Most people are introduced to deodorants in their pre or early teens, when puberty starts to kick in. Deodorants come in form of aerosols (in spray bottles), roll on, gel, wipes, and solid that helps remove or conceal bodily odour that for many, it has become a basic hygienic item.

Even before cosmetic items became part of the ancient civilisations, humans always sought the way to mask or remove body odour, and have been concerned with deodorising for many thousands of years. Ancient techniques have included covering up with heavy scents, shaving underarm hair, putting perfumed fat on your head and using natural salts. This is according to crystalspring.co.uk.

According to mentalfloss.com, Egyptians are believed to have invented deodorants. When they weren’t building pyramids, the ancient Egyptians were working hard at masking their own stench. They invented the perfumed bath and would follow it up by applying a liberal amount of perfume to their underarms. Egyptians also tried using carob, incense, and even porridge as deodorant. Women would place globs of scented wax on their heads that would slowly melt throughout the day, spreading the pleasing scent as well as masking the not so pleasant. Messy, but effective.

However, deodorant in its current commercial form has only existed a hundred years or so, and since the invention of the first official ‘deodorant’, it has evolved and improved tremendously. This first deodorant was ‘MUM’ invented in 1888 and was a cream that was applied using fingertips, the manufacturers of ‘MUM’ also invented the roll-on applicator some years later after being inspired by the Ball-Point pen. The first Antiperspirant was ‘EverDry’ introduced in 1903. ‘EverDry’ was so acidic that it ate through clothing and even modern antiperspirants are known to damage clothes by leaving permanent yellow stains in the armpit area.

One big innovation in the field of deodorant happened during 1950s when manufacturers started introducing aerosol technology. This led to the trend that over 80% of the deodorants and antiperspirants were sold with that technology by the 1970s. 

Natural deodorants have also gained popularity over the years as a safe and environmentally sound alternative to chemical deodorants. Natural deodorants are made from the same mineral salts as used in ancient times throughout Asia, but are formulated using modern technologies and come in a variety of practical and easy to apply styles. The salt in the deodorant stops odour from forming, by inhibiting the growth of bacteria rather than clogging the pores with chemicals to inhibit the natural act of sweating.