Speed Stick Deodorant

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), and 843 post-pandemic (more than two years), and 1,058 days during the Covid-19 pandemic when I mostly worked at home, which I would consider an anomaly in my usage pattern. I always put the deodorant on once a day 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 (especially true during the pandemic). 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 (before the pandemic anomaly) 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. As of April 2022, the total number of days (8,901) divided by the number of sticks (29) equals an average of 306.9 days per deodorant stick. So far, the lowest usage was 195 days, and (not counting the pandemic anomaly marked in April 2022) 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.

Notes: Number of days determined at http://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html or http://www.convertunits.com/dates/ (both excluding end date). Just so you know, Mennen was acquired by Colgate-Palmolive in 1992.