Why I think deodorants won't be around in 20 yrs

Mark my words, deodorant won't exist anymore within 20 years. And that's my prediction after five years of studying my own armpit microbes and body odor. These are the four things that surprised me, and the last two are things that the industry still hasn't caught up to. I know it sounds crazy, but I started this because I have sensitive skin. Deodorants and antiperspirants felt awful and would sometimes make me smell worse and never gave me what I actually wanted, which was to smell like me, just without the BO. And as a scientist, I knew that there had to be a better way. First, deodorant was invented long before we actually understood much about the biology of body odor. And second, while our understanding today has advanced dramatically, many products still use the same slate of ingredients in the formula as the first deodorants created over 100 years ago. And third, our skin microbes produce bad smells, but they also can produce neutral and pleasant scents too, if given the right conditions. And that sparked an idea. What if we encourage the scent that we wanted instead of trying to erase everything about our scent? I founded my company in 2021 and we spent years researching exactly that question. It was a lot of armpit swabs from me, my team, and other willing participants. Through all of our research, we created a prototype that we put into clinical studies in early 2026. The fourth thing I learned that surprised me is that changing how you smell can actually happen very quickly. We were able to show that we could transform scent within one week. After that, we did a consumer perception study with over 100 participants using this product alongside their usual deodorant or antiperspirant for one week. They reported smelling better and experiencing fewer scent fluctuations throughout the day. But then in week two, they stopped using their deodorants or antiperspirants and they reported even better results. That prototype, we actually launched as a product on September 15th. It's a product called Base Scent by our brand, Future Society, and it sold out almost immediately. Seeing the response from people with experiences like mine meant everything. What I think the future will look like will very much so be about caring about our scent and nurturing our body rather than being at war with it. Our research isn't done yet! And if any of this resonates, I would love to hear your experience and I hope that you'll share this with someone who might be just like me, looking for a better solution for their sensitive skin.