Teen boy deodorant and dealing with a bit of BO

[BluesBrotherz]

My teen son (15) has come home upset saying 7 boys in his class rounded on him after a sports session, and him being a bit whiffy. They sprayed deodorant on him and in the end he was so embarrassed he left the room.

He doesn’t have a hygiene problem, often showering morning and night. His clothes are clean. He can get a bit smelly by the end of the day, especially if he has been doing sport, but it’s not BO, it’s more of a teen hormone smell.

He’s got deodorant, but perhaps he needs a stronger one, plus I’ve told him to remove all armpit hair.

Any other, better suggestions? I really need to help him. He got bullied a few years ago about being fat, when he actually just had a bit of puppy fat. It wrecked his self esteem and I’m still bloody trying to boost it. He’s now 5 ft 11” and buff ( from all the sport!) but once again, some of his year are rounding on him in a group.

Make sure his underarm spray is an anti persperant such as sure and not a deodarant which only disguises the smell.

A fragrance like lynx or an aftershave can give a spritz on his body or shirt.

There might be old smell in the armpits of his clothes that is activated again when he gets warm snd sweaty. Try rubbing a bit of laundry liquid into the armpits before you stick the wash on.

Don't do the cold wash/quick cycle thing for his laundry do a proper wash at 40 or 60.

As an aside my son was starting to get quite a spotty forehead and I got some dettol soap to use after shampooing his hair and they are really drying out with that. Dettol soap might be worth a try to see if it helps. I think it is effective but quite drying so good for greasy skin but probably avoid if he suffers dry skin.
Shield soap is good to. I think soap can be better than shower gel for staying fresh.

Get him to try Mitchum and then a body spray all over.

Thank you

Is there a strong Mitchum that does the trick?

My teen uses the Mitchum Deodorant. It's the one in a box costs about £5 and he swears by it. He's a very hairy 17 year old who plays lots of sports

Make sure he is washing with a proper bar of soap, rinsing and drying before he puts more deodorant on.

He definitely needs an antiperspirant plus deodourant. The deodourant isn't enough. I would also get rid of any clothes where the smell has permeated the fabric and you can't get it out, especially clothes made from synthetic fabric. I would do my best to avoid synthetic fabrics altogether. I would also get him an acidified body wash or soap that is made for combating body odour.

Thx, you are all very helpful.

I don’t think he smellls bad. If he did, I would’ve addressed it. IMO he’s no different to any other teen at that age. However, he’s now conscious as he is getting grief over it every day.

He’s not sweating, or getting wet patches. Does that make a difference to what he needs? TBH I can only smell it at the end of the day when I get a cuddle. I’ve smelt much worse.

How would he layer the deo, and antiperspirant?

They are both in one product.

A bar of soap in the shower rather than shower gel - not Dove, as its too much moisturiser, another type will work.
There should be no need for him to remove body hair.
The 48 hour roll on deodorant/anti perspirant works well, Sure brand is good.
Washing clothes at a higher temp and using Dettol laundry sanitiser in the wash made a big difference to my teenage boys clothes.

I wouldn’t be telling him to remove armpit hair, every chance he will be picked on for it, let him make the decision try changing to anti perspirant first

He already removes it himself. I thought rather than using the hair clippers, it might be better to shave it off.

They don’t get changed at school. That’s the problem. They have PE in the morning, no shower, and sit round in PE kit after rugby or football in lessons.

Anti bacterial soap, like the Dettol one, worked for us.

My 14 year absolutely needs antiperspirant rather than deodorant .
That will make the world of difference alone.

I’ve told him to remove all armpit hair. WTF! Why does he clip it off? Surely that might be the cause of the bullying too?

I was also going to suggest mitchum.

No one sees his armpit situation as they don’t get changed.

Both he and my other son are always using Veet and hair clippers to remove hair.

Surely the issue is that he’s being bullied again. I’d consider speaking to school but I’d also speak to him about what to say to them. I’d be saying he should be confident in his reply and say what do they expect after playing sport and not having yet had a shower. Have they not been running around, do they all smell of roses. Kids like this sense weakness. I’d be trying to build up his confidence to be able to tell them to get stuffed.

Do lots of schools not let them shower after sport nowadays? At least they could let them change if it’s not the last period of the day.

Both he and my other son are always using Veet and hair clippers to remove hair. WHY?

I don’t know. They both go down the gym, are quite buff, but don’t like the hair they’ve got that seems to have escaped from their undies up to their belly button, plus they like to trim back underarm hair.

To PP, yes it’s bullying. Since the first time he’s learned to stick up for himself. He doesn’t start issues, but he’ll finish them. A few years ago we had an issue at school with him verbally dressing someone down, only to find that the other child dished it out but couldn’t take it back. Last week he actually pulled someone up for bullying one of his friends. I’m not concerned about him sticking up for himself. I just want to make sure that the slight odour issue is solved.

Today I’ve bought Mitchum, laundry sanitiser and Dettol soap so hopefully this should help.

I’m dreading my two going to secondary school! I hope it settles down for him.

DS is 15 and was using Lynx anti perspirant but started to stink! So I switched him to Sure and he’s all good now. I use Mitchum though and it’s probably the best, beware of dry, sore armpits for a while though.