Wife would say so - and I can smell myself. I think the trick is you need to rub it for about 30 seconds - longer than people are probably willing to do it. But there's noticeable before and after results if you do that.

Here's an article I found that goes into the chemistry of it: https://www.thoughtco.com/how-stainless-steel-removes-odors-...

tl;dr: stainless steel reacts with the stuff that makes onions, garlic and fish smell, thereby neutralising that particular odor.

So scrubbing yourself with stainless steel can replace soap but not deodorant. Unless you're literally rubbing steel particles onto your skin there's no lasting effect, it just kills the smells (if they are sulfur-based).

EDIT: of course this assumes you trust the article to be scientifically accurate.

OK so I believe you about the before and after, but people use deodorant to prevent odors, not remove them after they're already there.

I am not confusing anything. Wikipedia:

> A deodorant is a substance applied to the body to prevent body odor caused by the bacterial breakdown of perspiration in armpits, feet, and other areas of the body. A subgroup of deodorants, antiperspirants, affect odor as well as prevent sweating by affecting sweat glands.

(emphasis mine)

And?

People don't wait until they stink to put deodorant on, they put it on in the morning after a shower when they don't smell to prevent odors later on. Even if "prevent" means "covering them up with fragrance"

I thought I was being helpful with my comment. That was certainly my intention.

It was a correction to a misunderstanding. As neither of the two authors I referenced replied, I assumed that either they didn't see it, or accepted the correction, or dismissed it and moved on.

The arguments weren't about the large issues of the day, but the arguments were wrong based on a misunderstanding, and surely the world is improved when you have an understanding of things, great or small, rather than misunderstanding.

--------------

With regards to your statement, you don't prevent odor by adding odor. You attempt to change the quality of the odor you emit by mixing in other odors with purported desirable qualities. You create an admixture of "good" and "bad" in a stronger odor.

This is not prevention.

If you have asthma or other respiratory condition, a strong odor can trigger that pathology, regardless of the qualities of that odor that would cause you to think it smelled good or bad. The strength of the odor alone is the trigger.

In that case you would much prefer the people around you used an anti-perspirant with as little extra odor added in as reasonable.

Or maybe you don't have any respiratory pathologies, but you find strong odor distracting. You might actually prefer low levels of body odor to strong levels of some deodorant.

I have one of these and can 100 pct vouch that it works for me, no question whatsoever. YMMV

Ha like that time when I was a young clerk, a couple approached me recounting their earlier near-miss with a skunk.

Thing is, the skunk didn't miss and everyone knew when they came into the store.

You can't smell me, but it's just like that time eh?

There was a time where you could expect people on HN to have a grasp of basic logic and often even chemistry, but I guess one can't live in the past.