(I'm going to keep saying deodorant...but I actually mean deodorant/antiperspirant) So, I bought this as my last resort, can't take it anymore, it's either this or I'm done cure. My underarms have been stained very dark for as far back as my teenage years. I have NEVER EVER been able to shave all the hair from under my arms. I'd get most...but not all. didn't matter if I shaved up, or down, or side to side, or with the assistance of a mirror, or a different razor (I could go on for days). Then about...3 years ago my underarms started itching horribly. I stopped shaving, figuring that they were irritated. Didn't help. I switched soaps. Nope. I changed laundry detergents...no. This went on for months while I tried removing one thing after the other to make this itch go away. Nothing was working. And now, it's getting worse because I can't help but to scratch it and I ended up ripping open my skin pretty badly. At this point, I'm starting to get abscesses forming under the skin of my underarms. They get pretty big, some of them about the size of a golf ball under the skin. Painful. I thought, maybe it was from the underwire on my bra rubbing that area. So, I bought unwired bras (another disaster!). This went on for...a little more than a year. FINALLY I went to see my doctor. He says I have a fungal infection...which I honestly believed had to be the issue. In order to treat the 'fungal infection', I had to wash and dry the skin well and use an anti fungal cream. I was supposed to do this twice a day for 4-6 weeks and the infection would go away. I was also put on 2 weeks of antibiotics to help clear up the abscesses, which ended up taking more than 9 weeks on antibiotics to clear. So, for 8 weeks I washed the skin under my arms, then applied the fungal cream twice a day. Since I couldn't wear deodorant during this time, there were days when I had to wash and apply the cream a few times because I would sweat and the sweat would cause the cream to kinda just 'slip' away. More than once I was in a public restroom with personal cleansing wipes trying to maintain my dignity while re-applying this cream. After 8 weeks of treatment, the itch was gone. The irritated skin was gone. The fungal infection was clear. YAY! I'd wait another week or two to ensure it wasn't coming back and then, as always before this fungal problem, I'd shower, and then put on my deodorant. And about 2-4 hours later, I was tearing at my underarms again...I couldn't help it. This went on for a year. A whole year of going through treatment, and it would go away and then it would come back again pretty much right away after I resumed normal hygiene practices. I'd see the doctor, he'd say it must not have been cleared completely and extend the medication for the next round. I spent A LOT of money on meds and doctor's visits that year. Still itching. Still getting abscesses. So, this left me scratching my head. I didn't want to keep paying $100 a month for the anti-fungal medication because there was no end in sight. I got desperate. I switched brands for a month, it didn't help. I switched to a different brand...didn't help. I switched from a stick to a spray, from a spray to a gel, hypoallergenic, no scent, no dye, no perfume, no frills...no change. In between every change I'd go through the anti-fungal medication regimen to ensure that I wasn't simply turning down another option due to carrying over the previous problem. At this point, I'm pretty close to desperation. Honestly...think about it. Do you want to be in your late 20's or early 30's, knowing you've still got AT LEAST 40 years left to go and you won't be able to wear deodorant at all? I was coming to the conclusion that I'd have to go the rest of my life without deodorant...and I didn't like that idea. My last talk with my doctor had him suggesting that my problem might be stemming from the antiperspirant because it's meant to keep moisture out and it does so...but from both sides. So, when you 'wash' your deodorant off (which I would do with a heavy bath sponge and then I'd rake my nails through my underarms to remove ALL of it) you're not really washing it ALL off and because it stays on the skin, it irritates the skin by clogging the pores which could cause itching and it was looking like this was the explanation of my problem because I'd been using deodorant for over 15 years at this point. But nowhere that I looked did I find deodorant without the antiperspirant, and without dyes, and perfumes, and hypoallergenic...blah blah blah. I had to get a prescription from my doctor to get it. Still no change. Non at all. I was so depressed. I was envisioning the rest of my life alone. So, I was telling a co-worker about all of this. And she says to me, "Maybe you're allergic to something in the deodorant and it's not the antiperspirant." Hmm. I got home and checked my deodorant and saw the main ingredients included a heavy metal among other things. Finally, it occurs to me after all this time (funny how sometimes, we just don't think) to go online and do a search on allergy to deodorant. And there it was...page after page after page of people with similar complaints as me, with similar stories as me, etc. I even found a page that someone documented what they were going through in pictures and I realized that it was just like what my underarms looked like. They all recommended buying a deodorant 'stone'. I found several options for deodorant stones on Amazon. I kept looking for my own convenience because I knew that if I'd bought a crystal/stone that was just a rock...it would likely end up in my boy's aquarium tank with all the other 'odd' rocks he finds. I picked this one because it's packaged pretty much the same as the deodorant was. It didn't cost much...probably the equivalent of 2 sticks of my 'old' brand but those 2 sticks would last me 2-3 months. I've had and used the stone everyday for about 3 months now and it shows NO sign of use. This time though, I didn't transition between my 'old' brand to the new with medication in between to clear the infection. Nope. One day I used my deodorant, and the next I used this crystal brand. Within 2 weeks all my problems were gone. No more itching! After the final abscess drained about 3 weeks into using the crystal brand, there's been no more abscesses! After 2 months, I noticed that the dark 'stain' my skin had was lightening up considerably. I don't know if it will ever go completely away but from what it was to what it is now...I'm thrilled! Shaving is no longer hell...my skin is softer. I've noticed that my t-shirts no longer have that waxy layer to them under the arms. I'm SO happy with this product! Please don't ever stop selling it. Now, this part is important: This IS NOT an antiperspirant. Meaning, it WILL NOT prevent sweating. It will, however, neutralize the odor from the sweating so that, when you do sweat, it doesn't smell putrid. (I actually wonder how much that phenomenon is from the product or from the skin pores not being clogged/infected anymore). This product HAS to be applied directly after your shower. Shower, get out, apply product then do everything else. If you shower, then go down in your basement to check the dryer for clean pants, then sit on your bed talking to your dog, then apply lotion to legs and feet and then comb your hair and brush your teeth after you've air dried and half dressed yourself and THEN try to put it on, it's not going to work. Because your skin in that short period of time is already producing fluid. Might not be sweat...just oily lubricating type fluid. This oily type fluid makes it so that this crystal can't be rubbed directly against the skin like it needs to be. If you wait, you'll have to wash under your arms again (or you could use personal cleansing wipes, or alcohol but really, it's just easier to do it right after you step out of the shower). This product HAS to be used wet. I get out of the shower, and completely dr
