how to do things cheaply.

[crowdpleeser]

this is an embarrassing question. How do I make myself a anti-perspirant without spending money on one? And do you have any other money saving tips?

[Miss Zippy]

In a previous thread on deodorants (I dont know how to copy the URL thingy, but type in deodorant in the category search and you'll see it), a fellow ABer advised that putting vinegar under one's armpits had an anti-perspirant effect and that, apparently, if you repeated this every day for some time you eventually wouldn't need to use anti-perspirant at all! Not sure whether smelling of vinegar is better than b.o. though!

[xyzzyplugh]

vinegar? I thought it was Bicarb. to be used when your dry, like talc. You'd ave to buy in bulk though to make it cheap. Or maybe it isvinegar :-)

[brawburd]

Wouldn't you be better trying to save money on other stuff? You might end up with a few more pennies in yer pocket using vinegar as an anti-perspirant, but you won't have any friends to share those pennies with!

[tracymort]

you can get crystals that you use under your arm from health shops, they cost a fiver but last for months. good cos they are free from any yucky chemicals!

[Gef]

Perspiring (sweating) is a perfectly natural process and the use of anti-perspirants is not. For that reason I only ever use a deodorant body spray to mask any odour from sweat. For tracyh - there are no such things as yukky chemicals. The crystals that you get from your chemist, and everything else including you, are made from chemicals.

[KARL]

I posted the vinegar suggestion in reply to to the "deodorant or anti-perspirant, which is better" question. Have a read (description there) and you will see that the vinegar goes on in very minimal quantities and only for short periods as a somewhat prolonged wash-effect. My motivation is not a cash saving, although that is a nice little bonus. It definitely works and eventually only needs to be applied once every week or two in my case - in fact it can be several weeks, depending on circumstances. Think about it: people's armpits do not begin to smell until they are into their teens, only then has the colonisation by bacteria become sufficient to convert odourless sweat into waste products in sufficient quantity. On the other hand, people sweat from birth.

[crowdpleeser]

vinegar eh? Well I'll give it a go! I'll let you guys know next week how things are going! As for brawburd....I would love to save money on other stuff, but this is the typing of a desperate man! I have NO money at all! So goodbye lynx, and hello vinegar!

[KARL]

Hey, I thought I couldn't find your question again, but eventually did - am interested in how you get on with the experiment (suggest you follow the original approach I described last month). One thing I should perhaps have mentioned, I generally only wear cotton shirts, synthetics make you sweat more because they do not ventilate as well as natural products, cotton in particular. Good luck.

[crowdpleeser]

hey karl, I did fine. The vinegar worked a treat. Ok, it doesn't disguise my b.o. as well as a conventional anti perspirant, but I feel confident and stuff, and more importantly I'm not worrying!