An antiperspirant, as defined by the Department of Health and Human Services in the final antiperspirant monograph published in 2003, reads as follows:
“A drug product applied topically that reduces the production of perspiration (sweat) at that site” (4).
There has always been some confusion in the industry that consumers do not always relate to the basic difference between antiperspirant and deodorant products. Antiperspirants, because of their ability to reduce perspiration and thus diminish the medium that is a factor in the development of axillary odor, can also claim to be a deodorant. However, because a deodorant product only reduces the body odor and does not reduce perspiration it can only be labeled as a deodorant.
Delivering that message to the consumer has been difficult because of that dual capability of the antiperspirant product. This problem may have been more prevalent during the earlier history of these products than now. In the European market the problem continues as labeling allows products containing antiperspirant actives to be labeled as deodorants. More recently some manufacturers have begun marketing these products as antiperspirants within Europe and these have started to reduce deodorant market share. The United Kingdom was the only one of the European markets that was always open to the use of antiperspirants and now the remaining countries in the common market are showing greater market share with antiperspirants. Japan seems to categorize antiperspirants with deodorants and suggests that their mode of action is the reduction of body odor by way of suppression of perspiration.