livingcleanandfit

Non-Toxic Deodorant

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I’ve been on the search for a great non-toxic deodorant. Some people believe such a product exists (see video at the end of this post). 😉

For a while I was using Tom’s of Maine Deodorant which I liked just fine. When I didn’t have time to make my own I bought Tom’s because it was the easiest substitute (for me) for antiperspirant. There have been numerous studies finding possible correlations with aluminum (which is found in most antiperspirants) and Alzheimer’s Disease. There are also other not so wonderful ingredients in most store bough antiperspirants. The Breast Cancer Fund reports that six different types of parabens have been identified in breast cancer tumor biopsies (which is why I try to use non toxic products in general. Here is another post with some of my other favorite non toxic products.

When I decided to nix the aluminum Tom’s helped me check that goal off my list pretty quickly. Tom’s of Maine worked well for me. It’s deodorant… not antiperspirant. It didn’t keep me from sweating all together but it helped, and I felt cleaner, fresher than nixing deodorant all together, and I liked the scents they offered. My husband has also tried Tom’s of Maine once but didn’t like the scent. I am going to try and find him a scent he likes as they offer a variety to choose from now.

Once my babies/toddlers grew up a bit and became kiddos, I had a little more time on my hands. I decided to try making my own deodorant. I played around with a bunch of recipes. This is the one I’ve used most frequently. I LOVE all the ingredients. It does take time to melt everything down then clean all the oils off my bowls and spoons I use to mix it with but now that my daughter needs deodorant as well I feel it’s well worth it to make enough for her and myself. Soon my son will need it too so then it will for sure be worth the work.

Here is how I make it:

Ingredients:

Directions:

  1. I melted the bees wax, coconut oil and shea butter in a double boiler. Then I took the oil mixture off the heat and mixed in the arrowroot powder and bentonite clay. I then added 20 drops of tea tree essential oil which helps with bacteria. You can add any essential oil you like to make it the scent of your choice. The 20 drops of tea tree didn’t make a very strong scent. So you may want to add 30 or more drops of whatever oils if you want to smell them more.
  2. I put some in a small mason jelly jar (since I don’t mind using my fingers to apply the deodorant). I put some in a plastic deodorant container I bought off amazon to make it easier for my daughter to apply.

Now, if you don’t want to take the time to make your own deodorant, you might want to try Tom’s of Maine, or Norwex‘s Crystal Deodorant. Norwex Crystal Deodorant is very different from store bought or home made. It isn’t going to make you stop sweating. However, it does kill the bacteria under your armpits which is the main cause of that musty body odor smell we get when we sweat. I was skeptical and wasn’t so sure how I felt about still sweating when using it. I mean, I don’t like the idea of sweat stains… who does. My home made deodorant doesn’t stop all the sweat, but it does help limit it so I wasn’t sure how I would like the Norwex Crystal.

A friend of mine from high school sells Norwex and offered me a discount to try out the Norwex Crystal Deoderant and give honest feedback so here it is!

I REALLY like the Norwex Crystal stick for the following reasons:

  1. It’s easy to apply (you just wet it before rubbing under each arm pit).
  2. It does combat the smell! I used this before going into the sauna and I sweat perfusly. When I stepped out, I smelled my pits and they didn’t stink! In fact, I swear they smelled a bit like cookies. ha! I don’t know, maybe I’m crazy but I feel like that’s what my pits smelled like when I did the “sniff test”. On an average day I would not say my pits smelled like cookies when using the Norwex Crystal but I never feel like I stink. I have tried other natural deodorants and have felt like I smell awful and wasted my money.
  3. I feel like it pays for itself after a while because it lasts a long time. I don’t have to keep buying stick after stick or lots of ingredients to make more of my own natural deodorant.
  4. It saves me time. I don’t have to take the time to make my own deodorant when using the Norwex Crystal stick.

What I Don’t like:

  1. I still sweat. But this is a small trade off for knowing that I’m not putting toxins on my body and… I don’t stink.

What I Don’t Mind:

  1. I have to leave it out on the counter to dry with the lid off when I’m done using it. This is a minor inconvenience, since I can’t just cap it and put it away. But I don’t mind this at all. My kiddos are old enough to know not to touch it. I hear that it can shatter easily if it falls on the floor and so you wouldn’t want your kids playing with the deodorant stick if they are curious.

I might opt for using my home made natural deodorant if I were going to a high pressure situation like a job interview and didn’t want pit stains or a wedding perhaps. However, so far I have not felt like I needed to reach for something stronger than the Norwex Crystal. I even used it all summer so I should be able to use this all winter without any problem. My hubby doesn’t complain and he would be the first to tell me if I were to stink. He’s a sweet man but he doesn’t want a stinky wife. ha! I even asked him the other day if he noticed a difference since I started using it and he says I don’t stink. I also like to use Rocky Mountain Oils as part of my daily care. So those smell wonderful as well! If you are interested in the Norwex Crystal Deodorant or any other Norwex products you can check them out here.

I’ll leave you all with this gem… one of my favorite Portlandia sketches about Natural Deoderant. 😉 It’s worth a watch.

Do you have a favorite non-toxic deodorant? Feel free to comment or ask questions in the comment section below.

Other posts you might enjoy:

*Some of the above links are affiliate links.  Click here to learn more about affiliate links.

**A friend of mine from high school sells Norwex and offered me a discount to try out the Norwex Crystal Deoderant and give her my honest feedback. I do not receive any additional discounts for writing this post. This is my honest opinion of the Norwex Crystal Deoderant. 

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