Testing Natural Deodorant
I made the switch from antiperspirant to deodorant a little over a year ago, and since then I’ve been on the hunt for THE BEST deodorant. What’s the difference? Did you even know that they aren’t the same thing? Antiperspirants are exactly what they say, the prevent the body from perspiring. This is typically done through the use of aluminum. Deodorants on the other hand, don’t prevent you from sweating, but help prevent odor by inhibiting the growth of bacteria. Your sweat doesn’t actually smell it’s the bacteria that smells.
Antiperspirants have gotten a bad wrap lately because people think that aluminum is bad for the body. From what I’ve found I can’t personally say that the evidence is 100% conclusive one way or the other. However, anything you put on your body has the potential of entering your body and your blood stream. I decided that I wanted to try to find something with less potentially terrible side affects. I mean, if it works, why not?
Let me preface by saying that I am not a sweaty person in general. I sweat, but you’ll never see me with a shirt covered in sweat no matter how hard I’m working. Although I have been sweating more lately. Having said that, I was a little surprised when I first switched from antiperspirant to deodorant, and I noticed that I was actually sweating more (still not a ton but I was definitely sweating). I would sweat when I was walking through the office at a really fast pace, when before that wouldn’t have happened. I’ve gotten used to it, but beware if you sweat a ton, deodorant is going to do nothing to prevent or reduce the sweat.
Every person is different, so what works for me might not work for you, and vice versa. All of these deodorants were recommended because they were someone’s “favorite.” I decided, in the name of science, to give them ALL a try. There are definitely a ton of other brands out there, but I only tried ones that were recommended by actual people I knew.
Arm & Hammer
After some initial research this was the first deodorant I tried on the recommendation of a friend. It honestly kind of smells like men’s deodorant, but not overpowering. I wear it and I have never once thought that I smell like a man while wearing it, but it’s definitely not a women’s specific scent. I honestly have really liked this deodorant, I don’t have much to say about it that’s bad. It goes on clear and is more of a solid-gel type consistency. I will say that when I ran my duathlon last summer I used antiperspirant again….I know, why go back? I was afraid in the hot July heat of Kansas City, it wouldn’t last. I guess I’ll never know. I do know that it holds up very well for me on a normal day. However, I’ve noticed if I have a super intense workout or if I’m sweating a lot I feel like I need to reapply this. The price point is great, and it’s the cheapest of the bunch here at about $3, and you can buy it at your local store. I’ve purchased mine from CVS and Amazon.
Primally Pure
I saw this brand recommended by a blogger that I follow and figured, what the heck? I bought both the lemongrass and charcoal to see if one worked better than the other. The lemongrass one smells like lemongrass, surprise surprise. The charcoal one has kind of a minty/menthol smell. I like them both, however these are more of a traditional antiperspirant or deodorant texture that will leave a residue on your clothes. I recommend more of a tapping motion to put this on, rather than the traditional swiping motion. This is because the product is pretty soft, but doesn’t glide on smoothly. If you swipe it on you might end up with way more product that necessary. For me I would say that these work for a regular day of my morning work out (I obviously shower after) and my work day. One of the downsides is it’s $16 a pop, and you have to buy it from their website. Overall it’s a decent product, but I feel like for this price there is a better option.
Bend Soap Company
I ordered the Honey Grapefruit scent of their natural deodorant. I decided to test this one on a trip to Arizona where it’s approximately 60 degrees warmer than I’m used to. I went through my normal daily routine of working out first thing in the morning, showering, and then wearing the deodorant all day. On a day-to-day basis, I thought the deodorant was fine. It has a nice scent, but it’s not overpowering. I don’t notice the scent after I’ve had the deodorant on for about an hour. This deodorant is pretty “soft.” Unlike the arm and hammer one it’s more of paste, and if you press it too hard into your underarm and run it will smear all over and you’ll put way too much on (very similar to the Primally Pure product). For this consistency of product I recommend more of a patting or pressing motion to put it on, rather than rubbing.
On the second day trying it, I spent about 5 hours outside, and thought that the deodorant worked pretty well. I felt like I was sweating more than normal, but it was probably the temperature that my body wasn’t used to. Would I recommend it? Sure, but at $7, I think the Arm & Hammer one works just as well at half the price.
I will note that the Arm & Hammer, Primally Pure, and Bend deodorants do have baking soda in them. This can cause skin irritation in some people, and most companies now offer a baking soda free or low amount of baking soda because of this.
Lume
This one is a little interesting. It was designed by a gynecologist, it’s unscented (although it does have a very light, faint scent when you first put it on), and it’s gentle enough to be used ANYWHERE. It claims it lasts for 48 with no odor, so how does it hold up? Well I did the unthinkable to test this for you, and the first time I tried it was on a travel day where I was flying from the US to Amsterdam, and I didn’t take a backup deodorant. My flight wasn’t until 3:30 pm, and I put this deodorant on in the morning. I landed in Amsterdam around 10:30 AM the next day and wore it all day (trying to stay awake). In total it was about 30 hours of wear time. I didn’t notice any smell after traveling all day, but they do have directions on how to “prime” your skin for this deodorant. I think I was ok because I’ve been using natural deodorant for over a year. If you’ve been using antiperspirant you might have more of a “prime” period, but this deodorant comes with “directions.” I continued using this deodorant on my 10 day trip around Europe. I never once noticed that I smelled. At first I felt like I needed to put on more because I didn’t smell anything. Normally with deodorants you can smell the deodorant, but this one fades to nothing but smelling like you just got out of the shower. I was worried because I didn’t get that “freshly put on deodorant” scent. So like I said, this deodorant claims that it lasts for 48 hours. Have you ever put on deodorant on every other day? That’s unthinkable, but I did it to test this for you. I put this deodorant on Thursday morning, I went to the gym Friday morning, came home and showered, but didn’t reapply deodorant. I figured I was only going to work, so who cares. Not only did I not smell by Friday evening, I went to the gym Saturday morning and then did yard work and I STILL didn’t notice any smell. This deodorant has no baking soda and is super gentle. You can also use it other places on your body, and it works, I tried. I’ve now been using this deodorant for 24 days (where does the time go), and I’ve only been putting this on every other day. At first I didn’t believe it, so I wanted to make sure I gave this enough time to really make sure it worked. You can read how this deodorant works on their website, but I just like to pretend that it’s magic!
It is a bit pricier at $13-$34 depending on if you buy a single item or a bundle, and you have to buy it directly from their website. However, they have incredibly fast shipping, and using the product every other day, you’re not using that much of it. I think the product is entirely worth the money, especially considering you don’t need to use it every day.
Which one is the winner?
For me, the Lume Deodorant is hands down the winner. The product actually does what it says it does, and now that I’ve started using it, I don’t want to switch back to any of the others. Hmm..I wonder what I’ll do with the rest of them? Has anyone else had great success with natural deodorants? If so, what brands are your favorites?
Happy Sweating!
xoxo
-S