I decided to take part in the No-Product Day Challenge where I willingly chose not to use any of my daily products that are typically a part of my daily routine before I leave my dorm for class. When I first heard of this challenge I had many reactions. My first reaction was understandably, “What? These people are crazy if they think I am leaving my dorm with no hair products or deodorant”. Another reaction I had was that the challenge actually seemed pretty easy to do and that no one would even notice if I did the challenge so at that moment I decided to try it. 

My normal enhancing products that I typically use are deodorant of course, then things like my facial cream, lotion, and oil for my hair to keep it moisturized along with a mousse to better hold the curls in my hair. I use these products because they are what I do to take care of hair and skin but also because I want my appearance to be presentable for people to see. I did indeed go without all of my usual products and while it did feel weird to forgo using any of my usual products, it was honestly mostly freeing for me. At first I was a little bit worried about how people would look at me or if they could smell I wasn;t wearing deodorant, But honestly after getting no noticeable reactions from people, the challenge felt much easier. 

The deodorant was definitely the hardest for me to go without, it was extremely challenging to not worry about smelling bad without reassurance from the layer of deodorant I usually have on. My hair product was definitely the easiest thing to go without, some days I just get lazy or forget to put it in my hair anyways so, this was pretty easy to live without. When I was ready to leave this morning, I kept thinking to myself that I forgot to do all these things and that I wasn’t presentable for the outside world just yet. I was surprised to receive no reactions from the people around me, I thought more people noticed when I didn’t do part of my daily routine, but to see that I barely did half of it and no one seems to notice was astonishing to me. I genuinely expected everyone in the class to turn and all eyes to be on me as if everyone was either judging me for looking uglier or telling me that I smelled awful because I wasn’t wearing deodorant. I learned that you don’t need a whole bunch of products and a whole bunch of extra stuff to make you look good, but I will be going back to using deodorant.