Deodorant has a surprisingly short history. According to Smithsonian Magazine, the first deodorant, Mum, was trademarked in 1888, and the first antiperspirant, Everdry, launched in 1903. Plenty of people ignored both. The turn came in 1919, when an ad for an antiperspirant called Odorono ran in the Ladies Home Journal under the headline "Within the Curve of a Woman's arm. A frank discussion of a subject too often avoided." Some 200 readers were insulted enough to cancel their subscriptions, and Odorono's revenue rose 112 percent the next year.

The product had started with a teenager. Edna Murphey named her surgeon father's formula Odorono and sold it at an exposition in Atlantic City in the summer of 1912, where the crowds got hot and sweaty right on cue.

That old split still matters when you look for the best deodorant. The FDA treats deodorants as cosmetics and antiperspirants as drugs, because a product meant to affect how the body works, like one that reduces sweat, counts as a drug. Everything in this edit is a deodorant except one, the Donna Karan Cashmere Mist stick, which is sold as both.

The first grid is sticks, from woody to citrus. The second grid is the antiperspirant plus gels, serums, a cream, a balm and a mist, many of them built on mandelic or other acids. My tip: apply to clean, completely dry skin, and give an acid formula a minute to dry before you get dressed.

Salt & Stone Santal & Vetiver is the one I would hand to anyone switching from a drugstore stick. It is aluminum free and rated for up to 48 hours, with prebiotics, seaweed extracts and a warm santal, vetiver and amber scent. The Saffron & Cedar stick from the same brand is softer and warmer, rated for 24 hours, with probiotics and hyaluronic acid.

Nécessaire Olibanum is the long-haul pick. It is rated for 72 hours, with mandelic acid and niacinamide and no aluminum or baking soda, which matters if baking soda has ever made you itch. OUAI St. Barts smells like dragon fruit and orange blossom and uses tapioca starch to absorb moisture.

Luna Daily The All Over Deodorant is a gel-like stick made for more than underarms, including under the bust and the inner thighs. L'Occitane Cédrat has the best rating in this grid, and it is formulated without alcohol or aluminum salts, with citrus, spice and wood notes. PHLUR Father Figure is the deodorant take on the brand's fig and sandalwood perfume, rated for up to 48 hours. Agent Nateur holi (stick) is the fragrance lover's pick, with ambroxan, jasmine and pear on a base of plant oils and beeswax.

What I would skip: switching sticks every few days. Give a new formula a full week of daily use before you judge it, and change only one thing at a time.

Donna Karan Cashmere Mist is the only antiperspirant in this edit. It reduces sweat as well as odor, and it smells like the perfume, with Moroccan jasmine, lily of the valley and sandalwood. If wet shirts are the problem, start here.

Kosas Chemistry is the most reviewed deodorant in the edit, and the reviews are mixed. It is a clear serum with shikimic, mandelic and lactic acids plus aloe, and the brand calls it stain free. Nécessaire The Deodorant Gel works the same way with 5 percent AHA, niacinamide and chamomile, and it dries fast and clear. CYKLAR Vanilla Verve is a roll-on gel with 5 percent mandelic acid and azelaic acid, made for dark underarms and ingrown hairs as much as odor.

AKT London has two. The Deodorant Balm goes on as a balm and dries to an invisible powder, and The Haze is an alcohol-free deodorizing body mist, the one for a gym bag. First Aid Beauty Whole Body Deodorant Cream is a light citrus cream rated for 24 hours. MBR Cell-Power Cream Deodorant is the most unusual, with powdered oyster shells, an agent aimed at odor-causing bacteria, and a formula the brand says you can use right after hair removal.

What I would skip: an acid serum on freshly shaved skin, since it can sting. Wait until the next morning, or use the MBR cream on those days.

I think the best deodorant is the one that matches the problem. If you mostly sweat, the Donna Karan antiperspirant is the only one here that reduces it. If odor is the issue, try an acid formula like Kosas, Nécessaire or CYKLAR, which works on smell and bumps at the same time. For sensitive skin, look for no baking soda, and keep the MBR cream for post-shave days. A century after that Odorono ad, the useful choice is still between fighting sweat and fighting smell.