Can we pause to appreciate my excellent pun title?! I deserve at least some recognition, after a long week of work alright! Anyway, my last post on green beauty and my favourite affordable skincare went down well so I thought I'd bring another one back, in a similar vein.
Sweat isn't fun at all when you're trying to concentrate and all you think about is whether your pits stank at work, and whether anyone can sense your deepening panic and fear. A quick recap: we all sweat, even Gigi Hadid (lol don't ask me why she just came into my mind) so we ain't got nothing to be ashamed of. Sweat is the way the body gets rid of toxins, and also keeps the body cool to make sure we're not overheating.
Body odour on the other hand, is a different story. While sweat is odourless itself, bacteria multiplies rapidly in the presence of sweat which causes a breakdown into acids and causes our biggest nightmare... #stanky.
Here's the difference though: the majority of antiperspirants on the high street market uses an ingredient called aluminium chloride, which blocks the sweat glands and prevent less sweat. Hence the name anti-perspirants. They stop you from sweating. Personally, the idea of stopping the natural body cycle to get rid of waste (namely: toxins) isn't appealing at all, and is something which may affect other organs in my body i.e. the face.
On the other stage, enter deodorants - they allow your body to sweat naturally, but aim to use ingredients to combat the bacteria which feeds off sweat. It typically consists of bacteriostatic ingredients: lavender, natural crystals, sage... a lot of natural herbs are used in natural deodorants. Here are a few of my favourites:
The newest in my crew is the MooGoo Fresh Cream Deodorant (c/o MooGoo £5.90 for 60ml) and smells amazingly creamy and fresh. I like using this as a top up throughout the day because it doesn't work as well as my other ones, but still worth mentioning because it's super useful, especially if you're having a lazy day where you're not up and about saving the world. It has lemon myrtle as a bacteria defending ingredient, which is the first I've seen but works quite well!
And now my ever-trusty Salt of The Earth Crystal Deodorant (only £3.99 for 50g)! It's travel friendly because it's not liquid, and you can bring it anywhere without fearing spillage. It's so easy to use as well: just apply it when your underarms are still damp, and wipe the crystal when you're done. Simple and effective. This is one of the longest latest deodorant I've tried, to my surprise, because I thought at first 'as if this crystal mumbo jumbo will actually help' but it did! And for the price, it's still worth checking out if you're unsure if you want to venture into aluminium free territory.
A green beauty cult favourite is obviously the La Vanila Healthy Deodorant Stick (£10 for 57g) in pure vanilla (£10 57g). It uses a variety of ingredients like seaweed, lemon and honeysuckle to diminish presence of bacteria. It smells amazing, and it's my #1 everyday. I'm on my second tube, so you know the love is real! It's the priciest one out of the bunch, but worth every penny for me personally. Plus I have a rotation of choices with my other three so it's no problem ;-)
Finally, we have an underdog: Lafe's Roll On Deodorant (£4.49 for 3oz). My mum bought this back from Canada when she went and handed me one. I was initially skeptical because it was a very very thin liquid and I didn't think it would be 'powerful' enough to help with odour. But boy, was I wrong. I love it on the days I don't use my La Vanila one, and it's a perfect everyday deodorant. It's got a pleasant smell, not too strong and just enough to give a subtle scent. Like the rest, it uses natural ingredients for pesky bacteria growth! This one's a star with hemp, coriander and witch hazel.
Other deodorants I like which are aluminium-free: Jason's Calming Lavender Deodorant, Neal's Yard Lemon & Coriander Spray Deodorant, Malin + Goetz Eucalyptus Deodorant.
Phew that was a long one eh? But one thing I'm trying to do is write more about green beauty because it's something I'm still exploring and have a huge interest in and thought it might be useful for anyone looking to go into natural alternatives, in a simple and easily understandable way :-) we'll be back onto the exciting things of fashion and food in the next one!
