My Search for a Safe(r) Deodorant

Deodorant. Anti-perspirant. Roll-on. Spray on. Solid. Gel. So many choices, and so many pitfalls. It has taken me three years to recover from my first foray into the world of "green" deodorants, but I am giving it another try.

Here's what happened the first time around. I was pregnant. I didn't know it yet, and the husband and I were taking a road trip with our neighbors. I had been using a new greener deodorant for a few days, and it seemed to be working okay. (Unfortunately, I can't recall the product name—I think I blocked it out of my memory.) Once I got in the backseat of the car, however, my new product stopped working altogether. Perhaps it was all the sweating from being nauseated the entire trip. Or perhaps it was hormone-related. My husband swears he didn't smell anything, but my unknowingly pregnant nose was telling me that I smelled BAD. And I was afraid I was going to have to burn the shirt I was wearing. Needless to say: FAIL. I threw that product out and resigned myself to wearing toxic deodorants forever.

Obviously I changed my mind about the forever part. I recently went on the hunt for an aluminum-free deodorant that would work at least as well as my old standby, Secret Platinum soft solid (which I have been wearing for over 10 years). I found Dry by Nature Deodorant by Desert Essence at my organic grocery store and started using it a few weeks ago. At first, I only used it on days I wouldn't be leaving the house or doing anything stressful. And I worked my way up to wearing it to an Arbonne presentation I was giving (stressful). I was delighted to find that Dry by Nature works better than my old deodorant. Finally, I thought I had found my new "secret" to staying dry and odor-free.

Then I started researching this article.

The truth is that my aluminum-free product still contains one of the dirty dozen (cocamide diethanolamine), as well as propylene glycol and sodium borate. Propylene glycol, according to Skin Deep, is practically non-toxic when added to food, but it has been found to provoke skin irritation and sensitization in humans with concentrations as low as 2%. So far, I haven't had any negative reactions. Sodium borate, also known as Borax, is not safe to use on injured or damaged skin (so probably not good for freshly shaven armpits). Therefore, I can't in good conscience recommend this product to others.

What I can do is share with you the ingredients you want to avoid, and point you to some alternatives.

Ingredients to avoid in deodorants

• Parabens. See the dirty dozen.
  
• Aluminum. Has been connected to Alzheimer’s disease. Look for aluminum chlorohydrate or aluminum zirconium tetrachlorohydrex gly (the main ingredient in Secret Platinum, and the culprit of those yellow stains on the armpits of my shirts).
• Triclosan. See the dirty dozen.
• Talc. Often contaminated with asbestos.
  
• Propelyn glycol: See above.

Alternatives to wearing deodorant

• Here's a list (from Skin Deep) of 100 of the least harmful deodorant alternatives/natural deodorants you can try.
• You can also make your own, like this blogger did.
• You can grow out your armpit hair and skip the deodorant. Hair wicks moisture away from your skin naturally, helping to prevent or diminish bacterial colonization. The hair is less susceptible to bacterial growth and therefore is ideal for preventing the bacterial odor that causes us to hold our noses. Interesting aside: Actors Julia Roberts and Matthew McConaughey do not wear deodorant at all.
  

Personally, I'm not quite ready to go au naturale—I don't have the looks of Julia or Matthew to overcome people's reaction to body odor. So I'm going to finish up my Dry by Nature and try again to find something innocuous with which to adorn my armpits. Stay tuned for an update in a few months.