Let's Talk Sweat. The Benefits of Aluminium Free Deodorant
Deodorant Versus Antiperspirant?
If you’re reading this, you are obviously already interested in switching to a deodorant from an anti perspirant? Or hopefully you are already using our deodorant, and just vaguely interested in what we have to say.
So assuming you are looking for a deodorant, what is really the best deodorant to buy? You need odour protection obviously, but do you need an aluminium free deodorant? Should you spray or should you roll? So many choices, and all claiming to be the best, all day, sensitive skin friendly, vegan. WAYYY too many choices. But not for men it seems. The aluminium free market is marketed to women. Like 90% of all personal care products to be honest. The bottom shelf of the pharmacy. The naughty corner at the Kiehls store? Token gesture of a selection most of the time. But then that is where we come in. Frankly anyone can use our deodorant - it is not a male only thing. Sure. They do not smell like a bouquet of flowers, but they are also not Old Spice. They just smell good. And they are a chunkier container, and can cut through body hair.
So Why Deodorant not Antiperspirant?
Antiperspirants and deodorants work differently in their methods of reducing body odour. Put simply, an antiperspirant will contain aluminium which blocks the sweat glands and reduces the amount of sweat.
- To be called an antiperspirant the product has to be able to reduce the sweating by the minimum of 20% for at least 50% of the test audience. Ooo.
- No sweat on the surface of the skin? Dry body ( for that percentage of people ) Fabulous.
- No sweat so the bad bacteria cannot feed on the sweat and odour cannot start. No odour. Also fabulous. But blocking your sweat glands with aluminium? Blocking your body from regulating at all seems like a bad idea, but then there is quite a bit of talk around the possible effects of aluminium. This is a grey area as whilst there have been many scientists concerned of a link between aluminium and cancer, it is not conclusive. There are more studies on the time frame between shaving your underarms and applying antiperspirant or deodorant. We believe it is best to wait a while if you are freshly exposing skin after running a blade over it! But again this has not been conclusive. We are of the opinion, if there is a " concern " and it is easy to avoid that issue, then why not do that? So we chose the aluminium free option for ours.
In contrast to antiperspirant, deodorants can reduce the amount you sweat, depending on their ingredients, but they do inhibit the growth of the bad bacteria and help eliminate bad odour.
So when you switch to deodorant, you are allowing this to happen, and initially some weird and not that flash smelling odour can occur. For some people this process can be a number of weeks. It often makes you sweat more for a while. If this is weirding you out, you can apply an equal solution of apple cider vinegar ( or just white vinegar ) and water. Best done daily after showering.
It is also an adjustment of getting used to not be crisp dry all day. After a while you will not even notice, but it is different. Embrace it. We think it's like summer when you are bare footed after not being for a while. ( Ok some of us are jandals all year but for those of us who have other footwear... ) Initially it is bit tender and pathetic. Push on through and those crispy heels are the true you. Think of the sweaty armpits being those crusty summery heels.
So What do the Ingredients Do Exactly?
- Bicarbonate of Soda ( sodium Bicarbonate ) The PH in your skin is around 5 - 5.8 acidic. Bicarbonate of Soda sits at 9 alkaline so neutralises the acid in the sweat and balances the PH and deterring the bad bacteria growth. This ingredient has had a bad rap with some people reacting to it with a rash. There is no real reason for this, and of course it can be what percentage of bicarb is in that particular brand of deodorant. Even stress, diet, hormones - any one of those things can effect the PH of the skin. If you had a reaction to ours we have one free of this ingredient Jay which uses magnesium hydroxide.
- Tapioca Starch ( arrowroot ) absorbs moisture ( less sweat )
- Anti bacterial ingredients such as tea tree and ravensare ( tea tree ) are included in all the deodorants.
- Our essential oil choices of bergamot, ( Arr ) , Juniper Berry ( Jay ) , Cedarwood ( Ess ) , lemon myrtle and peppermint ( Vee ) further fight the bad bacteria from forming by their antiseptic, antimicrobial and anti fungal properties.
- Note our Cologne based deodorant Zed, Ex and You contain ravesare and sage for their good guys.
- Coconut Oil is high in lauric acid which is anti microbial and is another super hero to fight odour.
- Sage - reduces sweating. Not like aluminium though - it does not block the glands.
How to Get the Best Result.
- As we mentioned above - diet can have a big impact on body odour. For example a study was done with a number of partners, and half the group ate a very red meat rich diet for two weeks, whilst the others ate a more vegetable based diet. They wore pads under their arms to absorb the odour. Gross I know. The partners overwhelmingly preferred the odour of the vegetable eaters. Add to that caffeine, alcohol, smoking, stress, clothing choices man made fibres, tightness of clothing. All the usual suspects that do us no favours.
- A little goes a long way. Make sure your armpits are properly clean with a face cloth, and dried fully. If you are super hairy it is obviously harder to dry fully, but try. Apply a smear and wait for it to fully dry before getting dressed. That helps so no product gets worn on the clothes.
- Wait a few seconds for the stick to warm and soften so it can glide better.
- Reapply when you want through the day - we apply straight over sweat and it still works.
- Give it a good shot if this is the first time and you have just changed, give it time. Click here for our best seller Zed.
Thanks for reading!
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