I’m not assuming that anybody reading this review has a terrible stink problem, but I’m sure we can all think of a time when we’ve needed to get rid of a nasty stench in the air.  The typical mode of operation would be to grab the Febreze and douse the entire house with a pleasing aroma of lavender or whatever your scent of choice may be.    The only problem is, this lavender utopia only masks the stench for a few minutes and doesn’t truly deodorize whatever it’s being sprayed on.  Well we came across WhatOdor, a product that claims to be the ultimate bad smell deodorizer and eliminator, according to the guys over at For the Earth Corp.. Here at WSJ we’ve used our fair share of air fresheners, so we were interested in seeing how WhatOdor matched up.

As you could probably guess, the goal of For the Earth is to have whoever may be entering your living space saying “What odor?”  We were told that if applied to the source of the odor it would completely get rid of the scent, and that as it dries it won’t leave behind any lingering odor whatsoever.  Those are very strong claims! Essentially what they are saying is that I could exercise, cook, and smoke whatever I’d like, and just spray all my clothes afterwards? Well, we put this to the test the best we could, and found that WhatOdor has a unique set of traits that sets it apart from most products you will find at any local store.

To cater to our viewers, we tested WhatOdor’s effectiveness on various items.  Personally, I hate socializing with “non-subcribers” after a smoke knowing that I reak.  I’ve learned that it’s always a good idea to have an extra change of clothes handy just in case, and of course spray myself down with some Axe or cologne.  We gave WhatOdor a shot after a long hotbox, for science of course, and sprayed down my t-shirt and jeans, while my accomplice left his for comparison.  The smell of WhatOdor when sprayed has somewhat of a light soapy nature.  Given that WhatOdor’s intended use is on porous materials, rather than as an air freshener, we were not surprised that the scent veered away from the basic flowery overload that most brand names promote.  After a few minutes it seems that the aroma becomes more subtle and eventually subsides to a hardly noticeable and clean scent.  We checked back 2 hours later for a follow-up and can confirm that even though we knew what we were looking for, the stench of smoke was completely removed from my shirt, while the unsprayed shirt had a lasting smell.  However, my shirt did have a remaining WhatOdor-y smell to replace the prior.  After doing some more experimenting, we found that the spray seemed to work best at eliminating scents from t-shirts, sweaters, and coats made from fabrics like cotton.  Jeans and shoes also worked well, but not nearly as well as more porous items.

For those who might enjoy a smoke on the road, we tried out WhatOdor in the car to see how well it performed.  As we mentioned earlier, WhatOdor’s intended use is not primarily as an air freshener, which we thought might be an issue considering we were trying to eliminate odor from inside a car, rather than on a smaller piece of clothing.  I got into the car and looked around thinking “where should I spray it?” In this case, the issue with my car was that, like others, I have leather interior which is not the most porous of materials.  I thought that this would for sure make WhatOdor less effective, but we went on to apply the spray to the roofing and a few sprays around the floor mats.  We left the windows cracked and came back after 2 hours.  Our results were similar to what we had expected.  WhatOdor definitely helped get rid of the smell, but not 100%. Keep in mind that this was just 2 hours later.  Waiting several hours or a day would deem different results, but we are just trying to let you know what to expect if you are in a situation where you need to return with an odor-free car in a timely manner.  We have found that leaving the windows closed, rather than cracked, may provide a better outcomes, as this would allow less of the spray to dissipate in the air.

Overall, we can firmly say that we believe WhatOdor can compete with any other brand name air freshener in terms of eliminating odor at the source.  If you’re looking for something to spray around in the air minutes before a hot date, this might not be your best bet, but if you find yourself changing clothes every time you smoke in fear of getting called out, you should without a doubt spend the $20 and pick up a bottle to try for yourself.  Shockingly enough, WhatOdor was not specifically made solely for the use of connoisseurs such as ourselves. By saying this I mean that there are tons of uses for this product other than those I went over in the review.  I kept WhatOdor in the kitchen waiting for the right instance to use it for household reasons.  In times of need I found myself reaching for WhatOdor during the occasional beer spill, trash overload, and even a moldy carpet incident.

For the Earth Corp has created something effective and unique both at the same time.  As a member of the “Go Green” movement, they pride themselves in only selling non-toxic  and biodegradable products,while also pledging to never test on animals or even use animal ingredients.  The only thing more refreshing than the product itself is the mission built by the team at For the Earth.

 

Cheers,

Brosephix – WSJ