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Comment by skookumchuck | Hacker News Reader

Lemon juice works as well as deodorants. A couple of drops under the arms, and it works all day. The bacteria that cause the odor doesn't grow in the acidic environment.

Lemon juice is not an antiperspirant, though. Just a deodorant.

A bottle of concentrated lemon juice will last a very long time.

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Lemon juice DOES NOT WORK. You smell like shit. I promise you. I have friends who use lemon juice and it definitely does not work.

It's easy enough to test. Use lemon juice on one side, and your favorite deodorant on the other.

Of course, no deodorant is a substitute for soap and water now and then.

If acidity is all you care about, just get a bag of powdered citric acid so you can more carefully control the concentration.

I've been using one of those salt deodorants for awhile (just a block of salt that you wet and apply). Seems to work great though I've been fortunate to have never really had to deal with bad body odor so it's hard to say if I'm just imagining its effectiveness.

There are many that likely work. The use of lemon juice has been around a long time, at least since the 1800s. It's just been forgotten about, as nobody makes any money selling lemon juice as a deodorant.

It's not toxic, and simple to test on yourself, and you've probably already got a bottle of lemon juice in the refrigerator.

I would think the sugar in lemon juice might be a little sticky (presumably the bacteria in that environment aren't used to having fructose)? Likely to decrease the pH you could use vinegar, among other things.

> It's not toxic, and simple to test on yourself, and you've probably already got a bottle of lemon juice in the refrigerator.

Lemon juice contains a vast array of different chemicals, some of which may be phototoxic. It also releases VOCs (e.g. terpenes). I don't know how much compared to your average deodorant, though.

I don’t think phototoxicity is much of a concern for something meant to be applied to one’s armpits...

I use Liquid Rock from Kiss My Face and it works well. I did use an actually rock salt stick deodorant for a while. It was hit or miss.

Apple cider vinegar works similarly, too.

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