Speed Stick Deodorant
On 14 December 1997, for reasons than now escape me, I noted
the date that I started using a new deodorant stick—the brand I had already
been using for years before then, Speed Stick by Mennen, 3.25 ounces. When I
replaced that stick with a new one almost a year later, I recorded the date,
and have been keeping track since then. I guess I have a mysterious curiosity
about such minutia (I love to put dates on things, such as when I acquire or
read a book, or write a poem). The following table records the number of days I
used each deodorant stick since I started keeping track, complete with the
dates involved, plus the location where I was living and other occasional notes. You
really wanted to know all this, right? Nod vigorously if you’re as fascinated
as I am despite the oddity of it all. And scroll down for a graph and
additional comments. + + + + +
Date
|
Number of Days
|
Location / Notes
|
14 December 1997
|
~
|
Foster City, California
|
10 December 1998
|
362
|
3.25 oz
|
9 August 1999
|
242
|
|
10 April 2000
|
245
|
|
1 December 2000
|
235
|
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29 August 2001
|
271
|
Belmont, California
|
1 May 2002
|
245
|
|
2 December 2002
|
215
|
Redmond, Washington
|
15 June 2003
|
195
|
Sammamish, Washington
|
19 January 2004
|
218
|
|
29 August 2004
|
223
|
|
11 May 2005
|
255
|
|
4 January 2006
|
238
|
|
20 November 2006
|
320
|
|
19 July 2007
|
241
|
|
15 March 2008
|
240
|
|
1 December 2008
|
261
|
|
11 September 2009
|
284
|
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20 May 2010
|
251
|
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6 February 2011
|
262
|
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2 October 2011
|
238
|
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28 June 2012
|
270
|
|
24 June 2013
|
361
|
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18 August 2014
|
420
|
3.0 oz?
|
4 June 2015
|
290
|
3.0 oz (hereafter)
|
28 January 2016 | 238 |
|
2 April 2018
|
798
|
(did I forget to record the previous date?)
|
1 June 2019 | 425 | |
TOTAL DAYS:
|
7,843
|
356.5 days per year on average
|
It’s been interesting to see how varied the length of time can be for each
stick—as low as 195 days (just over half a year) to as many as 798 days (about a year and three quarters, or four times as long as the shortest time). I
always put the deodorant on the same way regardless of the weather, so hotter
months are no explanation for the rather wide variance. One possible explanation
I have for sticks that lasted longest is that those days have sometimes
corresponded to periods when I worked at home, and may have skipped having
showers sometimes. But great variance occurred even when I wasn’t working at
home, which I can’t explain (the variance, not working away from home). Perhaps more likely an explanation for the highest number is that I neglected to record a new stick sometime in 2017. Since the start, I have been careful to get the exact same brand each time—and I
thought the same size. The plastic dispenser has always remained the same in
size, but somewhere along the line the amount of deodorant in each package changed. At some point the 3.25-ounce size was reduced
to just 3.0 ounces. Not sure when that happened (maybe someone at Mennen could tell me?), but I do know I always used
the same the deodorant brand with the same size packaging, and I know the
product size for 2014 or 2015 and later was definitely 3.0 ounces, and that I
started off with 3.25 ounces, even though the size of the container never changed. If we factor in the variable that later usage
days were from a smaller product amount, I’ve been getting even more mileage out of
less product content in recent years. The following chart indicates usage up to June 1 of 2019 (number of days of
usage per deodorant stick).
 As of June 2019, the total number of days, 7,843, divided by the number of
sticks, 28, equals an average of 280.1 days per deodorant stick. So far, the lowest usage was 195 days, and the highest was 798 days (409.2 percent higher than the lowest, assuming I had not failed to record an intervening deodorant stick). Stay tuned for more thrilling data in the years ahead. Try to contain your excitement.
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