Monday, April 7, 2014

My Deodorant Story

Okay, so this is kind of a weird topic, but I honestly thought it was important to share my experience with you since it has been pretty difficult for me to find deodorants that I like. So here we go…

Over a year ago my mom mentioned to me that she no longer wanted me to wear deodorant that contains aluminum as an ingredient. She had recently read an article that stated aluminum is a contributing factor to breast cancer. If you don't already know, my grandma passed away in 2005 from breast cancer. She was a wonderful person and one of the most important people in my life so it was devastating to lose her. I still miss her everyday. Beyond just missing her, this also means that breast cancer runs in my family. It also tends to skip a generation, or so I hear. You can form your own opinions on what does and doesn't cause breast cancer and I encourage you to read as much as you can on the topic- but I know that if I can do something that may help prevent it from forming, I will. Changing deodorant is such an easy thing to change, I thought I would.

Every deodorant I had in my stockpile had aluminum listed as its first active ingredient. Dove, Lady's Speedstick, and so many others I already owned of course contained aluminum. Apparently aluminum blocks the pores that produce sweat, making it the perfect ingredient to use in deodorant. The struggle was finding ones that didn't use aluminum, so I started doing some research.

Here is a list of a few deodorants that do not contain aluminum.

Tom's of Maine
Burts Bees
Jason
Desert Essence
Weleda
Lavanila
Aubrey
The Body Shop DeoDry
Kiss My Face

There are plenty of others, but that is definitely a list to get you started.

I have tried out many scents in the Tom's line as well as two scents in the Jason line. I plan on trying quite a few others as well, but I will be sharing my thoughts on the ones I have tried with you right now.

Tom's of Maine

Long-Lasting Care Deodorant Stick (Unscented)

I have used the Tom's of Maine original deodorant in a few scents and also unscented. 

Unscented did nothing for me. I didn't think it dealt with sweat or masked the smell at all and I would feel like I stunk all the time. I work in a particularly active job and it's important that my deodorant stick around, which this didn't. At all.

Fresh Apricot was extremely heavily scented and I was not a fan at all. I thought that it was a disgusting scent really. If you like apricot, then maybe it wouldn't be so repulsive to you, but then again it might be too strong for everybody.

Wild Lavendar was actually a very nice scent. I usually don't like excessive lavender, but this deodorant made it smell nice. However, did it last? Not really. Bummer.

Jason

Soothing Aloe Vera I actually am one of those people who enjoy the scent of aloe vera, so that wasn't the problem with this deodorant. It was so sticky. I felt like my armpit was stuck together after putting it on. It was almost like applying glue. My clothes would stick to my armpits and that's just not attractive. 

Purifying Tea Tree So far this is the only winner. I love this deodorant. It smells nice, works great and keeps me from smelling sweaty. I am still working on this stick, but I would definitely repurchase it once I'm done!


To see Tom's of Maine products click here.

To see Jason products click here.

Next up, I would like to give some Desert Essence deodorant a try =)

Do you use natural deodorant? How do you feel about the aluminum in deodorant debate?

To read more about aluminum in deodorant click here  and here.

No comments:

Post a Comment