living up to my name?

True story: my maiden name, now my middle, is Sweatt. People would always try to pronounce it “sweet,” but it’s sweat with an extra “t.” Back in my slightly-high-on-life, slightly-hyperactive teen years, I made quite an impression on my freshman dorm hallmates when I introduced myself to the group, “I’m Sarah Sweatt, and boy is it true today!” And it was, as we were all sweaty after lugging all our worldly possessions up the stairs and into our dorm rooms with our new best friends and frenemies. (My freshman roommate was more of a frenemy, since she was essentially nocturnal, owned faux fur EVERYTHING, and had a weird redneck boyfriend who never left and never wore a shirt. She liked to listen to Jock Jamz. She had an illegal hamster living in one of her dresser drawers. And, since she rarely went to class, didn’t last past the first semester.)

I may not just be Sarah Sweatt anymore, but ever since I went on some serious medicines for my heart defect, I’ve noticed an unpleasant side-effect: lots of sweating. It made for an embarrassing look at my Listen to Your Mother reading, and it seems it isn’t going anywhere. Nothing seems to make me not sweaty, even the most “clinical strength” antiperspirants, which usually work with increasing levels of aluminum. Now, I’m not sure I 100% believe the claims that link aluminum in antiperspirants to things like Alzheimer’s and cancer, but I’m also not 100% comfortable with it, and I’m not entirely comfy with the idea of stopping my body from doing something necessary to keep me cool and excrete things from my body. And since nothing was actually stopping me from sweating anyway, I figured I might as well stop using something useless and potentially harmful anyway.

So I’m trying to get off of antiperspirants. I’ve tried once before and was quickly informed by my husband that I smelled like Sasquatch after a few days. Since he’s a person who I’d like to find me attractive, someone I’d like to cuddle up close to me, his opinion about how I smell is pretty much the only one I care about. However, I have done my research this time and know that sometimes, it takes some time for a body to adjust after quitting antiperspirants, much like when I went from washing my hair daily to every few days, when my hair was super oily for a while, as my scalp had been producing extra oil in response to shampoo constantly stripping it away, and eventually it settled down, and now my hair looks better than it ever did when I shampooed every day. So, this time, I’m giving it at least two weeks to see if I can make the transition.

It’s been a couple days so far, and while I’m just as sweaty as ever, so far, I don’t think I’m smelly, and my spouse hasn’t complained. I’ve been trying two different natural deodorants that I read a lot of great reviews on, Soapwalla’s Deodorant Cream and Primal Pit Paste. I have been applying twice a day, but that was my norm with antiperspirants, too.

Have you ever tried to quit antiperspirants? Am I crazy?