Natural Deodorant That Actually Works

Let me start this off by admitting something: I’m a sweaty, stinky person. The first time I went to New York, the summer after my senior year of high school, my friends nicknamed me “the fountain” because it was like someone turned the nob to HIGH on my sweat glands the second we took one step down into the subway station. It would start with the sweat mustache and just, ahem, cascade from there. When I was in marching band (proud tenor sax player here!), in the heat of the Florida summer sun, I was constantly self-conscious of the beads of sweat dripping down, nope, not my face, but from my butt cheeks. I mean, it was 100 degrees and 5,000% humidity, so cut me some slack, okay? Bottom line: deodorant and I are CLOSE friends. We are codependent. Well, I’m dependent, it could take or leave me.
 
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have a condition or anything (I know this because I know someone who did and…that was quite different)…I’m just a sweater. Somehow, my mother’s “oh, I forgot to put on deodorant but it doesn’t matter because I don’t sweat and I don’t stink” genes totally skipped right over me. Perhaps she saved all the sweat glands for me? Yeah, I think that’s probably what happened.

Deodorant…A (Sweaty) Journey

I wore woman’s antiperspirant, men’s antiperspirant, “clinical strength” antiperspirant. Somehow, I still had armpit sweat and the stinkies. UNTIL GUESS WHAT?!? I stopped using all of it. I vowed to test natural deodorants (meaning, aluminum-free versions) for an article I was working on years back at Apartment Therapy. It was a not-so-great-smelling two-week process to “detoxify.”

I could go all-in as to the science behind this because #research, but basically, antiperspirant keeps the pores in your armpits closed to prevent, well, perspiration. This doesn’t mean you no longer sweat, it just means it’s trapped behind a wall of closed pores. Once you open those gates, that muck has to go somewhere… (ew, sorry, that was gross). And once you let your body sweat, it SWEATS. At first…but don’t worry, it finds a balance eventually. I honestly feel like I less sweaty person since making the switch. I need to claim my wins somewhere.

“After that, I went on a journey of the natural deodorant world, making pit stops (ha) along the way.”

Anyway, I first tested a brand called Soapwalla and I LOVED IT, but the baking soda in it quickly turned my delicate underarm skin into a rashy, achy mess. I didn’t stink anymore, but at what price? (FYI, not everyone is as sensitive to baking soda, so this might not be the case for you).
 
After that, I went on a journey of the natural deodorant world, making pit stops (ha) along the way. Tom’s of Maine, more like Tom’s of Man Do I Stink. Primal Pit Paste (now called Pretty Frank evidently) was mostly okay but very grainy…like sandpaper. Native gave me hope but failed me after a workout. Lavanila “The Healthy Deodorant” possibly made me smell worse (how?!?). PiperWai…PiperWHY? Rosy Pits, I wanted to love you, but you just didn’t have the muscle to get me through. I could go on forever, my friends. Anytime I’d tell someone about my journey, that’d offer up a “but have you tried ______.” If I had, it didn’t work for me, and if I hadn’t, I did try it and guess what? IT DIDN’T WORK FOR ME.
 
And then it happened. I found THE ONE. The one that didn’t turn my armpits into burned up rashy plains. The one that kept the stink at bay the ENTIRE day, even through workouts, even in polyester, literally no matter what, I was stink-free. A feat I never thought could be possible. An achievement that even antiperspirant was unable to garner.
 
The victor? Schmidt’s Charcoal + Magnesium Aluminum-Free Natural Deodorant.

Finally, Stink-Free Victory

Now, I’ve tried many other Schmidt’s scents. Rose + Vanilla is pretty good, but it has baking soda and, I’ve already waxed poetic on the demerits of that for me. I tested their baking soda-free versions for this article I wrote years ago and meh. BUT THIS ONE WORKS. It actually has baking soda near the top of its ingredient list, but something about the formulation is less irritating for me. I’ve turned numerous people onto this (Charles, Veronica…you know who you are)…there’s just no going back.
 
I do have to tell you, though…it kiiiiind of darkens your armpits temporarily. The charcoal is not innocent, but I almost never wear sleeveless shirts, so I could not care any less about this. Black armpits > stinky armpits. Maybe that’s enough for you to turn away and look for something else. Perhaps you’re not a stinky sweaty monster like I am, and for that I bow down to you. But if you see yourself in the (sweat) puddle reflections I leave you, give it a try. It might just change your [deodorant] life.