One of the hardest swaps for me personally to make as been deodorant. I have been looking into natural deodorant for years, however I heard nightmarish stories of how they don't work and you end up stinking. Needless to say I was too scared to try them until recently. I knew if I was swapping other products, I needed to bite the bullet and swap this one as well.
Traditional deodorants work because the aluminum blocks and clogs sweat glands. If you can't sweat then you can't stink essentially. Your body needs to sweat! Sweating helps cool the body when you are hot as well as rid the body of toxins. Cleaner, natural deodorants do allow you to sweat, however that doesn't mean you need to stink. Natural deodorants fight the bacteria that mixes with the sweat which causes the odor.
One thing that I was not aware of when switching to a natural toxin free deodorant was the suggestion to do a pit detox. I read conflicting arguments of whether or not this was necessary or even worked. I decided what would it hurt just to try it and do it. As long as the pit detox was a natural product and toxin free, I would still be achieving the same purpose. I am glad, I followed through. The pit detox is not a one time use as it is suggested to do it weekly for at least a month. I only shower every 2 or 3 days since I work from home and try to let my body's natural organisms do their thing, so I opt to do the detox before every shower for the last few weeks.
I used
Earthley's Detoxifying Pit Mask and feel it is doing it's job! The first time I used it, I swear I could feel it literally pulling junk from my pores. It soothing and has a refreshing feel because of the tea tree oil, which is also a great antibacterial agent. You simply spread it on, let it dry and do its thing for about 10 mins. I try and keep my arms up or out for the first five mins or so just to let air get in and circulate. You then just wipe it off with a warm wash cloth or wash it away in the shower. I will say after the first couple of detoxes, I felt that I had more body odor, which could be because it pulled all those chemicals from my pores and glands. After a couple of uses, I feel that I was back to being "normal".
I started using
Schmidt's Natural Deodorant Lavender and Sage because I like being able to smell deodorants when buying. Looking at all the ingredients just hits different when you can hold the product. I found this deodorant at Walmart, so I also like the convenience of finding it local instead of having to purchase online. Schmidt's has a range of different scents, however I found the Lavender and Sage to be the "cleanest" and most non toxic scent. Some of the others have parfum listed, even though it's suppose to be a natural fragrance according to their website, this didn't score as well on the
Environmental Working Group (EWG) database for toxic chemicals.
I also had purchased a trial size of the Spring Blossom scent of Earthley's mineral deodorant since it is online only and again I like to smell things before I try them out. I enjoy the scent of this deodorant, however I don't think it lasts as long as the Schmidt's and some scents just don't mix well with your sweat and body odor. The Spring Blossoms performed well, but I feel like I would have to reapply it a throughout the day if I were doing something very physical or out in the heat a lot. Since this is a trial size, I have decided this will be my travel deodorant and I will use the Schmidt's on a daily basis.
The only major difference between the two deodorants is that the Schmidt's brand does contain baking soda. Baking soda can be a skin irritant, so it is really up to you and your body if you want to choose a deodorant that contains baking soda. When you are shopping around for a natural deodorant, you want a mineral deodorant that contains Magnesium and not Aluminum. Arrowroot powder is also a great ingredient to have to keep you dry. Essential oils are important for bacterial fighting power and a natural scent instead of an added parfum type fragrance. And I would always run whatever you are looking at swapping to through the EWG database just to get the breakdown of possible toxic ingredients that you may not know how to recognize.
Hopefully this information can help you in your toxin free journey. If you have already switched to a natural deodorant, I would love for you to comment below the brand and even scent. I am always up for trying out new safe products!!
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