Deodorant is an everyday essential that helps reduce body odor. It is a very convenient way to stay hygienic and presentable when going outside.
However, it sometimes gives more headaches than it can solve — armpit stains, itching, and, more relevant to the topic at hand, deodorant clumping.
Most likely, the clumping that is happening in your armpits is caused by Zin, a mineral in traditional deodorants (more predominantly in stick-type deodorants).
Therefore, the short answer on how to fix deodorant clumping is to switch to another product or the types of deodorants that don’t experience this problem.
However, to learn more about why your deodorant may clump and what other options you may have, keep reading.
Table of Contents
Types of Deodorants
There are four main types of deodorant products on the market: sticks, creams, sprays, and gels.
Let’s look at some of these in more details plus how to know which one is suitable for you:
Stick Deodorants
Sticks are usually the main cause of deodorant clumping, which is due to too much powder or zinc in the product.
They are the most prevalent products in the market for a reason: they are convenient and they work.
Regardless, if you do have deodorant clumping problems or any other troubles, you can switch to these other types.
Cream Deodorants
Next is cream deodorants. This is usually for people with sensitive skin or people who want softer underarms.
These usually come in jars or packets, and are usually packed with more than just anti-odor or antiperspirants — they also come with hydrators for the aforementioned skin type.
That is, if you have sensitive skin, they are made with substances that help minimize reactions.
Deodorant Sprays
The third option is spray deodorants.
If you have a lot of armpit hair, or for other reasons, cannot use sticks or wipe the deodorant on your armpit, you can just apply mist on it instead of sprays.
Just be careful if you’re cleanly shaven, as these sprays might sting (most sprays in the market have alcohol in them, which may hurt when applied to bare skin).
Again, might be worse if you have sensitive skin or if your skin reacts to these ingredients badly.
Gel-based Deodorants
Lastly, there are gels. This is the best option for the problem of armpit stains, but it could also help you avoid deodorant clumping when transitioning from stick deodorants.
They can keep your armpit cool.
And while you may not have to wait for them to off before going outside, it is still a solid option if you want to transition away from any of the other mentioned deodorant types.
Again, all four of these deodorants should work fine.
But if you have specific problems, such as crumbling or clumping, it might be best to say away from traditional stick deodorants.
And move to other options such as gels, creams, or sprays.
Why Does My Deodorant Clump Under My Arms?
There are a lot of reasons this might happen. Here are some possible explanations plus my own experience using deodorants:
Too much application
It could be the effects of using too much deodorant.
This isn’t very common since using too much isn’t supposed to give any negative side effects except making you smell.
Whether the smell is pleasant or awful depends on the deodorant used or your hygiene or your body situation at the time of use.
Using expired deodorants
Another thing I’ve found that could cause this is when the deodorant has expired or is exhausted.
And that’s one of the reasons I stopped using them for a while and haven’t gone back yet.
Bad deodorants
It could also be bad deodorants, which are somewhat related to the above, but not completely.
Some brands are either bad or there is a factory fault somewhere.
I had this problem with Nivea where I used their deodorant spray and it would cake under my arm.
I hate it so much! Yes, it isn’t expired or even exhausted since I just bought it when the incident happened to me.
Solution for this:
So, I think the solution here is to make sure you do your research and make sure you’re choosing a brand that doesn’t make deodorants that cake under your arm even though you just bought it.
Summary:
If your deodorant is clumping, it may be because you’re using stick deodorant, which contains zinc.
Zinc can cause the aftermath of applying deodorant to clump. Fortunately, there are other options.
You can switch to roll-on or spray deodorants. And if those don’t work for you, maybe stop using deodorants altogether.