So this post is not at all sponsored, I just wanted to give you all some of the information that I collected over the last several months of using a more natural deodorant. I tried several and I've had varying experiences with all of them. I'll be honest too, I'm a pretty sweaty person so I need a deodorant that works well. I knew that I really wanted to switch out my deodorant for something cleaner because of how harmful aluminum is to us. Traditional antiperspirants are made with aluminum which clogs our pores which traps sweat (and the aluminum) inside. Not only does our body need to rid itself of toxins, aluminum has been linked to things like breast cancer and Alzheimer's so those are some pretty big reasons to consider switching.
The first natural deodorant I tried was Tom's of Maine right after Georgia was born. I was going to yoga in the mornings with my mom for about 3 weeks before I returned to work and between that and the uptick in hormones I definitely did not choose a great time to try and switch to a more natural product. Overall I liked it, however it literally lasted for about 10 minutes into yoga and then I just smelled. I really knew nothing about natural deodorants at that time except for the fact that this one wasn't working so I gave up on it and went back to Secret.
Fast forward another year, I knew I wanted to try again. Deodorant just seemed like one of the easiest products to switch out. All that aluminum in our traditional deodorants such as Secret and Dove are just plain BAD for us and there are sooo many natural options out there I knew that something would have to work for me.
My first choice was Schmidt's although once again I was off to a rocky start because I bought it in July and it literally melted in my car so it turned into a paste that I had to apply with my fingers, however I liked it and it worked well, I figured I had ruined it so I moved on to something else pretty quickly.
My second choice was Native. I liked the Coconut Vanilla scent and I used it for months. I thought I had found my replacement. I wasn't having any issues with it and it worked really well at keeping me dry and not smelling. I went through two sticks of it before I noticed I was getting a really bad rash under my armpit. I didn't think too much about it being caused by the deodorant because I had been using it for months with zero issues and I was also having some skin irritation on my legs so I again, I wasn't thinking the deodorant was the issue. I kept using the Native despite my arm pits and how painful they had become.
both of my pits were like this for months!
Eventually it got so bad I made an appointment with my dermatologist. They gave me a prednisone prescription and some steroid cream & sent me on my way but never mentioned anything about my deodorant. Two weeks later after the prednisone and steroid cream most of it had cleared on both my armpits and my legs but there were still some spots. I saw a different doctor this time who mentioned the possibility of my deodorant. He said I either had eczema (which I've never had) or contact dermatitis which is basically reaction to a product on the skin. He also recommended I start Cetaphil lotion and wash so I went straight to CVS and picked those two things up along with a stick of Dove. I didn't care how bad it was for me, I had never in my life had a reaction like that from it or Secret which were the two I had always used.
Still, I really wanted to make better choices so I gave some other natural options a shot. I realized that baking soda was the culprit in my rashes so I refused to use anything that had any baking soda in it. I started with Crystal. I loved the concept of it--made of salt minerals that don't clog the pores like most other deodorants, however it just didn't cut it for me. It's a liquid that rolls on which was a very hard adjustment for me in itself, then I'd feel by the time I got to work I already needed to reapply and it didn't hold up to my smell at all.
My next choice was Piper Wai which is an activated charcoal deodorant. You can but it in either a jar or a stick. I actually was given a jar of it from a friend who tried it and didn't have any luck with it. Although it worked better than the Crystal, I hated the application and the smell. It's a paste that you apply about a pea sized amount on your finger tip and let melt under your arm. The stick might've been a better option, but I was pretty much over spending money on these natural deodorants that were not working and that were not cheap, I tried Piper Wai for a couple weeks but I was starting to feel a slight irritation again with it and did not want to take the chance although it is baking soda free.
For a couple weeks I went back to Dove again. I didn't care at this point, it was the only thing that went on comfortably, kept me smelling clean, wasn't irritating my skin, and actually worked all day. But I did some further looking via the Think Dirty app and was able to find a deodorant called Honestly pHresh. I went with Tropical Blossom scent and not only does it smell soo good, it hasn't given my any issues at all. It keeps me 90% dry all day, it's baking soda free, and I feel like the price point is best at just $10. I asked them for a discount code and they gave me FREE shipping with code phree2019!
I'm continuing to keep comments turned off due to high volume of spam so if you have any questions or comments regarding this post please email me at babyridleybump@gmail.com