So you’ve made the switch to natural deodorant (hooray!) but you’re at the stage where you’re thinking it might not be for you...hang in there. Lots of people don’t realise that making the switch means going through a detox stage.
Most deodorants are full of ingredients that stop you sweating. Ingredients that can be harmful to your body. Ingredients that we’ve left out of our natural deodorant, because well, they’re harmful to you and harmful to our environment.
There’s a lot of misconceptions about natural deodorant. Many people think it’s making them sweat more. But truth be told, your body needs time to adjust. And it doesn’t happen overnight! It can take up to a month to fully detox from aluminium based deodorants, and transition to all-natural.
First things first, here are the all-natural ingredients you’ll find in our deodorant so you know what you’re rubbing into your skin and how they work:
- Corn Starch: to soak up excess moisture and keep your armpits feeling dry.
- Coconut Oil: to kill bacteria, fungi, and yeast (what happens when sweat interacts with your body and causes body odour). This helps get rid of the body odour in a natural way.
- Sodium Bicarbonate: to naturally neutralize odours by eradicating bacteria.
- Peppermint Essential Oil (Certified Organic): contains natural cooling and soothing properties with natural antiseptic properties to help to balance your skin's pH level. It’s the perfect addition to deodorant because of its fresh scent!
Secondly, let’s talk about stages. Most people typically go through four when they’re switching to a natural deodorant:
1. No change
You may notice little to no change initially when you start using a natural deodorant. This may be due to the fact that the aluminium compounds from your old deodorant are still in your pores.
2. Higher odour and sweat levels than usual
After a few days/a week you may notice higher odour and sweat levels. Hang in there! This is normal. We repeat. This is normal. Your underarms are purging built up toxins and bacteria from your old deodorant.
3. Odour and sweat levels decline again
A week or so you'll find odour levels and sweat decline again (yay for your armpits!).
4. The home stretch
Congratulations. You’ve made it this far and your detoxing phase is almost over. You may notice the odour has become less and less. While our natural deodorant will help give off a fresh scent and help decrease your sweating - we can’t guarantee it’ll stop you sweating altogether. It’s not an antiperspirant as such, because if we wanted it to be it’d be riddled with chemicals. And no one wants that!
Our tip for getting through the process? Carry your deodorant and applicator with you. That way you can reapply if/when you’d like to throughout the day.
We also love doing an armpit detox mask. Yep, it’s a thing and it really does help! Detoxing your armpits will help to speed up this adjustment period as well as extract some of the nasties that are found in chemical deodorants. It can also help keep the sweat at bay. Wellness Mama has a great recipe for this on her blog here. All you need is:
- 1 tbsp bentonite clay (you can get this from your local bulk food store)
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1-2 tsp water
Mix all the ingredients together and apply to your underarms for 5 - 20 mins. Wash off and repeat as required.
Remember, it’s short term pain for long term gain. While it may take time to adjust initially, you’re making a decision and switching to a product that you use every single day that your body (and the planet) will thank you for. Stick with it!
