Saturday, October 23, 2010

The Big Deodorant Review

Okay, first of all, thank you Stacie for reminding me to review the deodorant!

I tried 6 things to replace my chemical laden deodorant and they were:
  1. powdering a clean pit with baking soda
  2. spritzing a clean pit with rubbing alcohol
  3. Powdering a clean pit with baking soda after spritzing it with the alcohol
  4. Spritzing a clean pit with a mix of 1/2 and 1/2 rubbing alcohol and body splash
  5. powdering a clean pit with baby powder after spritzing with alcohol
  6. the solid crystal deodorant
And the winner was:  (drumroll please)

#6 - the solid crystal deodorant

Here is why:

All 6 of the options actually did really well, to be honest.  I really didn't think they would, but they did.  All of the options took care of the stink and #4 would actually emit a bit of the perfume scent.  But during this experiment I realized that I have really sensitive pits.  I actually had discovered this a couple of years ago, but at that time I just switched to Dove deodorant because of all of the moisturizers, and that took care of it, so I had to rediscover this again.  So to give you pros:
  1. easy, no odor
  2. easy, no odor
  3. easy, no odor
  4. easy, no odor, light fragrance emitted
  5. easy, no odor, light baby powder scent emitted
  6. easy, no odor, easily portable, non irritating, no residue or powder to get on clothing
Now cons:
  1. scouring effect on pit if you forget to rinse before you wash
  2. irritating after a shave
  3. combo of the two above problems
  4. no real cons here, the body splash has aloe to stop irritation
  5. also no real cons, the powder took care of the irritation
  6. none, well maybe initial cost for the stick (about $5)
I went with the crystal stick after reading many reviews on it, and realizing that it would not cake under my pits with activity, there was no residue or powder to get onto my clothing, it kept my pits drier feeling for longer and the whole dry solid portability factor versus taking a liquid or powdered item that may spill (if you knew my kids you would get it!)

So, I forked over the $5, but it takes a lot longer to use up the solid crystal than the regualar stick Dove which was 3.60.  So, I'm happy, and I'll come back to it again one day and let you just how long it took to use it up.

I'm also still doing the shampoo, and by the way, the low sudsing thing is a non issue after the mix has time to sit and blend, because then it suds like crazy!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the info!
I have actually used deodorant stones before. It seemed to me like they stopped working after a few months. I never could figure out why. So that's why I was fascinated with your baking soda/alcohol experiment. I also have sensitive skin.
1. Did the alcohol burn when you applied it after a shave?
2. Did the baking soda stain your clothing?
Oh, I'm just so curious. My husband's dermatologist has advised him to give up all scented products, including scented deodorant. Wow, it's hard to find unscented men's deodorant!!

Amy said...

I am a night time bather/shaver (so my sheets don't get dirty so quickly) so I would shave at night and by morning thy would not be as sensitive, so it did not sting then, I also applied aloe vera gel at night too after the shave. That helped. The one time I did the morning shave and alcohol, the sting was an issue.

The baking soda did not stain anything that I noticed.

One thing I did not try that I may in the future is putting some aloe vera gel in the alcohol to see if that helps with the sting or sensitivity issue.

For men the only unscented deodorants I have ever seen are the natural brands which are expensive. There is a spray liquid crystal one that may be helpful if he can't find happiness with the alcohol option. Maybe a drop of tea tree oil in the mix would help compare armpit bacteria all day - haven't tried that one either.

Good Luck

Steph said...

I love how you used the word "pits"...lol...it made me giggle!

I love the shampoo idea & really want to give that a try.

The deodorant experiment always made me a bit nervous because what if I were out & about & all of a sudden noticed I had "issues"?

I could always carry a stick of deodorant with me, I guess.

I'll have to give it a try since I'm always looking for ways to get rid of chemicals too.

Thanks for the review :)

Steph said...

PS. I have a homemade dishwasher detergent recipe that I really want to try. Again, it's one of those things that have a 50/50 chance of blowing up in your face so I haven't tried it yet.

I think I'll find the recipe & give it a whirl though. I'll let you know how it goes!

Anonymous said...

The Deodorant Problem
When we gave up on all things aluminium (which means crystal deodorant sticks too) we tried everything else and had to change often, must be some sort of genetic thing, 2 of us have a perspiration problem. Living in an extremely hot climate makes it worse. Something would work for a while, grapefruit seed extract, baking soda, coconut oil, etc. and then sudenly not work anymore.

Finally after years I found out that the vinegar from making umeboshi (Japanese pickled plum) using organically grown plums and that pink salt works better than anything else. I make them every year, so never a shortage. I found out the phenols in the plums are not much different from the phenols in the grapefruit seed extract, but must be stronger. The vinegar is clear and has a nice smell. It hasn't failed yet. ---Sue