A Rant About An Everyday Item

[omorka]

So, not really thinking of myself as a consumer, but wishing to be a responsible one when I am, I try to buy personal hygiene products - soap, shampoo, conditioner, etc. - that aren't tested on animals and that use a minimum of really gross petrochemicals. This means that I tend to buy hippie-crunchy brands that you can only get at Partial Edibles or Middle Market around here. That, in turn, means that if those two stores change what they carry, or if they just both run out of something at once, I'm pretty much screwed.

Now, growing up, my mother (did I mention that my parents were frugal when I was a child?) refused to believe that deodorants and antiperspirants were anything other than a corporate conspiracy, rather like makeup, and she not only did not use such things herself, she forbade me in my early adolescence from using them as well. She mixed up a simple homebrewed deodorant from cornstarch and baking soda, and when I grew old enough, she would give me some of hers to use. My body chemistry is apparently stronger than hers (see also the disastrous Alaska trip), however, so this had less than optimal results. Finally, when my begging and pleading to let me use something stronger was of no avail, one of my teachers mentioned to her that I was becoming soaked with sweat in the un-air-conditioned portion of our school and that clearly I needed an antiperspirant, not just a deodorant. At this request from a grown-up, rather than her child, she relented. However, I quickly discovered that I have virulent skin allergies to most commercial antiperspirants, largely due to the perfumes. We found one unscented one that only caused mild reactions, and I used that, uncomfortably but unstinkily, for years.

Around my last year in college the reactions started getting worse. My best guess is that this time what I was reacting to was the primary active ingredient in any antiperspirant, the aluminum compound. So I started trying out various "all-natural" hippie-crunchy brands, and discovered that none of them worked well with my body chemistry - not that I was reacting to them badly, but that they tended to stop working before a full workday had passed. This is probably because, once again, none of them are actual antiperspirants; it is a given within the health-food community that aluminum is bad for you, not without reason. Finally, I found that Tom's of Maine had among its "natural" deodorants a single antiperspirant/deodorant combination - which had buffered alum as the aluminum component. This returned me to the "mildly irritating but it mostly works" stage.

This past week I went by Partial Edibles to pick up another one, as Middle Market has never carried the item - and found none on the shelf. On asking the nearest salesfreak, I discovered that the manufacturer had stopped making it. However, they had also recently reformulated their deodorants. Frantic, I decided to try one. Unlike all of the other granola deodorants, this one actually seems to have some staying power. Unfortunately, it didn't come in "unscented." I ended up with the lemongrass variety, which is okay as a scent but clashes with most of my body-scent oils. Middle Market today had the unscented variety, which I will try and see if it (a) works as well and (b) doesn't mess with my other scents.

I am worried, though, that the heat of summer will make the fact that these are not antiperspirants all too obvious . . . I suppose I should resign myself to either buying a non-granola commercial one and itching all summer (and killing bunnies besides), or showering twice a day. :/

Comments

[quantumduck.livejournal.com]

I pretty much have the same issues with deoderants you have. For years I either stank, smelled strange and sweated, or had arm rashes.

My skin turns red and itchy with most brands, but mild amounts of aluminum silicate seem not to be the main issue. These days I find that Arm&Hammer make a decent unsceneted with the dreaded (but much needed) aluminum in it. I can even buy it at non HippieMcCrunchie's stores like Target or the local drug store.

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

At least antiperspirants and deodorants WORK on you. I sweat through 'em in no time, which leaves me still stinking AND with sticky gunk coating the hair of my armpits...

[pinesandmaples]

Have you ever considered shaving your armpits?
I know it sounds weird and creepy, but I swear that body hair holds the bacteria that makes us smell worse. It would help cut back on the smell, at least.

[memeslayer.livejournal.com]

I've heard that too. Didn't do a side-by-side comparison when I started shaving mine, but at the very least I don't end up with tangled armpit hair anymore. And armpits are pretty low-maintenance -- a few seconds with a razor once or twice a week are all you need.

[omorka.livejournal.com]

Tangled . . . armpit . . . hair . . . ?

Okay, maybe the weird cultural expectations about what women ought to shave have some redeeming value after all. *shudder*

[memeslayer.livejournal.com]

"Tangled" might be to strong a word. Sometimes a couple hairs would get stuck together, and when I lifted my arm they would pull apart painfully. I had the same problem with my pubic hair before I started trimming it.

I don't see any reason for anyone not to shave their armpits. It takes all of 20 seconds twice a week, and if you're shaving anyway, you've already got everything you need.

[(Anonymous)]

I started doing that once I was bicycling everywhere in L.A. It really does help.

[quantumduck.livejournal.com]

I started doing that once I was bicycling everywhere in L.A. It really does help.

[dreamingkat.livejournal.com]

I second the shaved armpits thing. I didn't do it when I lived in SoCal or Arizona, but after moving to Houston, between the humidity and the change in diet, it became necessary.. It seriously helps cut down on the scents.

[cifarelli]

Ehhh...you make my issue sound like no issue at all. I hope you are able to find something that works and doesn't make you miserable at the same time.

I'd used Ban unscented roll-on for years, and for the last year or so I was wearing it, I found that my underarms itched like crazy all the time. Somehow I figured out that was related to my deoderant/antiperspirant, and I switched to Arm & Hammer deoderant. It's a deoderant-only formula (no antiperspirant), and doesn't make me itch. Unfortunately, it also doesn't come in an unscented formula. Fortunately, I don't seem to be sensitive to the scent. Fortunately, I also don't tend to sweat heavily, so the lack of antiperspirant is rarely an issue.

[dreamingkat.livejournal.com]

oh, I noticed at some point (after getting an internet forward and looking at my dad's stuff) that several men's deodorants don't have the aluminum stuffs in them. The sort you would get at Target and are advertised on TV, but my dad uses a lot of unscented stuff.

I have no clue if you'd be allergic to whatever they use instead, but I thought it might be worth mentioning.