Natural Deodorant: What's All the Stink About?

My friend Jake loves to poke fun at my use of natural deodorant. Public transit on any occasion can be a real treat, but after a Bomber game I find it to be particularly rank. “How do people get to smelling sour like that?!” Jake’s clever response to my thinking-out-loud: “By using natural deodorant!” Hilaaarious.

There is a stigma out there that people who use natural deodorants smell bad because they don’t work. I will admit that I had to try a couple different kinds before finding one that I felt did the job. OK, fine – I had one of my friends buy it and try it out so I wouldn’t waste my money if it was another flop. But it works and I’m never going back to antiperspirants!
Newflash, folks: Sweat is natural and healthy. It’s one of your body’s ways of getting rid of waste and cooling itself off. What happens though when you use an antiperspirant and block the sweat from leaving your body? Well, that waste needs to go somewhere. And many chemicals are fat soluble. What is an extremely fatty area that is close to our armpits? You got it – your boobs. While studies remain inconclusive about the links between using antiperspirants and breast cancer, it makes perfect sense, right? You’re blocking the bad stuff from leaving, so it makes a home close by and manifests.

So now what? For you DIYers out there, I am going to recommend not making your own deodorant at home. Yeah, it seems relatively easy, however I have yet to read about a recipe that works exceptionally well. And many people say the baking soda in these recipes ends up giving them issues. Rocky Mountain Soap Co. makes an excellent all-natural deodorant. It’s a liquid so it contains only a small amount of alum and it really, truly keeps the smell away. I don’t sweat very much so I don’t find myself re-applying it very often and I haven’t had any complaints about any “au naturel” smells coming from my pits. And if I do smell, I have bad friends because no one has spoken up! They have 4 scents: Unscented, Geranium (my fave), Cypress, and Citron for men. And of course, I’d say they are quite reasonably priced. If you don’t want to buy from them, it’s always better to go with deodorant in general over antiperspirant.
There you have it! Sweat without the smell. Have a great week!
Love, Ash