what body soaps, clothes detergents, and antiperspirants do you prefer?
i have been using dead down wind products, but have been using ewo's carbon soap for the body/hair this year (the dead down wind shower gel doesn't cut oils, it seems) and the dead down wind antiperspirant is garbage. i smell like a hobo by afternoon. i am now using the scent free arm and hammer stick, which actually keeps me odor free mostly. i was using almay gel scent free antiperspirant on my feet and crotch, because it spreads easily, but it is a pain and i'm worried about covering a huge amount of my body with a chemical all the time.
when i wash my clothes, i'm using warm and then a gentle cycle, i use gentle because i wash my hunting clothes so much that i don't want to be hard on them. any thoughts on that as well? to dry, i put in a dryer with a dead down wind fabric sheet, but it is a general use dryer, so it probably has residual smells and it has to pull in air from the basement somehow (since hot air leaves the house) so that is also infusing house air.
for boots, i assume you are wearing rubber boots? i wish i could but my feet can't tolerate them. i do spray my leather boots with dead down wind field spray, but i also treat the leather, so i'm sure the deer smell something. i had a nice buck react hard to my ground scent this year and it cost me an easy shot.
Clothes...all synthetic no cotton. Some Scentlock but not always, depends on the situation. I guess that I try to preserve it...too cheap to to buy as much as I probably should have lol.
Laundry soap...
I will use any scent free soap on base layers but I always use a "hunting detergent" on my outers. Not sure if deer detect UV brighteners so why take the chance? Everything gets washed in cold, gentle or hand wash cycle.
Nothing goes into the drier except Scentlok. Our home has never had perfumed products. Not sure if it would alarm deer or not but scented products make me want to puke so we don't use them. Drier heat is hard on clothes which is another reason I don't put much in the drier.
Clothes get hung in the laundry room with a fan and ozone. When dry, they go in tubs. Clothing for each day gets an O3 treatment, boots, saddle, pack, etc all get O3 each morning.
Bath soap... I've used Hunter Specialties bar soap for years but I honestly don't think it's any better than plain old unscented Dove.
I do think that the water hardness has a lot to do with bathing and laundry. Our well is very soft so I feel soaps are less effective with hard water.
Deodorant...
Firm lover of Almay...zero smell what so ever, it spreads great and works well. I also use crystal in select areas, pits crack crotch.
Oral...ALWAYS FLOSS, and use Butler gum massager along with basic toothpaste, hydrogen peroxide and Smartmouth rinse.
I don't use any type of scent killer spray. Ive had horrible results with DDW. the company told me it has a shelf life and is basically useless when expired. I've had even new stuff not kill food odors on my hands. I believe that scent eliminators are a gimmick.
I do use smoke but I don't always take the time to do it. I've had excellent results without it but I am open to the concept.
1,000% believer in ozone for gear. I don't use ozone in the tree.
And yep, under the worst case scenarios I still get busted but not nearly as bad as I did years ago.
Had a 2 year old buck cut my entrance trail this morning. He showed zero reaction. Being able to cross or walk deer trails is a huge benefit from an odor regimen . I'm positive that my residual odor disapates sooner too.