Okay let’s all be honest with ourselves…we all smell. LOL every single one of us has BO but to what extent varies from person to person. So we are told to wear deodorant, cool. However, do any of us know what’s in our deodorant or antiperspirants?
We use deodorant and antiperspirant interchangeably but they aren’t exactly the same. Luckily they both fight body odor!
Deodorant reduces body odor by targeting the nasty smell producing bacteria under the armpit. Most of the time they use triclosan or chlorhexidine which is a molecule that fights those gross bacteria. Triclosan has come under FDA questioning in recent studies due to its apparent changes in hormone regulations. They also use cyclomethicones as the fast drying liquid base for aerosol deodorants. Cyclomethcines have an environmental impact because it only partly breaks down in water. Again, it is another material that is under investigation by the FDA. Of all ingredients, deodorants have sodium benzoate as their main preservative system to keep it fresh for longer.
Antiperspirants on the other hand, fight odor by eliminating the amount of sweat. This is done through the use of zirconium or aluminum compounds that form a plug sort of material that blocks the sweat from coming out of the glands. Over time, the antiperspirant goes away and will need to be reapplied. We all know the rumors about aluminum and its link to breast cancer and Alzheimer’s. Both of these can be debunked by looking at the studies that “proved” that these diseases were caused by the aluminum or zirconium. It’s a pretty controversial topic so if you want to look into please let me know and I can help you separately. They say that one of the main studies used women who already had breast cancer. In the study they measured their aluminum levels directly from their under arm glands. As for Alzheimer’s, most of the studies were on rats who exhibited bundled nerves that scientists perceived as early Alzheimer’s but had no definite proof.
I personally use an all natural crystal stick. It’s an ammonium alum salt that I wet and apply. It has no scent or anything potentially that could harm me. I will link it in case you want to try it out!!! It lasts me pretty well!!
There are so many types of deodorants and antiperspirants but choose the one that fits your lifestyle best! Don’t let others decide that for you! You know your body the best so pick what you think is best!!
Xox, Z
