The Truth About Body Odors: Natural Deodorants vs Antiperspirants. How to choose?

Body odor is a natural process that occurs when sweat and bacteria mix. For some, it can be an embarrassing issue that they struggle with daily. Sweating is a healthy bodily function, but it can sometimes produce an unpleasant smell. There are many different deodorants and antiperspirants on the market, but people are starting to migrate to more natural options. Let’s take a closer look at the difference between deodorants and antiperspirants, and why people are making the switch!

When we sweat, we affect microbial balance in the armpit creating an enzymatic reaction that produces bad odors. I explain this process in detail below, because its understanding will guide your decisions about the right deodorant for you or your children, so, keep reading!

Perspiration is the way our body regulates our body temperature. When our internal temperature rises, our sweat glands excrete sweat, which is made up of more than 60 compounds such as water, salts, electrolytes, steroids, organic acids, and fatty acids, among others. When we sweat, our temperature decreases.

We have two types of sweat glands in our body:

• Eccrine sweat glands. Located throughout our body. These are fully developed by 3 years old

Apocrine glands. are located in specific places such as the armpits and genitals, start their development at the age of 7.

This happens because:

• Microorganisms grow in moist environments
• Sweat released by apocrine glands has a neutral pH (about 7) which makes the armpits less acidic than other parts of the body
• High moisture and neutral or slightly alkaline pH creates an environment for bacterial growth

When perspiration occurs and microorganisms grow, the latter break down the sweat through an enzymatic reaction, resulting in volatile molecules with an unpleasant odor.

Because the main difference between antiperspirants and natural deodorants is based on the way these two attack the odor formation during this process. Let’s explore each one.

If nature has shown us something, is that our body is a perfect machine. Thinking about altering any physiological function should be taken seriously. This is why antiperspirants are not considered cosmetics but drugs.

The active ingredient used by antiperspirants to accomplish this clogging glands mission is an aluminum salt called Aluminum Chlorohydrate or some derivatives like «aluminum sesquichlorohydrate» or aluminum-zirconium complex.

Aluminum salts used in underarm products have been the subject of several scientific controversies. Although there is no consensus on this yet, experimental observations indicate that its long-term application may correlate with breast cancer development and progression, and because its particle size can be easily absorbed by the body, it can also create interference with estrogen signaling.

This is why aluminum-free deodorant has become a regular search term.

As we talked earlier, antiperspirants and deodorants are different. When we remove the aluminum salts from the product, it is no longer an antiperspirant but a deodorant, which means it attacks the odor formation process from a different perspective, which we will look at in detail below.

Indeed, a natural antiperspirant doesn’t exist, as the action of altering our physiology is not considered natural. Said so, let’s talk about what is a natural deodorant and how these work to neutralize odors without invasive mechanisms or ingredients.

• Inhibiting the growth of bacteria through anti-microbial ingredients which could be present in certain essential oils like tea tree, in some plant extracts, or specific antimicrobial ingredients.
• Absorbing sweat from the armpit through the use of absorbing ingredients like activated charcoal, arrowroot powder, tapioca starch, corn starch, or kaolin clay.
• Creating an armpit environment in which bacteria can not thrive such as those extremely alkalines using ingredients like baking soda or magnesium hydroxide.
• Using naturally derived enzymes that change the metabolic process of the bacteria, which results in an odor-free complex instead of that resulting from using sweat as the metabolic input.
• Using natural astringents that reduce excessive sweat secretion such as sage oil or extract

Now that we understand how aluminum-free deodorants neutralize odor, let’s understand the difference in choosing natural deodorants above regular ones.

• Natural deodorants use natural fragrances instead of artificial fragrances. These could even be fragrance-free, which is perfect when choosing a deodorant for sensitive skin
• Only natural deodorant tries to choose antimicrobial ingredients free of parabens which have shown a negative impact on human health.
• Natural deodorants include natural ingredients that absorb moisture instead of using synthetic materials.
• The natural deodorant world is full of plants and extracts with amazing properties that inhibit odor formation from the very enzymatic process which is the case of natural mineral salts or compounds like zinc or potassium.

Traditional deodorants try to achieve odor protection purposes with ingredients that are not necessarily derived from nature. Is that bad? It depends on your lifestyle. In my case, I always choose nature.

Not really. When choosing the best natural deodorant there are some tips to think about:

• We like smelling fresh and odor protection but we want to avoid skin irritation caused by strong fragrances or sensitizing essential oils, especially if is going to be used by someone with sensitive skin
• We want to inhibit the growth of odor-causing bacteria but we don’t want to kill our microbiota balance in the armpit. Remember, when we talk about our skin, balance is everything
• We want natural deodorants that can be easily absorbed without leaving stains on our skin or clothes

Many natural deodorants are presented as balm bars and their main active ingredient is baking soda or magnesium hydroxide.

So, if you are looking for the best natural deodorant, always choose «baking soda free», and check out the ingredients list to avoid magnesium hydroxide in this. Despite this latter is less harmful than baking soda, it works under the same approach.

Ok, now we know that we will choose aluminum-free and baking soda-free deodorants. We are now left with those which combine:

• Odor masking
• Mild anti-bacterial properties
• Absorbing materials
• Natural astringents
• Natural enzymes or ingredients that support the bacterial metabolization process

Best natural deodorants also come in creams. This presentation can combine oil soluble and water soluble ingredients to produce a stronger product. They usually include active ingredients such as zinc ricinoleate or zinc oxide which when in contact with sweat, transform its chemistry creating a complex that when metabolized by bacteria is free of the usual unpleasant odor.

Another combination of ingredients that are used both in traditional deodorants and natural deodorants is the duo triethyl citrate and farnesol which together, inhibit the enzymatic process of sweat decomposition and diminish the activity of bacteria.

If you were using antiperspirant and make a change to a natural deodorant, is common that your body releases the aluminum waste that still is left in your system.

It can be tough to navigate the world of natural deodorants and antiperspirants, but in summary, the best natural deodorant is the one that works better on you. In this blog post, I tried to arm you with a little knowledge, that allows you to make an informed decision about which product is right for you or your family.

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