Switching to Natural Deodorant


I decided to make the switch to natural deodorant. Seems like in the past few years natural deodorants have been all the craze with lots of people talking about it. See the aluminum toxins in regular deodorant have supposedly been linked to harmful diseases like breast cancer yet there is no real scientific evidence backing up that claim. However there has been accepted research that says that a plant-based diet decreases your risk of cancer. So when I saw everyone jumping on the natural deodorant bandwagon, but not changing their diet it seemed so disingenuous to me. Hence it seemed too trendy  so I resisted making the switch myself as I just wasn’t sold on the idea. Plus why switch to something healthier that the initial reviews said made you smell and be sweaty? 

Being that October is breast cancer month and every day on either the Today Show or Good Morning American I’m watching segments on breast cancer, and I know two people who went through it and saw their struggle, I thought let me see what else I can do to lower my risk of getting it. I’m also doing a Sober October as even a moderate amount of drinking increases your breast cancer risk by 15% said an expert on the Today show.

I have to say natural deodorant has come a long away. I’ve been watching this trend closely and when I first heard people talking about it a few years ago everyone was using jar deodorant that you had to apply with your fingers. And far too many people were getting rashes and discolored skin as they had an intolerance to baking soda. Now you can easily buy natural deodorant on a stick without baking soda. The first thing that scared me about making the switch is that there is a transition period where your body smells. Well I don’t know about you but I don’t have a time in my life where I could just smell for awhile. lol See you have to let your body adjust to the different process of deodorizing.

See the aluminum in regular deodorant creates a barrier to stop sweating, but natural deodorant is not an antiperspirant so you will still sweat but not smell. When you stop using regular deodorant, a layer of buildup still remains so natural deodorant can’t work as well and it takes a couple weeks of detoxing before that layer is gone. It is recommended that you do an armpit detox first to speed up that process. That entails mixing Aztec bentonite clay mask with apple cider vinegar and leaving it on for 20 minutes. But I didn’t do this, but after I had been using natural deodorant for a couple months I started using this armpit mask once a week for 5 minutes and noticed a difference in that I was sweating less so I felt the deodorant was working better.

I don't tend to sweat much in general and I made the switch to natural deodorant in fall so it's cool outside. So I got lucky in that I did not have a smelly detox period. I did spend more time exfoliating my armpits with a loofah in the shower to make sure I got them squeaky clean. I was told to carry my natural deodorant with me as I would need to reapply during the day. I did this for a few days but found for me, it wasn’t necessary. I was just a bit more wet in the beginning but eventually it went back to how I felt with regular deodorant.

I personally love Native Lilac & White Tea scent, made with essential oils it smells like perfume! I went to Target and smelled all the scents and picked the one that appealed to me the most so I recommend you do the same. I thought I would like their Grapefruit & Bergamot one because that is my favorite scent, but theirs hardly had any smell. If you go to Native’s website they have seasonal scents and offer free shipping! So I bought some pumpkin body wash to give it a try. I used to always buy Philosophy pumpkin body wash in the fall but stopped because I thought it was expensive and wanted to use natural soap.

There are so many natural deodorants out there so you will have to find the one that works for your body’s chemistry. I’ve seen a lot of debate on-line about how one brand works for one person but doesn’t work for another. So don’t be discouraged if your first choice doesn’t work for you, give another brand a try. You don't need to apply as much natural deodorant as you do traditional deodorant. If you are wearing a polyester blouse, I'd recommend letting the natural deodorant dry first before putting on the blouse, since it's coconut oil based. But if you do get a stain on your clothes, use hot water and dish soap to spot treat it because that's what an oil stain needs, your traditional spot cleaning laundry methods won't work on it.

The top three brands I hear the most positive feedback about are Native, Megababe, Lume and Kopari a coconut oil based one. Megababe makes two other awesome products a thigh anti-chafe stick and a Bust Dust that is not made with talc. You can find Megababe at Target and Kopari you can find at Sephora and Ulta.

Update: 7 months later I read online that natural deodorant stops working after awhile, so I switched brands and noticed that is true. So I have been using Native for 7 months and now use Megababe. 

For a fun related story, did you know Dancing with the Stars member Maksim Chmerkovskiy doesn't use soap or deodorant and his wife Petra said he doesn't smell.



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