Someone posted in a group I'm in about how she smelled... ...and since I wrote like 5000 words on the subject, I figured I'd toss it up here so I could point back to it if/when it comes up again. It's something that does come up, more often than you may think.


Okay. I'm a BIG GIRL... and I'm just going to say what works for me.

Well, no, I'm going to say what works for me after I say DO NOT USE TALC... which has nothing to do with if it causes cancer or not or whatever... it has to do with it being ground-up-rocks. It might work, for a little bit. Then it'll get wet, and grind into your skin and be bad bad bad*.

Okay, on to the TMI part of our program.

First off, I use soap/shampoo/body wash/something on a poof all over, and concentrate on my fat rolls****... to really really exfoliate the skin there. NOT TO RUB IT RAW, though... which can be a fine line. After you've been sweaty all day sometime, run your fingers over the fold at your thigh and see if you're getting a build up of dead skin--same thing under your tummy. This is the stuff you want to get off with a poof. I admit I'm lucky in that I can use ANYthing on my vag and it doesn't make it unhappy. But find something that doesn't upset yours, and use it**.

Second, rinse well. Then rinse some more. Soap buildup is NOT your friend. Usually after I've shaved my legs, and shampooed my hair, I'll rinse off my poof entirely and give all the key spots another very light brush... just to make sure there's no soap there and it's well exfoliated. Make sure water rinses inside all the creases a few times.

Here's where it gets weird, but is--to me--the most important two parts.

Third... after everywhere is nice and clean, and you've done all the shower stuff you're going to do, but while you're still in the shower... put on a very thin layer of baby oil*** especially in all your creases (except for your armpits). I even make sure to hit the divet at the top of bottom. I usually do this while I have conditioner on my hair so it gives it time to soak in.

Rinse again, but not quite as well. All you're doing is spreading the oil a bit, and letting the excess rinse away.

Fourth--the absolute most important part... DRY OFF. I mean, really, seriously dry off. Drying off water with a towel when you have baby oil on is SUPER easy, all you have to do is pat dry really. But after that, DRY OFF... lay in front of a fan for about five-ten minutes, and let the air get to all your pieces parts. Eagle-spread, bottom in the air, on each side stretched so the fan hits any creases there and your armpits, on your back with your boobs pulled up... kinda like a rotisserre chicken, only moving slower and pausing.

So... that's what I do. It WORKS for me. It works really really well for me, and I did have issues before--both with scent and with comfort (I'd get raw spots and/or external yeast infections, esp under my boobs.) And while everyone else here is telling you if you think you smell you probably don't, I'll disagree. It's probably not as easy to figure out how/why/where/what you're smelling like, but if you're scented enough to smell yourself, you may very well be 'scented' to others. I don't mean it mean, I've been there, and it sounds like you may be also.

Plus, my skin feels amazing. (I have to keep the baby oil off of my face and back, though, or else it'll make me break out.)

OH!!!! And in the summer when it's really crazy hot, I'll do all of the above, and when I know I'm super super dry... I'll take just a dab of deoderant (I use Secret Gel myself), and slide it under the crease at my tummy, and sometimes at the crease at the top of my thighs. I don't do this all the time--I imagine it'd get irritated if I did? (Not sure) But I only do a dab--like I'll click it up once then back down again, so just a little is left on the top, and kinda dab it across the area to apply.

*In this, as in the whole thing, of course your milage may vary, you may have a totally different experience. But I know for me, and for others I've talked with... grounduprocks is bad. Maybe not all the time/every time, but once it gets you, it GETS YOU.
**not internally of course, but outside? ab-so-lute-ly
*** Neutrogena makes a body oil that also works... but baby oil's cheaper and works just as well.
****the joint where my thighs meet my kitty--super important since I don't shave bare, under my tummy, under my boobs, in my belly button, and the creases at my sides