How I Found The Perfect Natural Deodorant – Part 1

The very first deodorant my mom purchased for me was actually 100% natural but also 100% ineffective. The story is pretty hysterical and goes as follows…

My 5th Grade teacher, Mrs. Stone, sent a hilarious letter to the parents of her 25 students saying that our classroom had a less than pleasant odor after lunch. Us girls blamed the boys for causing Mrs. Stone such grief & all of our parents some embarrassment, but our entire class did inevitably start wearing deodorant that year. Armed with Mrs. Stone’s letter and the knowledge that her young daughter barely had a midday musk, my mom came home from Trader Joe’s with her idea of the perfect deodorant – a salt rock! My barely pubescent, 11-year-old self was very confused by the heavy contraption my mother presented especially since I was expecting one of the cool, fancy brand name deodorants being advertised on television. However, I was stuck with a giant mineral that I was instructed to lightly wet with water before applying to my armpits. Long story short – I found the salt rock to be completely useless. After a few weeks my mom went out and bought me a Tom’s of Maine deodorant after succumbing to my relentless whining. By the time I hit junior high, puberty was in full effect, and I was noticing a change in my underarms. I was fully opposed to sweating and convinced my mom to let me use Secret or some other popular, 90’s antiperspirant. I was thrilled to finally have a product that prevented both odor and sweating. Sometime toward the end of high school I discovered Dove’s new line of beauty products, and for well over a decade, I happily used their Go Fresh solid antiperspirant/deodorant in their cucumber and pomegranate scents.

However, at the age of 30, I knew that it was finally time to transition over to a natural deodorant.

I guess I technically wanted to transition BACK OVER to a natural deodorant since I did have a relationship with that infamous chunk of salt as a kid. I was able to find the Crystal Body Deodorant Stick in its original glory on the GNC website if you are unfamiliar and want to take a look. Apparently, Crystal decided to rebrand in 2018 and completely changed their packaging. Plenty of people swear by this mineral deodorant stick so if you are curious to try it out – please do & definitely let me know how it fares for you in the comments below.

Anyway, back to the story…

I turned 30 at the end of 2015 and was on a mission to find an alternative product to replace my dear Dove. I had known for quite some time that aluminum wasn’t the best option & was quite familiar with brands like Native & Primal Pit Paste. With natural deodorant companies on the rise, I knew that there must be a product on the market that would work for me. My boyfriend was and still is an avid fan of the Unscented Original Care, clear deodorant from Tom’s of Maine. Every time I mentioned wanting to switch to an all natural product he insisted that I use Tom’s. I’m a fan of their toothpaste, but I had experimented with Tom’s years prior and knew that their products did not keep me dry especially my boyfriend’s Original Care stick. I also personally detest clear deodorants because they make your underarms wet from the get-go, so his favorite item was, unfortunately, never going to be a contender in my search.

AND NOW FOR A LESSON IN DEODORANT

• Although we typically use the term “deodorant” to describe the products we swipe onto our armpits, these substances are technically just a deodorant, just an antiperspirant, or a combination of both.
• Most non-natural, drugstore deodorants are a combination of both and fall under the category of an “antiperspirant/deodorant.“

• Deodorants protect against odor.
• Standard deodorants use chemicals such as triclosan and fragrance (parfum) to combat underarm odor which occurs when the bacteria on our skin starts breaking down sweat.

• Antiperspirants protect against wetness caused by perspiration.
• Antiperspirants use aluminum-based salts to help seal up the sweat glands in our armpits which in turn keeps us dry.

• Natural antiperspirants do not exist since the active aluminum salts used to plug up pores & prevent sweating are inorganic compounds.
• Natural deodorants tend to include natural ingredients such as cornstarch, arrowroot powder, tapioca starch, baking soda, and activated charcoal to aid in absorption. You will definitely still sweat, but these elements will hopefully keep you dry for a bit while also neutralizing bacteria.

Now that we know the science, let’s get back to my journey…

Since I prefer drier underarms, my mission was to find a great natural deodorant that also had the power of a traditional antiperspirant. 2016 rolled along, and I still could not give up my Dove antiperspirant/deodorant. 2017 trickled by, and I had yet to make the switch to a natural product. Before I knew it, 2018 came knocking on my door. I had accepted a full time job at my old place of work and resumed a long commute across town. For some reason the new job reignited my desire for a new deodorant, and by the end of April, I decided to make the move.

After hours of online research and way too much time spent scouring the shelves of Whole Foods and the nearest Co-op, I finally said goodbye to my aluminum-based antiperspirant/deodorant. I knew the process was going to be difficult, but I was determined to succeed in finding the perfect natural formula.

NOTE: I started this post during Game 5 of the World Series and am finishing it up while watching Game 6 hence the reason for the baseball inspired titles below. GO DODGERS! GO LA!! 2020 WORLD SERIES CHAMPS!!! Woohoo 🙂

FIRST TO BAT

EO – Certified Organic Deodorant Spray in French Lavender

I happened to be at Whole Foods and figured I’d give this spray a shot. I already knew that I enjoyed EO’s hand soaps and lotions, and was eager to try it out. The price point was great for a natural product (under $7.00), and the convenience of finding this product in the grocery store as opposed to having to order it online was also a huge turn on.

Performance at the Plate: Struck Out! My hopes were high, but I had no luck with this deodorant spray. It was obviously a breeze to apply and also happened to dry very quickly on my skin which was fabulous. Unfortunately, the great lavender scent did not mesh well with my body chemistry which I assume is what made the odor fighting capabilities of this spray completely ineffective. In fact, it created a strange scent that was worse than my natural body odor despite reapplying throughout the day. And since this product contains zero ingredients to combat wetness, I was a sweaty mess when I wore this particular deodorant.

SECOND TO HIT

JĀSÖN – Soothing Fresh Cucumber Dry Spray Deodorant

My household loves Jāsön toothpaste so I was really excited to see this spray in our toiletry basket at work around the same time that I had made the transition over to natural deodorant. After using the EO spray religiously for about two weeks and being very frustrated by its effectiveness, I started to use the Jāsön deodorant as my midday refresher.

Performance at the Plate: STRUCK OUT! To my dismay, the Jāsön deodorant yielded the same results as the EO spray. It dried quickly on my skin after application, but that’s where the buck stopped. Just like the EO deodorant, this product made me smell worse than better and didn’t help at all with moisture absorption. Both the Jāsön & EO spray deodorants contain alcohol. Maybe this was the ingredient that was working against my body chemistry as opposed to with it, or maybe my underarms were just trying to adjust to the aluminum-free formulas. Who knows? At the end of the day, both sprays just didn’t work for me.

NEXT TO SWING

Schmidt’s – Rose + Vanilla Natural Deodorant

This deodorant checked all of my boxes on paper. Great Reviews ✓ Solid Texture ✓ Traditional Stick Packaging ✓ Odor Fighting Ingredients ✓ Arrowroot Powder for Natural Absorption ✓ A Decent Price Point ✓ Available at Grocery Stores ✓ I was so very excited to try Schmidt’s and grabbed a stick when picking up lunch from the Co-Op in Santa Monica. Note: It’s a dollar or so cheaper at Whole Foods. And since my hunt for the perfect natural deodorant in the spring of 2018, Target has jumped on the clean beauty train and now also carries Schmidt’s.

Performance at the Plate: Hit a TRIPLE! Although this product had a slightly gritty texture, the application was easy when I followed the directions of holding the product against my skin and letting the oils melt a bit before swiping. The scent of this Rose + Vanilla deodorant was a dream. It wasn’t overly floral and to me, was just right. As far as its deodorant abilities, this stuff truly blocked odor in every way, and my pits never smelled like anything other than rose. I was impressed. As far as wetness protection went, this formula was pretty solid – pun completely intended. I definitely felt damp toward the afternoon, but I was never drenched. On hotter days, I kept this deodorant in my purse and reapplied as needed which was annoying but did the trick in keeping me moderately dry. But here’s where things went wrong…my left armpit developed a painful rash after a few days of use. Since skin reactions are common when transitioning from a chemical deodorant to a natural one, I figured that my underarms were still detoxing and just needed to get acclimated to this new formula. I even made an armpit mask from kaolin clay and apple cider vinegar to help my body adjust. The strangest part of this rash was that it was still only affecting my left armpit. My right underarm was completely fine and never became irritated. After a few weeks, the rash finally subsided. However, my left armpit felt incredibly tender the entire time I used this product. After about seven months, the stick was approaching empty. And although I enjoyed how well this Schmidt’s deodorant stopped odor and controlled wetness, I made the decision to look for something new because the discomfort in my left underarm just wasn’t going away.

FOURTH BATTER UP

Lavanila – Pure Vanilla or Sport Luxe

Since my Schmidt’s deodorant was on its final leg, I quickly reacquainted myself with the top rated natural deodorants on the market. After reading quite a few positive reviews about its ability to protect from both odor and wetness, I decided to purchase a stick of Lavanila. The price point was a bit high, but I was willing to spend more to find a product that met all of my needs. I also discovered that it was available at Sephora, and the option to not pay for shipping was once again a huge plus in my book. Fun fact: I just did some research and found out that Sephora has stopped carrying Lavanila deodorant, but both Target and Ulta Beauty have it on their shelves.

Performance at the Plate: FULL COUNT: 3 Balls – 2 Strikes. I never took the plunge and actually tried Lavanila, so I cannot say whether this deodorant managed to get on base or struck out. What I can say is that I randomly stumbled across another brand whose reviews were much better than Lavanila’s so I ended up purchasing their deodorant instead. That brand was ready on deck and rearing to bat.

ON DECK

My Current Deodorant – In Multiple Scents

You can read all about my favorite non-toxic deodorant in Part 2 of this post which is set to be published later this week. Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out on all of the exciting details.

Performance at the Plate: HOME RUN!! One swift swing, and the ball flew out of the park! The crowd went wild. MVP! MVP! MVP! In non-baseball speak, this stuff was amazing from first swipe. I’m completely obsessed with this brand of all natural deodorant and have been using it for almost 2 whole years now. I cannot wait to share my absolute favorite, clean beauty find with you all.

Finding a natural deodorant is tricky. Certain brands may work well with your body chemistry and other brands may just not cut it. But hey – one pit’s trash is another pit’s treasure. The journey is definitely frustrating, but once you discover that perfect formula, you’ll be thrilled. It took me ten whole months, but I finally found my go-to natural deodorant in January of 2019. I fell in love immediately and have yet to look back.

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