Sunday, 28 August 2022

Where has all the deodorant gone?

I never seem to sweat, unless working hard on a hot day, which is not often: physical effort on a hot day is not my thing. Indeed, any effort that places a strain on my ageing carcass warrants careful consideration and probable avoidance.

In a nutshell, I don't get sticky and smelly. Even so, I like to use an underarm deodorant to stay fresh and fragrant, and always have. I wouldn't dream of going anywhere without first making myself sniff-proof. (I'm assuming, of course, that I don't reek from some body odour that I can't detect, the kind that even my best friends are too embarrassed to mention)

So it's concerning that some deodorants have disappeared from the supermarket shelves. At the moment you can still buy the roll-on sort, which apply a film of semi-liquid deodorant via a plastic ball at one end of the container. I used them in the distant past but was never convinced of their efficacy. For twenty years or longer I've preferred the stick sort, which involves rubbing on a waxy smear of semi-solid deodorant that you progressively feed using a knurled wheel at the base of the container. I never use anything fancy. Dove Original has served me well for donkey's years. 


That shot was taken nearly two months ago. You couldn't take it now. Dove Original stick deodorant has vanished from the shelves. Even in early July it was hard to find. Wondering why, I examined the container and discovered that it was manufactured in Russia, which was (and remains) locked in a senseless war with Ukraine, and so of course imports had stopped. 


Well, that explained why Dove Original wasn't available any more. But then it quickly became hard to find any other brand of stick deodorant. At the start of August I managed to find some Nivea Sensitive & Pure, which I'll resort to sometime in the next two or three weeks. That seems to be made in Germany. But lately even that has disappeared. 

So it seems that for the future I will have to put my trust in a roll-on deodorant. I have some Dove Advanced Care roll-on ready and waiting. And the way things are going, it might be wise to lay in a personal stock of roll-on products - and never mind the make - just in case it becomes impossible to buy any at all. 

There must be some horrendous supply problem, connected either with the Russia-Ukraine conflict, or with complex EU shipment rules. Either way, it's going to get difficult to go about smelling like a flower.