Since the weather is heating up here, it seems like an appropriate time to talk about…deodorant (if there’s ever an appropriate time). 

Lately I’ve been trying to transition to as many natural body care and home cleaning products as necessary. I have no idea why it took me so long but I’ve finally discovered all the amazing natural body care products out there. Given my vegetarian/vegan eating habits, commitment to composting, and buying local and organic it seems like I would be just the type of person to be using natural care products. I was thinking about this and realized that all of the commercials and print ads that I see are for the non-natural products – so maybe I’m drawn to what I’ve heard/seen?

Anyway, I finally clued in and started paying attention to the ingredients list – and the “cruelty-free/no animal ingredients or testing” labels. That is a big one for me. There are some natural products that I can find at Trader Joe’s (where we do the weekly grocery shopping) and I also make trips to Sprouts and Whole Foods for additional items. Even Walgreens has a small selection. So far, I’m loving my Jason Shampoo and Conditioner, Jason Body Wash, Kiss My Face shave cream (LOVE this product), Earth Science Almond-Aloe moisturizer with SPF, and Hugo style gel. Oh, and Tom’s toothpaste – love.

What I am less happy with is natural deodorant. Natural deodorants do not contain antiperspirant, which comes in the form of aluminum. I definitely don’t like the idea of smearing aluminum on myself every day. But I've tried two types of Tom’s natural deodorant and one type of Nature's Gate deodorant and they are just not cutting it. I definitely don’t have the feeling that those girls on the Sure commercials did - I’m not confidently raising my hand for a taxi or pointing broadly in a big important meeting in front of clients. And this is just on normal days, when I’m sitting in my air conditioned office. 

Side note: also, can we talk about the fact that Tom's deodorant comes in a “Beautiful Earth” scent? As in, my underarms are supposed to smell like beautiful earth? I don’t even know what that’s supposed to smell like! But it really made me laugh so I had to buy it. If ever there was a natural, hippie product to be parodied it must be Beautiful Earth deodorant.

So for now I’m rotating days between a regular antiperspirant/deodorant and Beautiful Earth which seems to be OK. I’d like to only use the natural but with even hotter days on the horizon I’m just not convinced. When I run and take spin classes I really need my deodorant to be there for me. I'm all for natural products and I'm even willing to pay more for them. But they have to work!

Maybe I need to switch brands - ? Do you have a brand that you love? Or maybe natural deodorant is just going to be a product that falls short of its synthetic, animal-tested equivalent. Sad face.