Sweating is a completely natural process, but why-oh-why does it have to be so wet and stinky in some areas? Well, there’s many sweat glands over there! For some reason or another. Anyways, I do know that the widely advertised chemical perfumed deodorants don’t appeal to me, for multiple reasons. The most important being that I definitely want one that hasn’t been tested on animals and it turned out years ago* that most of them don’t meet that criterium. So I went on trying all the cruelty free and affordable deodorants I could find, finding that most of them only worked for a short period of time, a few weeks or months, after which the skin of my armpits ‘got used to it’ and got sweaty again. Bummer.
Mineral salt deodorants
Then I found out about deodorants made out of some mineral salt, by reading this article of Dutch beauty blogger Mascha on her website Beautygloss (actually no, she’s Russian). She writes that she started using a mineral salt deodorant of the brand Crystal Spring, because of the horror stories on the effects of Aluminium Chlorohydrate. This type of Alluminium is often being used in anti-transparants, as it blocks the pores as to stop perspiration. The mineral salt deodorants don’t contain this creepy thing.
In the store I found a mineral salt deodorant of the brand Crystal Body Deodorant (CBD). They explain on their website: ‘Crystal Body Deodorant products are made from simple mineral salts that form an invisible layer of natural deodorant protection on the skin. While most deodorants mask odor with heavy scents or fragrances, the natural deodorant alternative of Crystal deodorants prevent body odor at its source by creating an unfriendly environment for bacteria.’ The mineral salt they’re using is Potassium Alum, which is of course an absolutely amazing mineral.
Well, I don’t know so much about all of that, but it sounds good to me! Plus, PETA reports that Crystal Body Deodorant is cruelty free, so does not test on animals, and vegan. So I got myself a nicely shaped crystal rock and started using it.
My experiences
The most basic mineral salt deodorants are solid crystal ‘rocks’. The way to use such a thing is by wetting it and then rubbing it onto the target area, so some of the awesome Potassium Alum particles will settle there and do their thing. In the beginning it’s a weird thing to do, but you get used to it.
I am not sure for how long I’ve been using the crystal deodorant, but long enough to know that for me it works perfectly. I don’t usually perspire heavily, but always when I forget to use deodorant, I end up having somewhat sweaty armpits, which makes me uncomfortable.** Using this deodorant prevents that from happening. My armpits stay dry and cosy. It also prevents them from getting smelly, but in my understanding sweat and smell come together, since sweat enhances the growth of bacteria. Right? Anyhow, I feel super comfortable using the crystal deodorant! So therefore I’d like to spread the word to where it hasn’t gone already.
Some more notes: For using the solid crystal rock one, one needs to have access to water. This can be a bit annoying at times, when you just want to get dressed in your room, but for me it’s worth it anyways. You’ll always have water around, also while traveling, so it’s not that much of a problem really. Sadly, there are actually still lots of people without access to clean water. So if you are going to help them, you might want to bring a sprayable version: mineral salts dissolved in water. I have tried such a product, but for me it didn’t work, because the opening got blocked several times and that annoyed me quite a lot. Though, that one was of another brand and maybe it was just bad luck.
The thing lasts FOREVER. I feel as if I have been using it for many years now, while actually I am not sure at all, and I don’t really see it getting smaller! I did see it getting cracked, what happened when at some point the rock fell out of its beloved plastic home. This makes using it somewhat less comfortable. But, oh well, it still works! This does make me want to write that you can consider buying a smaller one first, to see if it even works for you. I know that Crystal Spring has very cute ones, which are more purse and traveling friendly.
I bet there’s tons of companies selling these kinds of deodorants. CBD also has a lot of different deodorant products, next to the most basic rock one.
Other natural alternatives
If it turns out the natural mineral deodorants don’t do it for you: there’s some more nice natural options, like using baking soda, coconut oil and/or apple cider vinegar. I haven’t tried any of this, but I do know success stories are out there, just like this one with recipe here. You can check it out. Quite possibly there are even more good alternatives out there. If you know or find them: I’d like to hear!
So, that’s my deodorant story. How about yours?
* I haven’t been buying many cosmetics in the past few years, so I haven’t read up on the European ban on animal testing of march 2013. But I do still prefer brands that were already 100% cruelty free before that specific law passed.
** I want to add here that I do think that you can get used to that feeling and that it’s not necessarily bad or unhygienic to have some (noticeable) sweat. Everyone is free to have their own standards.
EDIT August 2017: After having used the salt deodorant for years, I started feeling pain when using it, so this may happen to others too. Now I stopped using deodorant altogether. For me this works, since I generally do not sweat a lot.
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