Deodorant
The ancient Egyptians worked hard to hide body odor. They put perfume in their baths and
applied great quantities of it to their underarms. They tried using many odd items like incense
and porridge as deodorant. The ancient Greeks were also afraid that they might give off an
odor. Like the Egyptians, they bathed constantly and wore a lot of perfume. The Romans took
this obsession a step further: They soaked their clothes in perfume, and even put it on their
horses and household pets. The fi rst trademarked deodorant, a paste called Mum, didn’t
appear until 1888. In the mid-1950s, the ballpoint pen inspired the fi rst roll-on deodorant.
Today deodorants are a multi-billion dollar industry and are as common as toothpaste in
most homes.