Underarm Deodorant Alternatives

[Ahnung-quay]

Hmm, tea tree oil. I have some of that to try as well. I like the recipe ginnyk and I'll be trying that one as well. So far the vinegar is still working pretty well as of this morning (applied yesterday morning).

[Bassplayer1]

Thank you Metaphor for the fresh lemon advice ... I came across your reply yesterday and as a result, today is my second day using fresh lemon only! And anyone reading this .... It works!!!

[Metaphor]

Posted by Bassplayer1 (here)
Thank you Metaphor for the fresh lemon advice ... I came across your reply yesterday and as a result, today is my second day using fresh lemon only! And anyone reading this .... It works!!!

Hallelujah...It sure does :-)
Glad to help

[TargeT]

Posted by Dennis Leahy (here)
$0.02 in this discussion:

Remember that our bodies, including the exterior of the skin, have a symbiotic relationship with numerous forms of beneficial bacteria. We don't want to kill 'em all. Not that any of the suggestions made so far are in the realm of "kill 'em all", but I though it might be good to remember we may want to think in moderate terms when speaking of eliminating some skin bacteria.

Dennis

I would go further and say bathing every day is a bit excessive and not good for our skin ecosystem, your skin is very active and doesn't need to be constantly doused in soap and other chemical preperations.

I do still "get wet" every day, but showering with chemicals is limited; two or three times a week at most.

[Yetti]

I use for the last 12 years just plain baking soda. We buy it by the bag 25 # is cheaper and also I use for my farm, to put it on the chicken and goat pen floor before the bedding straw, keeps the odors away!

[Sean]

I'll try some of the recipies here,but, for me, using non-aluminum deodorant like Tom's made a world of difference. I'll be honest: I struggled with BO for years because of the reaction I had in my armpits due to most conventional deodorants. I didn't understand what was happening. Once I figured it out, I told my doctors this was a problem, they laughed at me. This problem basically destroyed most of my relationships and had a pretty bad effect on my career as well. People never tell you to your face(well, rarely) that you stink. they just quietly exclude you. I wish it hadn't taken me so long to understand the problem..would have saved me much embarassment.

[vilcabamba]

There's one deodorant at Whole foods that works great. It's Aubrey E plus High C. It is the only safe deodorant that works effectively I have found. And I tried a lot of them and didn't like most of the natural ones.

[Violet]

I'm also deo free for about a couple of years now. Some observations for starting:

1) Though sometimes - after sports and such - soaked in sweat, the odour is not even half as offensive as when I used to use deodorant and be on junkfood diet.
2) You'll sweat out what you eat. I realised this when I was doing some garlic detoxing and went to the sauna. That whole room smelled of garlic and at first I didn't realise I was the culprit. Was just going: what's that garlic smell?
3) No more stains on shirts
4) No more clogging of whatever it was that clogged in the pits when I was using deodorant
5) If you shave or epilate, you'll notice that the pits actually get lighter as compared to when using deodorant (seems to leave dark stain in the pit).
6) Coconut oil will make grease stains though.

These are the things I use:

1) NaH2CO3 (sodium bicarbonate): take a bit of the powder, wet other hand palm, rub hands and rub on
2) NaH2CO3 (sodium bicarbonate) in one hand and a dab of coconut oil in the other, rub hands, rub on
3) You can make a deodorant out of this using equal proportions of NaH2CO3, coconut oil and cornstarch. Finish with essential oils if desired (tea tree, lemon).
4) I tried lemon, but I'm not sure yet, must try it more.
5) I will not try apple cider vinegar because the stench will repell people more than my natural odour, I'm sure. Therefor Delight's recipe for mixing it with lemon sounds good. Must try.
6) I might try household vinegar. Was that suggested too.
7) Last, and least, rubbing alcohol (if nothing else is readily at hand and I'm in a hurry)

[Violet]

Posted by TargeT (here)

Posted by Dennis Leahy (here)
$0.02 in this discussion:

Remember that our bodies, including the exterior of the skin, have a symbiotic relationship with numerous forms of beneficial bacteria. We don't want to kill 'em all. Not that any of the suggestions made so far are in the realm of "kill 'em all", but I though it might be good to remember we may want to think in moderate terms when speaking of eliminating some skin bacteria.

Dennis

I would go further and say bathing every day is a bit excessive and not good for our skin ecosystem, your skin is very active and doesn't need to be constantly doused in soap and other chemical preperations.

I do still "get wet" every day, but showering with chemicals is limited; two or three times a week at most.

Yup, showering everyday is also part of the market deal. It causes people to use more soap and shampoo and return to the store quicker. It's not necessary, except for very hot summers and then the focus will shift on just cooling.

[AjaJane]

I used to use Tom's, and I didn't like it at all, it didn't control any odour. I just switched to a brand called Jason and I really like it, I'd recommend it if you want the convenience of a conventional stick. Smelling good is important to me, because I'm a ballet dancer, so I sweat all day and I'm working closely with others. The Jason deodorant keeps me smelling alright for the whole day, just as well as my old aluminum-and-**** stuff. I use the aloe vera scent, which is basically unscented.

[kevlor]

simple - i just use my mms - i have had no deoderants for over six years, the mms has been working a treat

[Realeyes]

I am going to throw in a totally wild card on this subject that I don’t expect will become the next fad - lol.

Back in my teens I knew a beautiful young lady who didn't bathe nor wash her hair - she worked with horses yet didn't smell of horses. Her skin and hair were the healthiest I have ever seen, she glowed, her hair glistened and she never had any bad odour about her, she even allowed me to sniff her armpit to prove it. Once a year she would wash; her hair the rest of the time never looked greasy, always flowing as if just washed showing that lightness of perfectly conditioned hair. At that time I was an everyday wash girl myself and her idea of not washing repulsed me.

I never forgot this lady; she held a mystery I did not understand. About 25 years ago I decided to have my own experiment of not doing the daily wash. After 3 weeks my hair was driving me mad with grease and my scalp itched like mad; I couldn’t wait to pass the 6 weeks phase where the hair balanced out; I gave in grabbing the shampoo. YET I did not wash my body and continued with the experiment. What I noticed is that after 3 weeks all body odours disappeared over night (I have an acute nose for the subtlest of smells); by 4 weeks I started to have a smell of sweet flowers about me and this continued to grow stronger as the weeks unfolded where my skin looked amazingly youthful and I no longer needed body moisturisers because my body was naturally attending to this. I called off the experiment around 6/7 weeks as my 'social habit mind' convinced me this ‘non cleaning’ must be unhealthy......

This experiment taught me a few things, one being that the body takes care of itself. I now only wash my hair once a week, if I wash it more often it becomes greasy very quickly as if the body is saying 'we need to grease up'. I also only shower once or twice a week; if I wash more often I literally become smelly with body odour within hours, something I find most curious. I don't use any deodorants, just a simple flannel and water if I need to.

So in my own observations upon myself, it seems the more I wash, the more the body thinks it needs to grease or moisturise up the skin. Of course if I have been busy doing something that involves heavy manual labour and getting dirty I will have a wash - otherwise I just listen to my body when it is time to have a scrub down. Only my hands are regularly washed throughout the day for hygiene.

I had better add here that no one has ever told me I pong, on the contrary they might ask what lovely perfume I am wearing - I haven’t worn perfume for donkey’s years, it is my natural smell I tell them. I believe each one of us has our own unique pleasant ‘natural smell’ (when healthy) yet this natural smell rarely gets a look-in as it is covered over by so many unnatural strong smelling manufactured potions that we accept to be ‘the smell’ of perfect cleanliness.

I believe cleanliness begins from ‘within’.

Since my experiment (that some may think was just an experiment to practice being unhygienic and be ‘dirty’, I understand that thought pattern as this was my reaction all those years ago when I knew this lady) yet by taking this unlikely path I noticed something else that I found most curious. If I am doing a bad attitude or about to come down with a dis-easement of the body like a cold etc, I notice I started to pong real quick – for me it is a great warning sign that I am out of ‘balance’. When I stay in my ‘present’ observing and staying detatched to whatever drama is occurring around me, I smell sweet like flowers. So perhaps there is a link to the body smells we produce to what our state of mind is thinking/doing/being at the time?

I have heard stories of holy people who never wash nor do their one set of clothes get dirty – yet have a wonderful fragrance about them as well as a glow of radiant health. It always bemused me how it was even possible for clothes not to gather up dirt or stains from one’s journey..... I read in a book discussing this phenomenon explaining (paraphrasing) the clothes gathered up zero dirt because the owner of the clothes was mindful to not disturb ‘anything’ along their walk. I have greatly pondered this notion.

So for myself, I think there is much more to learn about different types of body ‘odour’ because it holds a lot of information about ourselves not only about how our body is operating, whether it is healthy/unhealthy etc, but spans deeper with information about our emotional, mental and spiritual bodies that we have yet to understand and decode.

Also a common theme when reading about historical spiritual people who obtained within themselves a peaceful presence is that many also had a sweet fragrance about them. Perhaps humans are trying to emulate this sweet smell with all these types of perfumes, an unconscious remembrance of sorts of the ‘smell of inner balance and harmony’?

Animals have acute noses for smell, I am sure this is part of their extra sixth senses. So for me personally I do not use perfumes because if my ‘odour’ changes, it is telling me something about myself, a message indicating imbalance of sorts, and when balance is regained I smell sweet once more.

Thank you for all the alternative natural ingredients recipes for making deodorant, I will pass these on to my friends who still use the regular roll-ons. I also found Aloe Vera useful as a deodorant.

[RunningDeer]

Posted by Realeyes (here)
I am going to throw in a totally wild card on this subject that I don’t expect will become the next fad - lol.

Back in my teens I knew a beautiful young lady who didn't bathe nor wash her hair - she worked with horses yet didn't smell of horses. Her skin and hair were the healthiest I have ever seen, she glowed, her hair glistened and she never had any bad odour about her, she even allowed me to sniff her armpit to prove it. Once a year she would wash; her hair the rest of the time never looked greasy, always flowing as if just washed showing that lightness of perfectly conditioned hair. At that time I was an everyday wash girl myself and her idea of not washing repulsed me.

I never forgot this lady; she held a mystery I did not understand. About 25 years ago I decided to have my own experiment of not doing the daily wash. After 3 weeks my hair was driving me mad with grease and my scalp itched like mad; I couldn’t wait to pass the 6 weeks phase where the hair balanced out; I gave in grabbing the shampoo. YET I did not wash my body and continued with the experiment. What I noticed is that after 3 weeks all body odours disappeared over night (I have an acute nose for the subtlest of smells); by 4 weeks I started to have a smell of sweet flowers about me and this continued to grow stronger as the weeks unfolded where my skin looked amazingly youthful and I no longer needed body moisturisers because my body was naturally attending to this. I called off the experiment around 6/7 weeks as my 'social habit mind' convinced me this ‘non cleaning’ must be unhealthy......

This experiment taught me a few things, one being that the body takes care of itself. I now only wash my hair once a week, if I wash it more often it becomes greasy very quickly as if the body is saying 'we need to grease up'. I also only shower once or twice a week; if I wash more often I literally become smelly with body odour within hours, something I find most curious. I don't use any deodorants, just a simple flannel and water if I need to.

So in my own observations upon myself, it seems the more I wash, the more the body thinks it needs to grease or moisturise up the skin. Of course if I have been busy doing something that involves heavy manual labour and getting dirty I will have a wash - otherwise I just listen to my body when it is time to have a scrub down. Only my hands are regularly washed throughout the day for hygiene.

I had better add here that no one has ever told me I pong, on the contrary they might ask what lovely perfume I am wearing - I haven’t worn perfume for donkey’s years, it is my natural smell I tell them. I believe each one of us has our own unique pleasant ‘natural smell’ (when healthy) yet this natural smell rarely gets a look-in as it is covered over by so many unnatural strong smelling manufactured potions that we accept to be ‘the smell’ of perfect cleanliness.

I believe cleanliness begins from ‘within’.

Since my experiment (that some may think was just an experiment to practice being unhygienic and be ‘dirty’, I understand that thought pattern as this was my reaction all those years ago when I knew this lady) yet by taking this unlikely path I noticed something else that I found most curious. If I am doing a bad attitude or about to come down with a dis-easement of the body like a cold etc, I notice I started to pong real quick – for me it is a great warning sign that I am out of ‘balance’. When I stay in my ‘present’ observing and staying detatched to whatever drama is occurring around me, I smell sweet like flowers. So perhaps there is a link to the body smells we produce to what our state of mind is thinking/doing/being at the time?

I have heard stories of holy people who never wash nor do their one set of clothes get dirty – yet have a wonderful fragrance about them as well as a glow of radiant health. It always bemused me how it was even possible for clothes not to gather up dirt or stains from one’s journey..... I read in a book discussing this phenomenon explaining (paraphrasing) the clothes gathered up zero dirt because the owner of the clothes was mindful to not disturb ‘anything’ along their walk. I have greatly pondered this notion.

So for myself, I think there is much more to learn about different types of body ‘odour’ because it holds a lot of information about ourselves not only about how our body is operating, whether it is healthy/unhealthy etc, but spans deeper with information about our emotional, mental and spiritual bodies that we have yet to understand and decode.

Also a common theme when reading about historical spiritual people who obtained within themselves a peaceful presence is that many also had a sweet fragrance about them. Perhaps humans are trying to emulate this sweet smell with all these types of perfumes, an unconscious remembrance of sorts of the ‘smell of inner balance and harmony’?

Animals have acute noses for smell, I am sure this is part of their extra sixth senses. So for me personally I do not use perfumes because if my ‘odour’ changes, it is telling me something about myself, a message indicating imbalance of sorts, and when balance is regained I smell sweet once more.

Thank you for all the alternative natural ingredients recipes for making deodorant, I will pass these on to my friends who still use the regular roll-ons. I also found Aloe Vera useful as a deodorant.

You continue to amaze me, Realeyes! Thank you.

[Violet]

Realeyes, I just came across this, reading about that other thread on H2O2:

Sound and Odor self diagnosis

Question: Body odor with a sweet tinge to it?

Which internal organ does that indicate needs attention?

Answer: Spleen / stomach

and

Using deodorant does one thing only- it masks your health disorders and allows the deterioration in your health to continue.

Full: http://www.hps-online.com/nlisten.htm

[Natalia]

I use this, it's natural and very effective

[RunningDeer]

Posted by Amethyst (here)
I use this, it's natural and very effective

Thanks, Amethyst. Here’s a blurb on it. It’s mineral salts, and also it's effective for feet.

Salt of the Earth Spray Deodorant

Salt of the Earth Spray Deodorant natural formulation works not by covering up body odour, but by eliminating the bacteria which cause it. An invisible layer of natural mineral salts prevents bacteria from multiplying providing remarkable all day protection. These mineral salts do not block pores but inhibit the formation of body odour on your skin, providing you with long lasting protection.

The unisex, unscented formula is suitable for vegetarians and vegans. Unlike conventional deodorants and antiperspirants, it does not make embarrasing white marks, like the conventional and it does not interfere with Homeopathic medicine.

HOW TO USE: Simply spray on clean underarms or feet. Hold 10 inches away from skin before spraying. It works under arms or even feet. Do not use on broken skin.

[Ahnung-quay]

Hi all. It's been awhile since I started this thread. I did try some of the recipes and ideas that contributors posted here with some good results.

Lately, I've been experimenting with essential oils. I tried liquid coconut oil in a roller ball bottle with a few drops each of lavender, thyme, tea tree, wild orange, and lemon.

So far, it's working great. Of course, it's the middle of winter and sweating is at a minimum right now. My recipe may need some adjustment as the warmer weather comes on.

I read that thyme oil and chamomile oil are good for women's breast health so that gave me the idea to use the thyme oil in my mixture.

Thank you for all of the responses!

[Olaf]

There was a company here in Germany that sould a "bio" deo stick with a small additive of living effective microrganisms (EM). They put it in because then it is not necessary to add any chemical preservatives. Besides the product then is pro-biotic and not anti-biotic, which is a much healthier approach.

This addition had also the effect that the EM drive away other bacteria. Per definition EM are kinds of bacteria that do not produce any poisonous substances. That's way they are so effectively used in organic agriculture to get rid off the bad smell of composting or when farming of animals.
With EM doing the work of decomposing substances from your skin you have no bad odor at all.

Unfortunately this deo stick became not very known, so they just stopped producing it. But I had another product with EM in it (a pro biotic drink) which also works when applied to the skin. You only need one drop of that solution (there are millions of EM in it).

In my case bathing did not help. I can bath as much as I want. Two hours later my skin will begin to smell at the armpits. Using effective microorganisms (in form of that "pro biotic" deo stick) I never have problems with bad odor.

[conk]

A distinction between deodorant and antiperspirant should be made. The antiperspirants are what we want to avoid.