Deodorants and antiperspirants contain so many harmful ingredients! Unfortunately, if you don’t wear any, you smell…and no one wants that. When you’re shopping for deodorant, you want to be extremely mindful of the ingredients in your deodorant or antiperspirant. Your armpits contain lymph nodes and (for women) they are located right next to our breasts. Whatever we apply to our armpits can easily make its way to our breasts.
Some ingredients to look out for and avoid in deodorant and antiperspirant are:
Fragrance: “Fragrance” is an undisclosed concoction of chemicals that can cause allergies, asthma, contact dermatitis, hormone disruption, and cancer.
Propylene Glycol: Propylene Glycol can cause skin irritation. (I personally have experienced this. It causes itchy red bumps on my skin.)
Aluminum: Aluminum can cause degenerative neurological diseases such as Alheizmer’s, Parkinson’s, and Multiple Sclerosis. It has also been linked to breast cancer (and guess where you apply deodorant…next to your breasts!)
PEG’s: PEG’s can be contaminated with 1,4 Dioxane which is classified as likely to be carcinogenic by the EPA.
Mineral Oil: Mineral Oil contains Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons which can cause skin cancer. Definitely don’t want to put that on your skin!
Talc: Most Talc is contaminated with asbestos which is carcinogenic.
Phenoxyethanol: Phenoxyethanol is a cancerous skin irritant that “natural” products have in place of parabens.
There are much better options for deodorant that don’t contain any toxic ingredients! Read on for the list!
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1. Earth Mama Organics Deodorant:
Earth Mama Organics Deodorant doesn’t contain any toxic chemicals. It’s fragrance free, propylene glycol free, aluminum free, free of everything harmful! It comes in multiple scents as well as an unscented option. Their scents are essential oils and they are rated a “1” in EWG’s database (super clean!)
The ingredients in their Lavender deodorant are:
Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil*, Zea Mays (Corn) Starch*, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda), Beeswax*, Magnesium Hydroxide, Maranta Arundinacea (Arrowroot) Powder*, Tocopherol, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Flower Oil*, Calendula Officinalis (Calendula) Flower Extract* *Organic
2. ThinkSport Deodorant:
ThinkSport is toxin free too. Their scents are unisex and they are also rated a low score of “1” in EWG’s database!
My favorite scent is the aloe & tea flowers. The ingredients to that scent are:
Caprylic / Capric Triglyceride, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut Oil), Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Cera Alba (Beeswax), Zea Mays (Corn Starch), Maranta Arundinacea (Arrowroot) Powder, Sodium Bicarbonate, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Coriander Seed Oil, Citrus Paradisi (Grapefruit) Oil, Aloe Barbadensis (Aloe Vera) Juice Extract
3. Primally Pure Deodorant:
Primally Pure Deodorant is super clean (again) and it also contains Kaolin Clay to detoxify!
Here are the ingredients in the Blue Tansy Scent:
Organic Arrowroot Powder, Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, Tallow from Grass-Fed Cows, Organic Beeswax, Baking Soda, Non-Nano Zinc Oxide, White Kaolin Clay, Organic Geranium Essential Oil, Blue Tansy Essential Oil, Rosemary Extract, Non-GMO Vitamin E
4. Earthly Mineral Deodorant:
Earthly is toxin free and scented using essential oils. They also have an unscented version too if you’re sensitive to essential oils.
Their unscented formula ingredients are:
Apricot Oil, Candelilla Wax, Magnesium Chloride Flakes, Arrowroot Powder, Mango Butter
5. Make Your Own!
I like to make my own deodorant using baking soda, arrowroot powder, coconut oil, and a few drops of essential oil!
Recipe:
2 tbsp Baking Soda
2 tbsp Arrowroot Powder
3 tbsp Coconut Oil
A few drops of essential oil (I like lavender essential oil or lemon essential oil)
Mix the ingredients together and store in a glass jar.
Now that we’ve covered some great toxin free deodorant options, I want to make you aware of some commonly known greenwashed deodorants.
These are deodorants that are marketed to be super clean however, they contain toxic ingredients that we want to avoid.
Tom’s Of Maine Deodorant:
Tom’s Of Maine Deodorant contains Propylene Glycol. Also, on the label is “Natural Fragrance.” I did some digging into their fragrance ingredients and I didn’t see anything super alarming however, why not just disclose those ingredients on the label? I need to do more digging because to me, either they’re lazy, or they’re hiding something… in my opinion…
Native Deodorant:
I really want to love native! Their ingredients look good until you get to “Fragrance” on the label. Also, when I was trying to look further into their ingredients, their website did not make it easy. They have a lot of “formulated without” lists, but they don’t list fragrance ingredients that I could find. If you know where I can find a list of their fragrance ingredients, let me know in the comments!
Alaffia Deodorant:
You may have seen this brand in the “Natural” section of Wegmans, Whole Foods, and even Target. Unfortunately, they use phenoxyethanol in their deodorant…
When it comes to going toxin free, just do your best with the information you have and the budget you have. Unfortunately, toxin free products tend to be more expensive however, making your own is a great cost effective solution!
Do you have a favorite toxin free deodorant that I didn’t mention? Let me know in the comments!
Great information! Will have to try these! I get frustrated at some stores looking for good deodorant. Have you heard of Crystal deodorant? I like that they have clear and roll-on kinds. On their website it says that their fragrance is “natural fragrance made with essential oils and extracts” and they have unscented products. Not sure about other ingredients or if they’re organic, but they describe them.
https://www.thecrystal.com/pages/ingredients-list
I’ve tried crystal! With just their regular salt deodorant I think is fine. It just doesn’t work that well for me when I sweat 😅 I’m just always careful with “natural fragrance” unless they actually list what ingredients are in the natural fragrance.