Thanks to natural deodorants, I'm no stranger to a mid-workday wardrobe change. I've dashed off to shops to purchase fresh clothes and aluminium-laden antiperspirants. I've offered robotic handshakes to strangers and greeted friends, boyfriends and close-proximity colleagues with pre-emptive apologies. After years of bouncing from brand to brand and losing space on my bathroom shelf to a build-up of solid sticks, crystal sticks and roll-ons, I finally found a natural deodorant that works: Urtekram's Deo Crystal, a vegan liquid roll-on.
Let’s get a few things straight first. Antiperspirants stop you from sweating, while deodorants fight off the stink when you do sweat. So why choose a natural deodorant in the first place if it means having to sweat it out?
Going natural means avoiding usual nasties such as parabens and phthalates, but aluminium is the ingredient at the centre of the great antiperspirant debate.
The active ingredient in your average supermarket stick of antiperspirant is an aluminium-based compound that literally blocks your pores so the sweat – or at least some of it – can’t escape.
Many converts to deodorant-only sticks have been swayed by inconclusive evidence that this ingredient causes breast cancer and other health problems. Others simply prefer to take an as-nature-intended approach to their pits, allowing them to breathe freely.
And then there are the folks who are fed up with retiring white shirts tainted with yellow pit stains. That’s right – it’s believed those pesky yellowing seams on your favourite white blouse are not strictly speaking from your sweat, but rather the aluminium in your antiperspirant when it combines with sweat.
Determined to go as natural as possible with everything I put on my body, without sacrificing efficacy, I’ve tried all sorts of hippie-dippy deodorants that I could easily pick up in Irish health food stores.
Tom's of Maine, Jason, Green People, Lavera, Salt of the Earth.
No dice.
Most saw me suffering from aluminium withdrawals by lunchtime. I wanted something that wouldn’t leave white marks, wasn’t annoying to apply, was reasonably priced and actually worked.
I finally picked up a liquid roll-on by Urtekram, a Danish company that produces natural and organic personal care products. Now on my fifth bottle, I think I'm in love.
Sweat itself is actually nearly odourless; the funk comes from bacteria on your skin that break down the sweat. Urtekram’s deodorant fight off this bacteria with natural mineral salt, which is combined with glycerin and ingredients like rose geranium, aloe vera and patchouli, orange and lemongrass oils. This stuff works past midnight – no emergency wardrobe changes, no cheating with antiperspirants, no more robot-only dance moves.
It’s available in four mild scents: aloe vera, lime, eucalyptus and, my favourite, rose. I’d avoid the unscented option – it became less ‘unscented’ and more ‘raw onion’ the more I used it. It takes a few minutes to completely absorb, but it doesn’t leave white marks and it comes in cute glass bottles, colour-coded by scent. And €6.49 a bottle? I’d call that reasonable.
I’ve had the odd day of bad BO since switching to Urtekram thanks to a couple of ill-chosen jumpers – synthetic fabrics attract and trap moisture and bacteria, and thus the stink, more than natural fabrics – and I haven’t given up on trying out other natural deodorants, even the awkward scoop-and-rub cream variety.
But overall Urtekram’s Deo Crystal is a delightful little bottle of long-lasting stink-blasting potion that works a sweet-smelling treat.
Available in health food stores, including Evergreen, Nourish and Health Matters’
