I’ve reviewed a ton of natural deodorants.

Let me back up. When I knew I was pregnant with Carmen, about 5 years ago, I started nesting pretty much immediately. Part of that nesting was eliminating and swapping my personal care products.

The biggest doozy was deodorant. I mean, a cream is a cream. A lip gloss is a lip gloss.

But…I didn’t want to…smell.

I did my research and realized that I had to do it cold turkey if I was going to do it at all. The body needs to detox out all of the deodorant ingredients I had been using for 2 decades. Here’s what I learned, and then see what I tried.

Keep in mind, this blog post is ~5 years of use. It’s not something I tried over the last few weeks – this is real deal!

First up: Sweat.

Do you know the difference between deodorants and antiperspirants? Deodorants work on the odor, antiperspirants work on the sweat. We are taught that sweat is the enemy. Sweat is, in fact, not the enemy and is needed to detox and keep balance in the body. The aluminum in antiperspirants blocks your pores to prevent the sweat from escaping. BUT when you remove this factor, you are allowing your skin to BREATHE, remove build up and regulate internal temp.

If you swap to natural, yeah, you might sweat more at first. Body is purging from however many years it was unable to do so. You will soon normalize and balance out. Truly, I don’t really sweat much anymore – even during a workout.

Also, fyi for the fashion-conscious – it’s the aluminum in antiperspirant that yellows your shirt, not sweat!

Next up: Body Odor.

This is the reason I have tried so many deodorants. From the list below, which I’ve outlined in more detail, I found that they mostly worked to try to cover up scent with fake flowers.

It was like BO mixed with fake flowers.

You should look for a deodorant that is using essential oils, first off, because if it says ‘fragrance” it is just a (chemical) mixture that in my experience, is not going to be as effective. Some oils are going to work better for you than others; which I’ll also discuss below.

If you want my honest opinion, you also have to kind of detox your body internally to make this mission the most effective and efficient.

DETOX

1 -Chlorophyll is an internal deodorizer. Use it in your water daily and see if it helps you (it helps me).

2- Apple cider vinegar and fresh lemon can help to neutralize bad bacteria (bad bacteria = stink). You can try applying one of these after a shower (but not after shaving, ow!) with a cotton ball and air dry.

3- Uh, you can also try a detox mask, on your pits – but who wants to sit with their shirt off, arms up above their head for 15 minutes while this dries? I’ve read some pretty gnarly reviews on the process, and also not convinced it actually works.

4- What I do recommend is to eat cleanly while you make the switch, lots of veggies.

5- And I like to use a body scrub to exfoliate/scrub my armpits in the shower each night.

Anyway, now for what I tried!

The first product I tried was a Thai crystal salt stick. I used this for a few weeks exclusively.

Application: Easy. Rolled right on. But, was super “wet” feeling so had to wait a few minutes before putting a shirt on.

Effectiveness: It worked for everyday use, but wasn’t very effective when working out.

Next, I tried Lavanilla – probably 2 or 3 of the formulas, which I picked up at Whole Foods. This didn’t last long.

Application: Easy. Rolled right on like regular deodorant.

Effectiveness: Did not work for me, at all. Not commuting to work, sitting at my desk, nor working out. This is one of the formulas that smelled like BO mixed with flowers.

From here I tried Schmidt’s, Rose scent

Application: Easy. Rolled right on like regular deodorant.

Effectiveness: This one too, didn’t work at all – in any scenario. I thought this one would have a good chance since it was backed by some major investors and had a huge presence at Natural Product Expo. I also love the scent of rose – but, no.

The next thing I did was try Philly local, Piperwai. I got this around the time they just started out and were making the product locally. It was fantastic! The first one to really do the job right. Smelled like a straight up SPA.

Application: Not easy. At the time, the only option was the jar from which you were to make two small pea-sized amounts of clay and roll it on under your armpits. They now have a stick, which I’ll mention in the next section.

Effectiveness: The original formula worked great. In fact, I used it for 3-4 years exclusively, despite having to rub it on every day. They key, I learned, was to make sure every part of the underarm was covered properly. It worked while I was working, sitting at home, working out, walking in 90 degree heat – anything. At some point during this time, they won Shark Tank, and I don’t know if the formula changed or what – but I noticed that it was starting to not work as well for me anymore. They offered that I do an armpit rebalance, but I don’t have time for that. lol.( I also tried the new stick formula which was just God awful – did not work at all for me!) To close, I would still use Piperwai, provided I didn’t find something better. It’s not terrible, just not the best for me anymore!

OK, I once traveled to San Francisco and forgot my deodorant. I couldn’t bring myself to use something from the drugstore since I worked so hard at this natural deodorant thing. I went to Nordstrom and into their beauty section and they had the Agent Nateur Holi(stick). I paid the, like, $40 to take this home and here’s my review.

Application: Another easy application with roll-on application. VERY WET. It was so slick, I had to wait forever to put clothes on – and even then, still felt like it was seeping through.

Effectiveness: Truly smells DIVINE but…doesn’t really work. It smells like something really beautiful on top of BO. I would use this on a super light day, hanging at the house, when I just want to smell like a spa.

I recently have been seeing. a lot of news about Primally Pure. I talked with a local Philly food blogger about them because I noticed that she was promoting them a lot. She swore up and down about their deodorant so I decided to give it a try. In full disclosure, I did buy this deodorant on my own, and then the brand gifted me a second formula to try. When it comes to finding products that really, really work – I don’t want to feel obligated to post about something that wasn’t the best for me – so I usually will purchase things for the first time to try them out.

Application: This rolls on in an applicator as well, which is great. However, I notice that I end up with a good amount of it kind of falling down the sides of the applicator, which I then take and apply back on top. A little bit of a hassle, but not the end of the world – and maybe I just apply it too hard, haha. It dries pretty quickly and I notice that it doesn’t get on my clothing.

Effectiveness: YES. This is my winner right now. I’ve used it for over one month and I have tried two of the formulas: Charcoal and Blue Tansy. Honestly, I expected the Charcoal to work better…for no other reason than charcoal is super-buzzy right now for removing toxins. But I really love the Blue Tansy more! Here is a good example, I think, of the essential oils working for you on an individual basis. The two formulas are slightly different here in terms of scent, and the BT works better for odor reduction. Smells divine! I’ve used them both for everyday and workouts and both work fine – with the BT inching ahead. As of writing this post, I have worn it for two days without a shower last night, with a slight reapplication this morning, and still going strong.

This post is NOT sponsored, but after figuring out, via my own purchase, that I love this brand – I have reached out for a discount code for you. I do make a small commission if you purchase this – in full disclosure. Use code healthcoachphilly to save 10%.

Have you tried anything that I haven’t mentioned here? Let me know!