Giving all the best tips to help easily transition when switching to natural deodorant.
If you are like me, you have become more health conscious about what you’re putting in and on your body. You’ve been thinking about switching to natural deodorant. Although there is no substantial scientific proof of the negative side effects. Many feel that it can lead to breast cancer and other diseases. Antiperspirant can cause reversible damage to your skin. For example, you may have experienced skin allergies like me. This is why I decided that switching to natural deodorant (aluminum free) was the best decision for me.
What’s the difference between deodorant and antiperspirant?
Antiperspirants prevent and block sweating. When we sweat, healthy bacteria under our armpits can cause an odor.
Natural deodorant is any deodorant that is free of aluminum, phthalate, and talc. Basically, any synthetic materials. Usually, natural deodorant contains naturally derived ingredients and are vegan and cruelty-free.
If you are considering using natural deodorant, then keep reading because I will be informing you on everything I know and have learned when switching to natural deodorant.
Deodorants cause major buildup (Switching to Natural Deodorant)
When you first start wearing natural deodorant it’s something to get used to. That first week is rough. You will notice you start to perspire a lot. And I mean a lot.
The good news is the deodorant is designed to block all the bacteria that would cause an odor. Keep in mind it’s not an antiperspirant. It is supposed to block the bacteria to prevent odor, but it probably won’t seem like it if you don’t do this one thing. Detox! Yes, it’s very important to perform an underarm detox before you begin to use natural deodorant. Things start to get funky!
It’s important to detox your underarms at least twice a week. I find that after a few days I develop a buildup of deodorant residue and an overall unpleasant odor. This is due to your body trying to transition from relying on aluminum to no longer doing so. I like to use Megababe happy pits. It’s an activated charcoal that pull toxin from the surface of your skin. It contains sodium chloride to fight odor. You need to detox your underarms weekly to avoid a smelly odor due to build-up. Whether using natural deodorant or not detoxing those pits weekly is a must.
Pay attention to the ingredients (Switching to Natural Deodorant)
There are so many different natural deodorant brands. Every week that I’m in the supermarket I see a new brand or scent. Examining the ingredients is very important.
Brands put a lot of time into an eye-catching container and if you are like me, you’re all about aesthetics. You might the first pretty contain you see. They also like to put the words “free of…” on the front. It is so important to look at the ingredients of the deodorant. I check to make sure what they’re saying its free of is indeed not in it.
A great brand I recommend (Switching to Natural Deodorant)
Its all about trial and error until you realize what works best for your body. I tried a few different brands like Lume and Native. I enjoyed both brands. Your pits will be funky and sweaty pits for a while. Its all apart of the detox ( from antiperspirant) process. I decided to try Native because I had been using the body wash for a year and loved it so decided to try the deodorant.
Sometimes with natural deodorant, you may have to reapply it once throughout the day. I love Native, I absolutely love the honesty about the clean ingredients they use. I always love the different scents they offer as well.
Warning this one thing could happen when making the switch to natural deodorant
Listen, nobody wants sweaty pits. Nobody wants smelly pits. This is a harsh reality that you might come to when switching from an antiperspirant to natural deodorant. When this first happen to me, I wanted to switch back to antiperspirant so bad. In retrospect, this happens to many people, it’s part of the detox process.
During your first couple of weeks, you may experience smelly pits. You may want to consider keeping the deodorant on you to apply during the day. You will have wet pits. Yes. You will be perspiring because remember your no longer using an antiperspirant so your body it is detoxing from it. Why? Sweat glands must re-regulate again so you will perspire a lot when switching from antiperspirant (which is also a deodorant) to natural deodorant.
Disadvantages To Antiperspirant
There are so many disadvantages when using an antiperspirant.
Some side effects include inflammation, swelling, itching or hives under your pits. These allergic reactions are due to the harmful ingredients like talc, phthalate, aluminum, and paraben in antiperspirants.
CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE LUMPS AND CYST! A cyst is an abscess under the skin, which can be painful. It can be caused by shaving, or antiperspirant. I suffered from these for years. Once I made the switch, they have become way less frequent.
Benefits of Natural deodorant
There are so many great benefits to using natural deodorant.
- It allows your pits to sweat which is the body’s natural way of cooling itself. We want our bodies to be able to perform their job. The body is designed to regulate, protect and perform. Let it do just that.
- Feel safe knowing your using a product with clean ingredients. You won’t have to stress about an allergic reaction or using harmful chemicals that antiperspirants contain.
- You will likely no longer have yellow pit stains on that favorite white t-shirt of yours. Guess what? Those stains are caused by aluminum.
- It isn’t greasy upon application. You won’t have any white marking on the pits of your little black dress.
Native sensitive deodorant
Native sensitive deodorant is such a great option when making the switch to natural deodorant. Why?
Well, it has a non-greasy application, which leaves no clumpy residue. Its aluminum and paraben free.
They use known ingredients like baking soda, which helps maintain your pH and an even skin tone under those pits. It is always a great exfoliator.
Coconut oil moisturizes and hydrates the skin. Which has been shown to display anticancer, anti-microbial, and even anti-inflammatory properties.
All ingredients are clean and effective in Native, and it keeps you dry all day. This is a great start when switching to natural deodorant.
In addition, In a study by Sandeep et al. coconut oil can act as a protective barrier which specifically can be beneficial to those with skin disorders. 1The benefits are endless from skin health to your physical well-being.
Lume Deodorant clean ingredients
One of the brands I tried when deciding to switch to natural deodorant was Lume. It was what made me decide to never go back to antiperspirants again. All clean ingredients in this one sold me.
So many great things about the brand. First, it was created by a doctor. She knew exactly what, how, and why when creating this.
Lume is clinically proven to keep you dry for up to 72 hours. Of course, this depends on your lifestyle and level of physical activity.
If you have super sensitive skin this is free of aluminum, baking soda, parabens and more. It is vegan and cruelty free as well.
Have you tried Switching to natural deodorant?
Article Resource:
- Varma, Sandeep R., et al. “In Vitro Anti-Inflammatory and Skin Protective Properties of Virgin Coconut Oil.” Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine, vol. 9, no. 1, 2019, pp. 5–14., doi:10.1016/j.jtcme.2017.06.012.
Thanks for your blog, nice to read. Do not stop.