A few weeks ago I mentioned that I was looking for a good natural deodorant. After really hunting online, and taking your recommendations, I ordered a few different brands so I could test them all for you! Here’s what I found…
First of all, the first couple weeks were rough. Every single one made me smell BAD. I swear they made me smell worse than I would without any deodorant! I (im)patiently waited it out though. The thing is, natural deodorant takes a little bit of use before it starts doing its job. It’s because your sweat glands are overcompensating from being clogged for so long by most antiperspirants, so they start over-producing sweat. Just to give you a quick explanation, here’s the difference between antiperspirant and deodorant:
Antiperspirant: suppresses the flow of sweat (which prevents bacteria build-up, and the odor that follows)
Deodorant: masks the smell of sweat (really, masks the smell of bacteria that arises during sweating)
So, yeah, you can smell worse before it kicks in. However, I hung in there, and eventually that went away. I still have a favorite of all the ones I’ve tried, but at least by the end none of them made me smell that bad anymore! Review below:
Meow Meow Tweet (scent: Lavender Bergamot) – not a huge fan. Not only does it smell very earthy (I love essential oils and all, but I don’t want to smell like them all day). Also, the consistency wasn’t great. I would put it on, and have literal chunks of deodorant under my arm. All in all I wouldn’t use it.
Tarte Clean Green – it’s ok. Better texture than Meow Meow, but I didn’t love how it made me smell. It wasn’t terrible, but had kind of a sweat mixed with perfume vibe. I would rather just smell fresh.
Schmidt’s (scent: Lavender Tips) – The smell of this reminds me of Seventh Generation natural laundry detergent. While I love that it’s clean and toxin-free, it wasn’t great. I will say that the texture was good and overall I had no other issues. I’m just really big on smell!
….and the winner is:
NATIVE (scent: Coconut and Vanilla). Yes! I love this one! It’s perfect. It feels just like any other deodorant, smells like a vanilla candle, and controls my sweating. I’m honestly so thrilled I found it, because I’m compromising nothing. It’s great, it’s healthy, an overall win I would say :)
Just to wrap this up, here are my thoughts on natural deodorant (and natural products): While in a perfect world EVERYthing I use would be all natural and organic, I tend to follow the 90/10 rule. I’m referring to what a lot of people call the 80/20 rule, where they’re “good” in terms of health and wellness 80% of the time and then allow themselves to break their rules the other 20%. For me it’s 90/10, but I don’t let myself feel bad about the 10 part. So do your best, but don’t overly stress about small things here and there! Stress does terrible things to your mind and body, so stressing over your wellness routine would be just be counter-intuitive. :) xx
