Deodorant & Antiperspirant Products: Friend or Foe???

Deodorant. Now here’s a product that we all use and, if we’re being honest, that we all need, as well. There’s no refuting this one, deodorant is a must for every person’s list of required personal care products. Male or female, the human body requires some form of deodorant or antiperspirant in order to prevent the smelly consequences that will arise without this product.

All humor aside, deodorant is without a doubt one of the most important products used worldwide by both genders. Though the brands may vary from country to country, the formula for the actual product tends to remain incredibly similar. One ingredient, in particular, tends to pop up in the majority of commercial deodorants. The cheap, generic products that typically cause nothing but trouble for the human body are likely to contain this mystery ingredient, as well. When browsing any personal care product section, it is near impossible to find a product without this toxic ingredient. The ingredient I’m referring to is Aluminum…both a heavy metal and a carcinogen (cancer-causing ingredient).

Now you tell me, is that the kind of ingredient you want in your deodorant? We’re talking about a product one applies in a heavily absorbable and porous area of the body. In other words, once you apply the deodorant to your armpit, every ingredient is absorbed into your body, your cells, and your bloodstream where it is processed and absorbed further internally.

The thing about heavy metals is that they take a very long time to be processed out of the human body once they’ve been absorbed. I’m talking years, decades even because these types of materials often become cellular debris. To cleanse each individual cell is no simple task, especially if you’re constantly pouring more of the same, toxic ingredient into your body on a daily basis. My best advice is to avoid aluminum-filled deodorants at all cost!

But how does one do this in a world where processed products have become the majority???

Lucky for those of us interested in all-natural products, other companies creating personal care products such as deodorant are too! One company, in particular, has actually created a guide for finding healthy, aluminum-free deodorant products. Reviews.com is a fantastic source for deodorant products that are both aluminum-free and beneficial for your body. I highly recommend checking them out if you’re in the market for a new aluminum-free deodorant, but aren’t sure where to begin.

Not only does Reviews.com provide awesome products to choose from, they also provide detailed information for each just in case you are interested in learning a bit more about a product before you actually buy it. Personally, I make it a rule to read the ingredient label before I even consider adding the product to my shopping cart! It may be the grocery store or it may be a cosmetic store…food, makeup, and personal care products all become absorbed into your body whether it is through the pores on your skin or the digestive tract in your stomach. Therefore, it is always wise to exercise caution when choosing any of these products and the best way to do this is by paying more attention to those ingredient labels. Though it may seem like a different language at first, the Internet is your best friend when it comes to decoding and understanding the confusing terms.

If you have any questions about a specific ingredient please comment below or feel free to email me at Katie@seizethedayblog.com. I’m more than happy to help decode any terms.

So, you may be wondering, “How on earth did such an unhealthy ingredient find its way into the formula of a product so highly related to the beauty / personal care industry?”

It’s a fair question since deodorant is a product that is supposed to actually help rather than hurt us! Well, we should probably start at the very beginning of the story…let’s discuss the difference between an antiperspirant and a deodorant. Although they look pretty much identical to one another, the purpose of each is actually quite different.

An antiperspirant is designed to keep you smelling good by completely blocking the pores in your underarm, thereby blocking the sweat (and the smell) from exiting your body.

Talk about cutting a problem off at the knees! Sweat became an issue and companies said, “No problem! We’ll just prevent you from sweating altogether!” Here’s my issue with this so-called “solution” to body odor: your body isn’t sweating just for fun or to make life more difficult for you, you are sweating for a very important reason! And that reason is so that you can easily clear your body of toxin buildup occurring within your cells, organs, tissues, and your entire body, basically. Here’s another little fact about sweat: Body odor (B.O.) is stinky because it is essentially bacteria from the inside of your body being excreted through your pores in an efficient manner. Mystery solved as to why nobody’s B.O. smells like a field of flowers!

Sweat may stink, but this bodily function is actually a process that is very healthy for you! Also, most commercial deodorant brands have chosen to use the heavy metal, Aluminum, as the pore-clogger. So, not only are you preventing the release of bodily toxins when you use an antiperspirant, you are also flooding your body with even more toxins from the Aluminum. Any way you look at it, antiperspirants are a lose-lose product for you and your own personal well-being.

I used to wonder if the ingredient, Aluminum, was chosen because it was the cheaper option, but as it turns out this heavy metal has a special talent that most people do not know about…it attaches easily to the hair follicle located within each pore in a person’s underarm thereby guaranteeing full blockage for a temporary amount of time. Whatever the motivation behind any company’s choice to exploit this ingredient may be, I don’t believe they were doing so with a big picture perspective. For example, the effect of a heavy metal on the human body never seemed to be taken into consideration.

Although more research is STILL required before a direct connection between aluminum and cancer can be made, Time magazine has reported that Aluminum, “can cause ‘gene instability’ in breast tissue…This instability can cause changes that may promote the growth of tumors or cancer cells, ‘over 50% of breast cancers start in the upper outer quadrant of the breast local to the underarm region.’ While that’s not proof aluminum is to blame, breast cancer incidence tends to align with use of products that contain the metal” (Markham Heid, Time.com).

The underarm is where your lymphnodes are located, making it an incredibly sensitive area. Like I’ve mentioned before, the large pores in your underarm make it a highly absorbable area, as well. When you smear an antiperspirant across the underarm, it is going to be absorbed through the pores and released into your body. Since this absorption process happening through your pores is different from the absorption processes taking place within your digestive tract, all ingredients within antiperspirants and deodorants can be released into the bloodstream before they are properly metabolized. The consequence of this unfortunate fact means toxic ingredients, such as aluminum, being stored within the cells and tissues throughout your body.

As if all of this information about aluminum isn’t bad enough, you should also know that once your body absorbs heavy metals of any kind, it could take years before your body will properly dispel of the toxic ingredient. That means you will have toxins just sitting in your body for an extended period of time. Hence, the link between diseases, such as cancer, and heavy metals like aluminum. Mercury is another heavy metal that should be actively avoided, but that’s for another article.

I mean, if you’re putting harmful ingredients onto and into your body the logical consequence would be poor health. Harm will come from poor-quality ingredients, which is why it is imperative you think twice the next time you apply any product to your body, especially your underarms!

The worst part is that aluminum has also made its way into deodorants, as well. Despite the purpose of deodorant relating more to the cleansing and deodorizing of the underarm area so that the smell is controlled, many commercial deodorant companies have still chosen to add aluminum as an ingredient.

Here’s my question for the deodorant companies choosing this type of product composition: If the pore doesn’t need to be clogged, then why include the aluminum ingredient?

Truthfully, I do not know the answer to this question. I have extensively researched this subject and I still cannot find a single logical reason as to why this ingredient is included in deodorant. It’s during times like these when I can’t help but wonder, “Are the companies producing these aluminum filled products trying to poison us?” Once again, I don’t know the answer to this question (although evidence would suggest a “Yes” answer). And I highly doubt I am going to get a concrete answer any time soon so instead of spouting crazy ideas that may sound more like conspiracy theories, I am going to look at the facts…the ingredient label for any antiperspirant and/or deodorant product is available online at the brand website. So, all food for thought conversation aside, let’s review the evidence provided by the product companies…

Women’s Secret Clinical Strength Smooth Solid Deodorant (Sensitive Unscented):

Aluminum Zirconium Trichlorohydrex Gly (20%), Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone, Trivehenin, Petrolatum, Cyclodextrin, C18-36 Acid Triglyceride, Fragrance, Ppg-14 Butyl Ether

Women’s Dove Advanced Care Original Clean Deodorant:

Aluminum Zirconium Tetrachlorohydrez Gly (15.2%), Cyclopentasiloxane, Stearyl Alcohol, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, PPG-14 Butyl Ether, Hydrogenated Castor Oil, PEG-8, Fragrance (Parfum), Dimethicone, Silica, Polyethylene, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Steareth-100, BHT, Hydroxyethyl Urea

Women’s Degree Ultra Clear Black & White Antiperspirant:

Aluminum Zirconium Tetrachlorohydrex Gly (11.4%), Cyclopentasiloxane, PPG-14 Butyl Ether, Stearyl Alcohol, Plyethylene, Hydrogenated Castor Oil, PEG-8 Distearate, Fragrance (Parfum), Silica, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Sodium Starch Octenylsuccinate, Hydrated Silica, Maltodextrin, Gelatin Crosspolymer, Hydrolized Corn Starch, BHT, Cellulose Gum

Dove Men + Care Clean Comfort Antiperspirant Deodorant:

Aluminum Zirconium Tetrachlorohydrex Gly (15.2%), Cyclopentasiloxane, Stearyl Alcohol, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, PPG-14 Butyl Ether, Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Fragrance (Parfum), Dimethicone, Polyethylene, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seed Oil, Steareth-100, BHT, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E Acetate)

As you probably already guessed, the ingredient called “Aluminum Zirconium Tetrachlorohydrex Gly” is the heavy metal component of each deodorant and/or antiperspirant product listed above. What you may not have realized is that it isn’t the only toxin present in each of the product examples I provided and the majority of processed products currently available in store or online.

If you read over each ingredient label, you may have noticed that almost every ingredient is nearly impossible to pronounce correctly and probably very unfamiliar to you. Honestly, the majority of ingredient labels in the cosmetic industry have become like this these days. The only positive aspect of this reality is that this very complicated “other language” most labels tend to use makes it very easy to distinguish between synthetic and real ingredients. A good rule of thumb when reading the label of any product is to assume it’s synthetic if:

You don’t recognize the term
It sounds like it was invented in a lab
It could also be found in the textbook from your high school Chemistry class

These toxic ingredients are exactly what we should be avoiding in our food, cosmetics, and personal care products. Let me provide you with an example of an ingredient label for a natural, Aluminum-free deodorant product so that you can see firsthand the drastic difference between the composition of these products compared to the synthetic products.

You will find a fantastic list of all-natural and Aluminum-free deodorants at the Reviews.com link I provided earlier in this article, but my personal favorite aluminum-free deodorant product happens to be one that is not included in the list on Reviews.com. Since it’s a good-quality product, I couldn’t not provide you with the details! The company is called Free Brands Inc. and their product is called Freedom Deodorant. Because of my extreme sensitivities to scented products, I prefer their Sensitive Unscented flavor. However, for those of you less sensitive to these types of ingredients, the brand has Lavender Citrus, Bergamot Mint, Frankincence Peach, and Amber scents, as well.

Previous to my diagnosis with epilepsy in 2009, I was a die-hard fan of Secret deodorant. They had so many scents to choose from and their products definitely kept all unwanted body odor away. So if I’m being completely honest, I had my doubts about using an all-natural deodorant product. I didn’t think there was any way a natural product would ever work better than the commercial products being sold at the chain-stores. I figured, if they weren’t being advertised on TV or sold in the local cosmetic stores, they weren’t worth my time. Boy, was I wrong!

Societal protocol taught me to trust the intentions of companies such as Secret, Dove, and Degree. Therefore, I didn’t question the ingredient labels, I didn’t even read them pre-epilepsy. Realizing the true quality of the majority of my personal care products was a rude awakening, but it helped me to abandon that naïve mindset I so wholeheartedly embraced for 15 years prior to my diagnosis. This rude awakening was the push I needed to open myself up to the changes only I could make.

I understand that this might come off as a marketing technique for Free Brands Inc., but I would like all of my readers to know that I am not connected with this company in any way nor am I receiving any kind of compensation for mentioning their product. Freedom deodorant happens to be one of my favorite natural products I am currently using and I only want to share the goodness with as many people as I can. This is no advertisement, it is simply a recommendation I feel could benefit everyone! Although I am recommending this product, please remember that I am not a medical professional therefore any recommendation I do make here on Seize the Day Blog is not medical advice, it is my own personal opinion and that is all. You always want to consult your doctor before making ANY changes to your daily routine.

Okay, let’s finally take a look at that natural deodorant ingredient label I promised earlier! I can express my opinion all day long here on this blog, but the absolute best way to convince any one about the quality of a product is to provide the facts…

Freedom Deodorant (Sensitive Unscented):

Cocos Nucifera (Coconut Oil), Butyrospermim Parkii (Shea Butter), Maranta Arundinacea (Arrowroot Flower), Bicarbonate of Soda (Baking Soda), Cera Alba (Beeswax), Kaolin (Kaolin Clay)

Does anyone see “Aluminum” or Aluminum Zirconium Tetrachlorohydrex Gly in that ingredient label?

Look for as long as you like, you won’t find it! And guess what…this product works great! I wear it everywhere…shopping on the weekends with my family (lately this has been 90 degree weather, the Summer heat is still holding on even though it’s technically Autumn!), to the gym, when I take my doggy, Dash, for a walk, to Disneyland, and it always lasts all day long! It is a tried and true product that deodorizes your underarms without blocking your pores, without filling your body with heavy metals, and uses only natural ingredients!

If you’re skeptical like I was at first, take a moment to re-prioritize how you view the opinion of society because even though Freedom Deodorant isn’t sold in stores or advertised on TV, it is a deodorant product that does work and is beneficial for your long-term health. How many deodorant or antiperspirant products can you say that about??? Forget social norms and embrace products that are healthy.

Between the natural and artificial sources existing today, our battle with heavy metals is a daily struggle. Why purposefully feed this toxic ingredient to your body, thereby contributing to your daily exposure with aluminum? Only you can make the change from aluminum-filled deodorant to an all-natural and aluminum-free product? The sooner you switch the healthier you’ll be…so what are you waiting for? Find yourself a deodorant product you can proudly call your friend and toss that “foe” of a product in the trash where it belongs!

**Side Note: When you begin using an all-natural deodorant, your body will go through a minor detox period that will last for about 2 weeks. During these 14 days, you might feel like your body odor is smellier than usual. You might even feel like your new deodorant isn’t working and therefore may be tempted to revert back to your aluminum-filled deodorant. Don’t give in to temptation!

You see, your body isn’t being filled with those toxins from your old deodorant product anymore. Because of this, your body actually has the chance to dispel of some of these horribly toxic ingredients. And trust me when I say, your body is going to take full advantage of this opportunity.

Once you get past the detox period, you’ll find the deodorant doing its job effectively and minimizing odor successfully. My sister and I went through this detox period and though it may be a bit inconvenient every once in a while; at the end of the day, it was the best thing possible for our health and it will be for yours, as well! Personally, I have found it beneficial to be aware of this minor side effect before you begin using a new deodorant product so that you can fairly judge the quality and effectiveness.

Medical Disclaimer:

The information posted on Seize the Day Blog, including but not limited to, articles, images, recipes, text and other material are shared for informational purposes only. None of the writings should be looked upon as advice meant to replace that of an actual medical professional. If you suspect you have a serious medical condition you should seek help from a healthcare professional immediately. Please be aware that the author of this website is posting information simply to inform NOT to recommend others about health-related topics. Before following any information (i.e. undertaking a new healthcare or diet routine) found here on Seize the Day Blog, you should always consult a medical professional first. Please be sure to never disregard any medicinal advice because of something you have read on this website.