Natural Deodorant.
Those two words conjure images of unwashed dreadlocks, harem
pants, Birkenstocks worn with wool socks, and brownies made with carob. They
invoke the hippie sentiments of free love, nudity and communal living. Those
two words are so not me.
But given what I’ve
read about the chemicals that are used in antiperspirants and the damages they
can do, and without going into it too much here (find out more about toxicity
of antiperspirant here,
or here), I thought, hey, why not give it a try? It’s not like
I’m substituting my make-up or lipstick – no one can see the difference if I
switch. But I learned pretty fast that
natural deodorant is not about what you can see - it’s about what you can
smell.
First off, I realised that natural deodorants require all
natural fabrics. Whilst I am not generally a fan of synthetic fabrics anyway, a
lot of clothes now contain at least a small percentage of synthetic fabrics to
make them more durable, and I remembered this partway through my first day of
natural deodorant, which also happened to be the hottest, sunniest day of
London summer. “Fresh” and “clean” were not the words that came to mind.
The other thing which
took a lot of getting used to was not being dry. Because antiperspirants block
the sweat glands, they not only prevent you from smelling, they prevent you
from sweating. Again, I forgot that this would be an issue until aforementioned
very hot day, when I was confounded by the appearance of two small wet patches
that I thought had been banished long ago (it appears that natural deodorant
was their passport back into Laurenville).
It was a lot to get used to.
After about a month of hurried rendezvous with my travel
sized natural deodorant spray bottle in WC cubicles at restaurants, furtive
sniffing of pits when no one was looking, and paranoid interrogation of highly
trusted colleagues on their opinion of my freshness factor, I have resolved to
make the switch permanent. Finding a brand that works for me has taken some time. I’ve
tried Weleda, Tom’s, Neal’s Yard and Salt of the Earth. Salt of the Earth and
Neal’s Yard worked best for me. I’ve also heard that Burt’s Bees does a great
natural deodorant, but I haven’t been able to find it in London (despite
relentless searching at all my favourite hippie haunts).
This eco-switch took a bit of time and experimentation, but
the results have been good enough for me to make the change a permanent one. And
for now, my brownies are still made with chocolate, I reserve wool socks for skiing trips and Ugg boots, and the nudist commune isn’t calling .... yet.
GG Rating
Good for Flaxseed Fanatics
