My 11 year old needs to start using deodorant and won't discuss it

basil_badminton_808113 Sept 2026

Our son has reached the stage where he gets into the car after games period and the windows have to come down. Every time I mention deodorant, or a proper wash after sport, he changes the subject or leaves the room. I'm a doctor and could give him the full explanation, which is probably exactly the problem. I'm not after the polished advice about normalising body changes. What did you actually say, or not say, that got your son to start using it?

4 comments

maple_paper_55513 Sept 2026
we never had the conversation, in the end. i put one in the bathroom cupboard next to his toothbrush and didn't say anything. a month later it was half used and neither of us mentioned it. he's 17 now and still buys the same one.
ivory_spoon_850313 Sept 2026
With my daughter the school's health session did half the work. She came home and announced it like breaking news. Not sure boys get as much of that. The one thing I'd avoid is an audience. My father raised it at the dinner table in front of my cousins when I was about twelve and I still remember it, three decades on.
lagoon_sandal_208713 Sept 2026
roll-on in his games bag. no speech. worked here haha
cinnamon_sandal_905814 Sept 2026
Letting him choose it himself helped with ours. We were at a supermarket and I told him to pick whichever one he liked the smell of. Once it was his choice, it stopped being my project. The flip side: he picked the strongest spray on the shelf and used half the can every morning for a while. You may be trading one problem for another.