The Great Deodorant Debate

I recently shared a post on Instagram about some of the hazardous chemicals in conventional antiperspirant and deodorants. I received so many questions that I decided a blog post was the best way to cover it all.

First, as with anything relating to health,

Bio-Individuality Rules.

Consider your personal health history, concerns and goals.

Do you have any allergies to chemicals, fragrances or ingredients common in health or beauty products?
Do you have sensitive skin or does your skin tend to react to changes in products, environment/weather, detergents, foods, stress or illness?
Do you need to minimize exposure to ALL toxins for health reasons like auto-immunity, current disease status or risk?
What’s your personal sweat-factor? Do you exercise heavily, live or work in a hot/humid environment or perspire easily?
Are you concerned about body odor and want a product with a noticeable fragrance?

Our personal experience also impacts our choices. To be fully transparent, I’ll share my experience to help you understand where I’m coming from in my recommendations.

I have been an avid exerciser most of my life. I started working out at a gym and running at 14. Best. Stress. Relief. Ever! I continued through college and in my 20s I began taking more intense classes. During this time in my life my diet and other lifestyle habits weren’t great. I ate more sugar and processed foods than I should have and was eating foods that I knew didn’t agree with me. I was also working a crazy-stressful job. Oh, and not drinking enough water, either.
I noticed that my antiperspirant/deodorant wasn’t working to keep me dry and odor-free. Instead of looking at the root cause - I sought out ‘stronger’ antiperspirant / deodorant options. Aluminum is a metal in antiperspirants that dissolves on your skin and melts into your pores to block the sweat. The stronger options had a higher percentage of aluminum. These ‘stronger’ options would work for a couple of weeks and then stop working. They were also staining my clothes. When I started learning more about health and the impact of chemicals I realized I was clogging my pores and poisoning myself through my armpits.
I did some research and learned that I needed to do a cold-turkey detox period to let my body flush out the build up in my pores. Then I switched to a purely salt-based deodorant. The idea is that salt is anti-microbial and helps kill odor-causing bacteria, so your “sweat doesn’t stink!” My skin didn’t like the salts and I broke out in rashes under my arms. I have tried dozens of natural deodorants and nothing works for my skin. For the last 10 years I have been deodorant free.
I sweat. In the summer or hot yoga, A LOT. I have learned what foods change my body odor and try to avoid those, but stress also triggers it. I do use essential oils as a deodorant on occasion.