. That's why you can't check yourself.
Here is what's different about persimmon. The tannin in persimmon sticks to that oil and lifts it off the skin, instead of covering it up. People in Japan have used persimmon for this for a long time. The company is even named after the tannin.
The bar is softened with coconut oil, green tea and hyaluronic acid, so it doesn't dry out older skin. There are no sulfates, no parabens and no heavy synthetic fragrance.
How Do You Use It?
It's really easy. The oil collects in five spots, so that's where the soap goes. Lather each spot, leave the lather on for about half a minute, then rinse.
- The back of the neck
- Behind the ears
- The chest
- The upper back
- The hairline
Half a minute matters. The tannin needs that time on the skin to do its work. Give it 30 days for the full effect. One bar lasts about 4 weeks.
$19.95 a bar · lasts about 4 weeks
I Put It Through the Test, and Here's What I Was Looking For
I ordered two bars, one for me and one for Ray. Before we started, I wrote down three things I wanted to see:
- Would Ray's pillowcase still smell fine on night four?
- Would the inside collar of my blouse smell clean after a full day?
- Would our skin stay soft, or get dry like it did with the scrubbing?
Since neither of us could trust our own nose, we checked each other. And I asked my sister to do the hug test at the end.
It's free, and it's the most honest check there is.
- Sleep on the same pillowcase for three or four nights.
- In the morning, step outside for a minute of fresh air.
- Come back in and smell the pillowcase right where your neck lay. Or smell the inside collar of yesterday's shirt.
Musty, like a closed-up room? Now you know what everyone else has been too polite to say.
Our Pillowcases Aren't Even a Thought Anymore
The first week, we couldn't tell anything. Of course not. Our noses were the one thing that couldn't check.
By the end of week two, Ray's collars came out of the wash smelling like cotton. Just cotton.
After a month, I did the pillowcase test on Ray's side. Night four. I smelled it twice to be sure. Nothing but clean laundry.
My skin never got dry. And at Memorial Day, my sister hugged me hello and held on an extra second. She didn't ask about my soap.
"Forty years I wore that blue stick. Turns out it was doing its job fine. The job just changed."Ray, my husband
Wash the five spots, half a minute each, for 30 days
It Wasn't Just Us
Once I started talking about it, I found out how many people we know were quietly dealing with the same thing.
Faye's husband has used persimmon soap for years. Ray told two men from his bowling league, and one of them called the house a week later just to say thank you. My sister started with the five spots after Easter, and her granddaughter fell asleep on her lap on the porch in June.
Men and women. Fifty-five and seventy-five. Same oil, same fix.
Loyal to Your Old Brand? That's Okay.
Trying something new is hard. You've probably used the same deodorant and the same soap for decades. You think of yourself as a loyal customer.
Be proud of that. Keep your deodorant, too. It still does its job under the arms.
But loyalty can't wash off a smell your old soap was never made to touch.
That's why True Tannin makes it easy to try. Here is their guarantee, word for word: "Use it for a full 60 days. If you do not smell fresher, email us and we send back 100% of your money. The bar is yours to keep either way."
It has over 8,000 reviews, at 4.9 stars. Here's how to try it:
- Tap the button below to go to the True Tannin page.
- Choose how many bars you want.
- Wash the five spots, half a minute each, every day for 30 days.
What's the Difference Between Regular Soap or Deodorant and Persimmon Tannin?
| Lift it off. Don't cover it up. |
Persimmon tannin | Regular soap or deodorant |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | The oily, musty smell (2-nonenal) | Water-based sweat and dirt |
| What happens to the smell | Lifted off the skin | Covered up for a while |
| Where you use it | The five spots where the oil collects | All over, or under the arms |
| Softened with | Coconut oil, green tea, hyaluronic acid | Depends on the bar |
| Sulfates, parabens, heavy synthetic fragrance | None | Check the label |
$19.95 a bar · 60-day money-back guarantee