It's not just the aluminum that is bad for you. Many of the other chemicals they put in the deodorants are known endocrine disruptors (easily googlable). Deodorants do one or both of two things: kill the bacteria causing the odor or cover it up with scent.

Some years back I decided to go with the former naturally and began making my own colloidal silver. I put it in a little spray bottle and hit the pits after a shower. If you want a little scent in there, put a drop of essential oil in it.

While I don't typically sweat much, I can get rather ripe without anything. I can't think of more than once or twice in the past few years that I've smelled anything in the pits at the end of the day. It works great for me.

quote:

Originally posted by patw:
I use "Crystal" mineral deodorant stick. It has no smell but does a good job with odor. You just have to apply it when you are clean and use a little water.

Yup, the crystal "rocks" or Thai Crystal Deodorant Spray
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NGWDY6W/

Many, if not all, of the crystals contain alum, which contains aluminum.

quote:

Originally posted by patw:
I use "Crystal" mineral deodorant stick. It has no smell but does a good job with odor. You just have to apply it when you are clean and use a little water.

This is what I was going to suggest. It leaves a layer of mineral salts on your skin which inhibit bacterial replication. It’s not supposed to clog your pores, but the salt is potassium aluminum sulfate which goes against the aluminum free. My uneducated guess is the salt form isn’t the pore clogging form of aluminum. I didn’t have Chemistry past high school. For example, potassium is a metal that does fun things in water, but the salt, potassium chloride, is boring.

Another vote for Dr Squatch. I was very surprised at how well it works.
Pine Tar and Alpine Sage are the two flavors I find I enjoy the most.
I like to switch flavor after each stick or my nose gets used to the smell.
I see they have a new coconut flavor I need to try.
Their soaps are pretty good too. Though I use Duke Cannons scrubber pouch or the bar itself does not last very long.

Only reason I bought their stuff years ago was of their silly commercial. I thought it was very comical and deserved some business because of it.

To my surprise the products actually worked very well.
It took some getting used to the cost increase but it is worth it!

I am pleased with Dr. Squatch as well.

Native. Smells nice too.

I found that my old standby Mennen didn’t work anymore for me. I tried Dr. Squatch, worked ok but the price scared me off.

So far Tom’s has been working good.

quote:

Originally posted by shovelhead:
I found that my old standby Mennen didn’t work anymore for me. I tried Dr. Squatch, worked ok but the price scared me off.

So far Tom’s has been working good.

Subscribe and save on Amazon with 5% back helps get it to like $10 a stick.
It works very well even better than the Old Spice I used to use so I bite the bullet.

Yeah, my Naturally Fresh Crystal says no aluminum chlorohydrate, but does have the potassium alum.


I've been using for at last 20 years+, my pits rarely sweat and I like it about as well as one could like their deodorant.

I "think" it is "safe" though I dodged chemistry in high school and college. Any one know either way for sure?

Bob

I too use native
Sea salt & cedar or ocean & timber.
Arm & Hammer essentials works well too.
Will have to try the Dr. Squatch based on all the positive feedback.

I stopped using anything with alum years ago. Since then, just cheap deodorant (not antiperspirant) in a number of varieties. Nothing has really impressed me.

My wife loves the Lume stuff. It is pretty pricey though. I tried it, but it seemed to get messy in the armpit hair. Didn’t think it was worth the coin.


I was at Costco last week and they had a three stick variety pack of Dr. Squatch, sticks are about twice the size of Lume, and while more $ than drug store standards, about half the price of Lume. If I recall, the pack of 3 was $24. Happy with it so far, wife likes the smell.

When I did the Camino de Santiago I got a bottle of Weleda Men's 24H Roll-On Deodorant off Amazon because of it's small bottle it comes in. I felt it worked pretty well.

Old Spice Classic stick. Last 50+ years.

Costco had a bundle of three different Dr. Squatch scents last night.