[NOTE: Antiperspirant is a type of deodorant, but it is NOT the same thing as deodorant. Antiperspirant prevents both odor and sweat. Deodorant masks odor. This is an article about antiperspirant.]

Have you been putting antiperspirant on in the morning?

Or – even worse – have you been putting it on after you start sweating?

Then you’re totally doing it wrong.

In fact, antiperspirant is meant to be applied before you go to bed.

Right?! Who knew?

Apparently, according to Dr. Anna Glaser, who talked to HuffPost, we have, “just the right amount of baseline sweating coming to the skin,” while we are sleeping.

And if you’re a morning shower-er, like me, you don’t need to worry about it wearing off. She says, “Even if you shower or shave in the morning, you’re not going to wear out the efficacy.”

How have we been missing out on this?!

I mean, it is on some of the labels:

But the majority of the deodorant and antiperspirant labels I’ve found in the US National Library of Medicine just say, “Apply to underarms only.”

But this does seem legit, as almost all of the “clinical” antiperspirant I found mentioned doing applying right before bed:

A research scientist for Old Spice, Janyl Plante, confirmed as much in an interview for HuffPost:

The best time of day to apply antiperspirant for wetness protection is before bed. That’s because while your body sweats all of the time, the rate at which you sweat at bedtime is the lowest. This is important because lower sweat rates form better, more effective plugs that help reduce underarm sweat.

The least effective time to apply for wetness protection would be when you are profusely sweating as the plugs would not form in the sweat ducts.

You didn’t know?

Don’t feel too raw about it.

I didn’t either.

 

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