Women's Health - UK (2019-07)

I am an extremely sweaty person. Grey
T-shirts? Barred from my wardrobe.
Roll-neck jumpers? The lack of air flow
for my pits renders them unwearable.
And my gym kit still smells like a
14-year-old’s bedroom even after a hot
wash with the fancy fabric softener.
I get away with it thanks to a thick,
creamy layer of my main girl, Mitchum
Ultimate 48-Hour Protection in Powder
Fresh. And she works a charm on an
office-yoga-home day. But the moment my heart rate
steps up, I should come with my own public safety
notice. So I’m intrigued by Dandi – an underarm patch
that promises to capture sweat and leave you stain-free.
Like a sanitary towel for your pits, Dandi works by
absorbing your sweat into a cushion-like layer, where
it’s locked away in a zero-pong vacuum. It means that,
unlike antiperspirants, which block your pores to keep
you from sweating, the sweat continues to flow. And this
is good news for your body, especially if you’re working
out. Sweat stops you from overheating, tells your heart
rate that it’s time to speed up to pump more blood to
your muscles and can even help you to recover faster.
The patches are also free from parabens and aluminium,
which often feature in deodorants and have become the
catalysts for the natural skincare movement.
To be clear, pasting a period-pad-like plaster on to
each armpit (freshly shaven, thank you very much) is
about as sexy as toilet paper stuck to your labia minora.
But as I bounce from home to Tube carriage to desk, I
forget that I’m wearing them. The real challenge comes

at my 7pm circuits class.

As I peel off my dress and

climb into my gym kit, I

notice the sticking plasters

have taken a turn for the

worse; a working day’s

worth of sweat has turned

those sprightly fresh pads

into saggy sponges. They

feel heavy. And sure enough,

a refresh – a word that

deserves no place in a

scenario that is anything

but – of the instructions

confirms that each pad has

a shelf life of eight hours.

These guys have been in

place for 12. Nice.

Undeterred, I put as

much distance as possible

between the used patches

and my body and strap on

a fresh pair. I feel more

aware of body odour than

usual as I deadlift, burpee

and squat my way through

the next 60 minutes. But

while the sheen from my

THE

NO-SWEAT

PATCH

Don’t sweat it. Reassuring advice in some

contexts, physiologically impossible in

others. With the news that a pad could do

for armpit sweat what sanitary towels did

for periods, one clammy writer gives it a go

back, forehead and behind my knees

ensures a general aura of funk, my T-shirt

• usually peak-teenager within minutes –
  ponged a perfectly reasonable amount.
  At £8.99 for 10, one pack furnishes you
  with enough for five days – not prohibitively
  expensive for occasional outings, but spenny
  enough to price them out of everyday use.
  They also necessitate wearing a short sleeve
  at the very least; unless a spaghetti strap
  accessorised with a sanitary towel is a look
  you want to champion. While I think I’ll
  stick with my girl Mitchum for the nine-
  to-five, I’d definitely patch up for occasions
  when the phrase ‘don’t sweat it’ is more
  polite request than friendly rejoinder.

THE VERDICT

Value for money

Quick results

Confidence-boosting

Long-term solution

OVERALL SCORE

THE
GUINEA PIG
Claudia Canavan,
WH Digital Beauty
& Health Editor

Photography | LUCKY IF SHARP JULY 2019 | 19

DOES IT WORK IN REAL LIFE?

Soak

it up