Below is an article entitled 'Do Any of These Hippie Deodorants Work?' by Kat Stoeffel. One of the deodorants I used to use all the time was Secret so I can totally relate to Kat!
Do Any of These Hippie Deodorants Work?
By Kat Stoeffel (New Yorker Magazine)
"I am not known for my noncarcinogenic lifestyle. I prefer aspartame to agave, reheat takeout pad Thai in its original plastic container, and think most wines pair best with a cigarette. So my newfound opposition to aluminum-based antiperspirant has nothing to do with conflicting reports that it causes breast cancer or Alzheimer’s disease.
My beef lies in a bottom-drawer graveyard of crisp, white blouses, quickly abandoned for their yellowing armpit seams. For a long time I believed — shamefully — that the yellow stains were a by-product of my inherently foul sweat, but I learned recently it is in fact a chemical reaction between aluminum-based antiperspirants and laundry detergent. (Although, for the record, my sweat is inherently foul. Even at the end of a weeklong chemical-substance-beauty-product detox I did once while traveling alone.)
Last year, I switched to the Tom’s of Maine deodorant on sale at the gentrifier’s bodega in my neighborhood. But then I found myself buying up emergency sticks of Secret in drug stores all over town. Cheating got expensive. So for the past month, I tested some non-aluminum deodorants to see if the hippie-dippy stuff could stand up to my stench, or whether I'd have to go back to black.
Recommend:
Okay, let’s get this out of the way: Cream deodorant is a pain. You can’t get it under your arm with that same hand, so you end up digging both hands into tiny pots of gunk (good luck closing it afterward), getting pungent essential oils under your nails and assuming a very unsexy, Mary Katherine Gallagher pose. But the consistency of Soapwalla’s cream — a waxy balm with a fine grit — is pretty much ideal for this kind of work, and a little went a long way. It smells like peppermint and it worked past midnight, on a day when I hadn’t even showered. Soapwalla Deodorant Cream, $14
Highly Recommend:
Another reason I'm ambivalent about aluminum deodorant is my belief that for most of human history, everyone smelled bad all the time, and our anxiety about it was only invented very recently, by advertisers. This French cologne dating to 1862 (the active ingredient is alum stone) undermines that theory. The clear roll-on worked all day, including through a panicky half-hour search for a subway stop in an unfamiliar corner of Brooklyn in 90-degree heat. The blood-orange and rosemary oils made me smell like the expensive hand soap you get at Williams-Sonoma. Le Couvent de Minimes Everyday Deodorant, $13.50
All Around Winner:
It smells like Teen Spirit — literally, the old purple floral one — and doesn’t leave the white spot that would have stained the black dress I was wearing, just like a girl in a deodorant commercial. It didn’t last for the full 72 hours advertised, but by the time it started to wear off — after almost 48 hours, an outdoor dance party, a long run, and a shower — I was too busy trying to figure out if I could buy shares in its Israeli manufacturer to care. Lavilin Roll-on Deodorant, $16"
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