I've tried literally dozens of drug store deodorants and antiperspirants. Some kinda worked for a bit and stopped after a few months, some didn't do anything at all, and some just left my skin sore and chaffed. I was surprisingly okay with this, just because I truly believed, for my entire life, that deodorant was basically just perfume - not meant to actually stop the smell, but to keep it from being as bad or as noticable. The idea that I could actually *not smell* didn't even occur to me. I'm generally a very sweaty person (borderline hyperhydrosis) and just didn't think that was even in the cards. But the first time I used it, I was so amazed that I just had to tell everyone in my life (even some I probably shouldn't have, but I was excited). I still sweat, and I still wear dark colors, but all of my self-consciousness about it is gone - because I know that I do not smell at all. It's a bit dramatic to say "it changed my life", but it's certainly improved my confidence, social anxiety, and general mental health far more than years of therapy and bad deodorant ever did.
