If you are looking for a plastic-free alternative to your current deodorant, switching to a natural deodorant is one of the main options. However, refillable deodorants and antiperspirants are becoming more widely available.
What is a natural deodorant?
There isn’t a legal or regulatory definition of ‘natural’ in UK cosmetics (or ingredients)1. Because of this, what is considered ‘natural’ can differ among products and brands.
However, deodorants are generally considered natural when they contain ‘naturally derived’ ingredients such as essential oils, sodium bicarbonate, plant waxes, etc. Typically, they don’t include synthetic ingredients that are found in regular deodorants.
The difference between deodorant and antiperspirant
Whether natural or not, deodorants and antiperspirants have different functions and ingredients.
Deodorants
Deodorants are designed to inhibit the growth of odour-causing bacteria, as well as provide a pleasant fragrance to further mask body odour.
How antiperspirants work
Antiperspirants are designed to prevent (or limit) the amount of sweat that your underarms produce. When applied to your underarms, the ingredients (commonly aluminium salts) create a temporary gel plug2 in your sweat ducts, just below the surface of your skin.
When your body senses that sweat ducts are plugged, it stops the flow of further sweat.3 This reaction reduces perspiration under your arms and therefore prevents the process of body odour being formed.
Generally, antiperspirants will also have deodorising properties and a form of fragrance included in their formulas.
Why do people choose natural deodorant over antiperspirant?
Some people don’t like that antiperspirants block your body’s natural sweating process, while others may be uncomfortable with the types of ingredients that are used to prevent sweating.
Is natural deodorant effective?
There are natural ingredients that can help promote dryness and fight odour-causing bacteria, but the ingredients in natural deodorant are unlikely to offer you the same levels of dryness as an antiperspirant.
Natural deodorant formulas can be effective enough for some people, but may not provide the results that others like. As our bodies are all different, it will come down to personal preference as to whether you like the results.
Do I need to detox my armpits?
The short answer (in my opinion) is no.
When I first switched to natural deodorant, I came across lots of advice about needing to go through a transition period. I also read that my underarms would need time to “detox” from my old deodorant and adjust to the ingredients in a new one.
Having used natural deodorants for many years myself, I’m pretty sceptical about this advice.
If you’ve been using antiperspirant and then switch to natural deodorant, I imagine it could take a few days for the effects of the antiperspirant to wear off. You may also feel like the amount you’re sweating changes because of this.
Personally, I think the advice about applying masks to your underarms to “detox” them is all a bit unnecessary. Your normal wash routine should do the trick.
The main thing to remember is that if you’re getting any irritation or unwanted side effects from using natural deodorant, it’s not part of a transition period; the formula isn’t right for your skin.
Who are natural deodorants likely to work best for?
If you’re a light sweater and don’t particularly struggle with body odour, then you’ll likely get on well with natural deodorant. If you like having antiperspirant properties in your deodorant, you might struggle with the switch.
Natural deodorant ingredients that promote dryness
Baking soda
Sodium bicarbonate/ bicarbonate of soda (aka bicarb) is a very commonly used ingredient in natural deodorants. It can help keep your underarms dry and odour-free. You may have even seen DIY recipes for zero-waste deodorant using this as the main ingredient.
Why bicarb isn’t for everyone
One of the drawbacks of baking soda in natural deodorant is that it can cause skin irritation. This is largely due to the difference in pH level of bicarb (alkaline) and your skin (neutral to acidic).
My personal experience of using a natural deodorant that contains bicarb was not positive. I tried a few different brands before fully making my mind up, but ultimately I experienced redness, itching and underarm irritation when using the products. The reaction took a couple of weeks’ worth of regular use to show up.
Bicarb-free formulas
If you’ve got sensitive skin and want to avoid baking soda, look out for deodorants that contain ingredients such as arrowroot powder, tapioca starch, cornflower or activated charcoal powder instead.
Once I’d worked out that baking soda was causing my underarm irritation, I switched to a formula that was bicarb-free and haven’t had any trouble since.
This is why I currently only stock bicarb-free natural deodorant options.
Products by Category
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Spice Natural Deodorant (Bicarb Free) – Nirvana Natural
Original price was: £9.50.£7.00Current price is: £7.00.
Are there other options if I don’t get on with natural deodorant?
If you’re looking to swap purely because you wish to reduce the amount of single-use plastic in your personal care routine (and are hoping for a plastic-free product that works in the same way as your current antiperspirant), natural deodorant might not be the right choice for you.
Instead, you may wish to try a refillable antiperspirant.
If you have any questions that haven’t been answered in this post, you can send them to me via the contact form at the bottom of the page and I’ll try my best to answer.
Got a question about plastic-free deodorant?
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