SweatBlock Antiperspirant Wipes Review 2024

Photo: Dominique Pariso

I sweat. A lot. Always have. I sweat through shirts. Through pants. I even sweat in the middle of winter.

The only upside to being a lifelong heavy sweater is that I’ve been training for this scorching-hot summer for years. And with heat wave after heat wave rocking the city, I’ve felt that my sweating is almost the norm now. On the subway platform, I see plenty of people every day, shirts clinging to their backs, blinking sweat out of their eyes as they squint down the tunnel, praying for an air-conditioned car.

I want to take each of these poor souls and press a SweatBlock wipe into their hands.

SweatBlock, for the uninitiated, is an antiperspirant wipe. But it’s not just any antiperspirant wipe. Long before “full-body deodorant” was a thing, SweatBlock was the Holy Grail for heavy perspirers. My brother, a fellow sweaty, discovered them in time for his high-school prom in 2017, and I’ve been using them ever since. They’re saturated with 14 percent aluminum chloride (if you shudder at the word aluminum, this story isn’t for you, sorry). Once a week, after taking a shower, I dab one on my underarms, let it dry, and then go immediately to sleep. The key is allowing it to work overnight when your sweat glands are less active. The following morning I wake up a new, drier person.

While the wipes are technically only supposed to be used for your underarms, I also use them to treat other areas of my body, like under my boobs and my back. And with SweatBlock doing most of the work to keep me dry, I don’t have to be as picky with my deodorant, focusing more on formulas that smell good and won’t leave residue on my clothes.

While my SweatBlock wipes have always been reliable for my body, my face was a whole different ball game. Face sweat is hellish in its own special way. It’s significantly harder to hide, for starters. I’ve yet to find a setting spray that can hold up to it, which makes wearing face makeup nearly impossible. And it’s difficult to put your best (sweaty) face forward while constantly trying to do a discreet wipe-and-rub-on-your-leg move without anyone noticing. For a long time I relied on my favorite hand fan, but I can’t exactly whip it out in every situation without drawing unwanted attention to myself. A fan at an outdoor BBQ in August? Nobody bats an eye. In fact, people are jealous. A fan at an indoor February dinner party? I’d get looks, and not in a good way. In a fit of desperation, I started applying my SweatBlock wipes off-label to my face. It worked, but it burned. Turns out, aluminum chloride is extremely irritating.

Luckily for me, SweatBlock finally released dedicated face wipes. I’ve never clicked “add to cart” faster in my life. They’re formulated with a gentler aluminum chlorohydrate along with soothing witch hazel and vitamin E. While I was worried I was courting a bad breakout with these, after months of use, I’ve found that my skin looks better than it ever has. Like the regular SweatBlock wipes, you can apply them at night or 30 minutes before applying makeup, though I prefer to do my SweatBlock ritual on the same night each week. This time of year, I’ll even up it to twice weekly.

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