Natural Deodorant - The 5 year journey continues

[chazbl]

Hi All,

I've been trying to use natural deodorants for about 5 years. I've gone from making my own mixture to using the likes of US companies Native and Schmidts - the latter two were both good deodorants but I had an issue with the amount of plastic packaging + the shipping from the US seemed a bit excessive.

So I've redefined my mission. I now want a Natural Deodorant made in the UK that works SUPER well AND comes in sustainable packaging.

I'm currently trialling 3 different companies:

Wild - Launching in April so haven't actually tried but their sustainable packaging looks beautiful and I've heard great things about the deo.
Ben & Anna - great cardboard packaging and smells good too, hasn't been 100% effective but only been trying for a week so will give it more time.
Salt of the Earth - seems to work well, smells are hit and miss and not sustainable yet.

I've also tried Nuud which isn't a UK brand but is EU, smells good and is truly sustainable which is fantastic. Unfortunately rubbing on the armpit with my hands was a bit gross so I've decided to stop that.

Interested to hear other suggestions from everyone and if anyone has some winners? I'll also post my results from the above UK brands + any new ones I come across.

I really believe natural deodorant is the way forward, the idea of putting nasty chemicals under my arms and blocking my pores kind of revolts me now so I'm determined to find the best option out there.

Thanks everyone.

I have tried tropic previously and found it not to be particularly good (would last about half the day). Also found it left marks, yes.

I'm testing (and roped my family into testing too), several at the moment.

Also managed to get an early sample of the new Wild natural deodorant too, so will report back on that shortly but looks promising, especially with the sustainable packaging.

Do the Natural Deodorant Co do any non-balm ones? Like sticks?

Has anyone tired the scence deodorant balms?

I saw them in Holland & Barrett today and wondered if they were any good. Comes in a cardboard tube - I assume you apply them a bit like a regular deodorant stick(?)

Anyone else make their own? I've been experimenting with various ratios of shea butter, coconut oil, beeswax, bentonite clay and essential oil for fragrance.

Hey yeh I made my own for a bit and it was fine but a bit hit and miss and I'm naturally quite a smelly person so didn't want to risk it too much! Those sounds about the right ingredients though, similar to me.

Had a look at the tropic one but it’s also an antiperspirant containing a form of aluminium which is found in other antiperspirants so wouldn’t call it a natural deodorant

Urgh I feel like this is a full time job OP. Like pp I can't use the bicarb kind. Bionsen is reasonably effective and easy to buy but I have no idea where it's made and the non-plastic version is an aerosol.
I go to the US quite a bit and buy a brand called Little Seed Farm which works, is made domestically and comes in glass. But then I take it home on a plane, which I guess isn't ideal.
I admit to loving Aesop deodorant but it's far from the green option.

I’ve been recommended these:

www.boobalou.co.uk/kutis-natural-deodorant.html

Thanks Dontsayyouloveme, will try that one out as well and let you know.

@psychedelephant - yes it is a full time job haha. That's kind of why I wanted to start this thread, get as many different ones then do a little test on myself and friends and family and try and find out which one it the best whilst also being natural and sustainable.

Hopefully I can get a conclusive result.

Neals yard do a lovely lemon and coriander spray one in a glass bottle

Reading with interest. I've been using Native unearthed charcoal deodorant which works brilliantly but it's making my underarms really sore.

Will try the Tropic after reading this.

I use this one, Pitrok and I think it’s good.

@waterandlemonjuice

Pitrok, I've tried, I believe they are about to go out of business though or at least are trying to sell.

@Toria70 - had the same experience with native, it worked very well but I think they either put too much baking soda in their formula or they're not using high quality fragrance which can often lead to soreness or rashes. Tropic, I haven't found to be as good but might be worth you trying.

I was thinking OP, Little Seed Farm do an applicator for applying creams, a little bamboo paddle: littleseedfarm.com/collections/deodorant/products/bamboo-deo-applicator I guess this is kind of a thing, people being grossed out by armpit rubbing

The baking soda issue is really annoying as that formula is the only one that ever truly worked for me as a 24hr odour-free option. I made my own and it was utterly bulletproof odourwise. After 1-2mos I suddenly got a terrible itchy burn, and eliminating the baking soda from the recipe (or subbing arrowroot as recommended) rendered it useless.

@psychedelephant

SO i've had exactly the same problem. One of the reasons I'm super excited to try Wild is that historically they've had the same efficacy as Native for me and worked as well. Their new formula contains baking soda but it's a really small amount. I asked them about it and they said that people often react to baking soda (apparently about 5% of us) but that this percentage will hugely decrease if you put a much smaller amount of baking soda in. I think a lot of the american brands put tonnes in as their hero ingredient and apparently Wild only put a trace amount in but in conjunction with their other ingredients, it supposedly still provides 24 hour protection.

I got my sample in the post this morning. VERY impressed with the packaging, loving the plastic free refills and the smells are really nice so its had a good start. Now for the test on whether it works as well as they say it will. I'm praying for this one as would love to continue using it, looks more like a premium beauty product than a deodorant.

Natural Deodorant Company is excellent

Natural deodorant Company are superb, they recognised the bicarb issue for some if their customers quite early on and have a gentle range which is bicarb free.

Thanks, I'll give the Natural Deo Company a try too!

Hey everyone,

I wanted to give an update on the natural deodorants I've tested in the last week. There have been 3.

Ben & Anna - The deo didn't improve for me, still isn't amazing but I applaud these guys for the sustainable packaging, if they worked on their efficacy of the actual product I'd def buy them. 6.5/10

Salt of the Earth - Got worse and worse for me, I now really dislike the smells (v. strong and artificial), I'd even question how natural these are. NOT a recommend. 3/10

Wild - BIG fan of this. I've only had it one week but this has hugely outstripped my already high expectations. The packaging is beautiful! Like literally stunning. It's fully sustainable with really cute little card refills and the deodorant works SO SO well, smells great (quite subtle) but by FAR the best deodorant I've used to date so absolutely thrilled with these guys. If I had to find a negative it would be that I did have to read the instructions - NOTE that to take out a refill, you first need to wind the mechansim all the way down. If I had just thrown the box away I might have missed that. 9.5/10

So overall, definite recommendation for Wild - I managed to get a sample early as I was an original customer of their first deodorant which they no longer sell and I had signed up to a customer testing thing. They launch 1st of April but are apparently going on pre-sale next week.

I've also ordered some Natural Deo Company stuff which I hope to test next week!

Is this a promotion for Wild dressed up as a non-biased post?

I also wondered this sparkling, the way the post is written, I can’t put my finger on what it is but I also wondered if it was a deliberate promotion.

Ha! It's not a promotion for Wild, although I'm very happy promoting them!! I'm hoping it will be a thread I can continually update people on as I try new natural deodorants. Wild simply happen to be the best I've tried yet. :)

I use an amazing one from Lavandi which is 100% plastic free. It is in a recycled cardboard tube and mine is Geranium and Vetiver. Smells amazing and works really well too, I never worry about it working. /I used to use Mitchum before I started looking into plastic free and it works as well as that imho.
We also use their soaps too.

And no I don't work for them...I do have a family history of breast cancer though which is what started me on the aluminium free and onto plastic free path

@bumhead - Thanks for the suggestion, I'd actually not heard of Lavandi previously so will definitely give it a test, looks great (and love geranium) so high hopes.

I've received my pre order of Wild this week and I'm not impressed. Packaging is good, it's like using a "proper deodorant" but unfortunately it isn't actually very effective. Smells lovely initially but it didn't last the day, and that was just a day of mooching around the house.