Natural and Effective Deodorant
After years of testing many, many commercially available natural deodorants (none worked), I decided to make my own. Being a person who is very prone to sweating, I was skeptical that any natural product could ever work as a deodorant for me. Many natural and synthetic deodorants contain aluminum as an antiperspirant, and due to suspected links between breast cancer and use of antiperspirants containing aluminum (Darbre, 2005), I will not use those products. Contrary to popular misconception, baking soda does NOT contain aluminum; baking powder does. Due to health concerns, most baking sodas such as Arm & Hammer are no longer packaged in aluminum-lined containers.
I have found that baking soda works very well as a natural deodorant. I use different essential oil blends like the Pitta Massage Oil in the photo (blended by Healing Fields especially for Health Revolution Ayurveda), along with the baking soda instead of perfume. I apply the oil first, then the baking soda. Since heat diffuses scents into the air, when your body heats up, the baking soda will keep you fresh while your body heat diffuses the scent of the essential oils. I believe that this tip can save lots of people time and money searching for a safer alternative to synthetic deodorants.
(Reference: Darbre, P.D. (2005) 'Aluminium, antiperspirants and breast cancer', Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, 99(9), pp. 1912–1919).
After years of testing many, many commercially available natural deodorants (none worked), I decided to make my own. Being a person who is very prone to sweating, I was skeptical that any natural product could ever work as a deodorant for me. Many natural and synthetic deodorants contain aluminum as an antiperspirant, and due to suspected links between breast cancer and use of antiperspirants containing aluminum (Darbre, 2005), I will not use those products. Contrary to popular misconception, baking soda does NOT contain aluminum; baking powder does. Due to health concerns, most baking sodas such as Arm & Hammer are no longer packaged in aluminum-lined containers.
I have found that baking soda works very well as a natural deodorant. I use different essential oil blends like the Pitta Massage Oil in the photo (blended by Healing Fields especially for Health Revolution Ayurveda), along with the baking soda instead of perfume. I apply the oil first, then the baking soda. Since heat diffuses scents into the air, when your body heats up, the baking soda will keep you fresh while your body heat diffuses the scent of the essential oils. I believe that this tip can save lots of people time and money searching for a safer alternative to synthetic deodorants.
(Reference: Darbre, P.D. (2005) 'Aluminium, antiperspirants and breast cancer', Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, 99(9), pp. 1912–1919).