Underneath it All
One quick look at me and "hippie" doesn't exactly come to mind. Probably because I've ether got a ribbon in my hair, pink puffballs on my tennies, or both (!) on a good day. But I've been called a little hippie on more than one occasion and I have to admit, I have some hippie tendencies... I'd prefer to be bougie and call these tendencies "European" but whatevs... I don't LOVE showering, like I do it, obvs, but I don't LOVE it, I avoid chemicals like the plague, I eat organic to an annoying degree, and my bathroom cabinet is lacking a few of what many would call essentials: Shampoo (more on that later), aaand deodorant.
Once I stopped eating chemicals, it only made sense to also keep them off my body... I started to look twice at the clinical grade Secret stick I was swiping on every day and kinda got really creeped out. Like how strong must that stuff be to actually prevent sweat from coming out of you? Uhhh really super strong. And also, aren't people always saying "sweat all the toxins out"? Why are we trying to keep that sh*t trapped inside? So I pushed that Secret stick aside, only using it "for special occasions", and I didn't even pack it when I moved to Sydney. Eventually I forgot it altogether and fully embraced the no-deodorant life.
Gross? Like, honestly not really. The times you get the sweatiest (i.e. after an intense workout), you always shower afterwards, right? So putting on deodorant is kind of a waste anyway. And on normal days, I just don't sweat that much. You probably don't either, you just don't know it yet! Sweating gets a bad rap but it's really just the smelliness that we aren't keen on. And I'm here to tell you that there are ways around that without having to swipe on a slew of toxin-trapping chemicals.
At Natural Expo West, I got sent home with several all natural deodorant options. I gave each a week trial and the clearcut winner is Primal Pit Paste. It comes in a little jar and you just rub a pea-sized amount under each arm. It keeps me smelling fresh throughout pilates and spin and best of all, it's got "NO BAD STUFF"! I chose the Patchouli scent (maybe I have a little hippie in me after all...) and there are literally only 6 ingredients...!!
I HIGHLY recommend making the switch or at least finding a deodorant with NO aluminum. Aluminum is actually toxic! It has no business being anywhere in your bod. And while there isn't any definitive study that shows deodorant causes cancer, there is a correlation. The location of the lymph nodes under our arms is important to note. Their job is to rid the bod of toxins so clogging them up with chemicals like aluminum is extremely dangerous.
It should be mentioned that when you do make the switch, there is "detox period". I didn't experience this since I hadn't been wearing regular deodorant, but apparently, if you switch from an aluminum deo to the natural kind, you'll experience a detox period where your bod is pushing out all the gunk that has been trapped there for YEARS...yes that's right, YEARS!! How gross is that?! Just knowing that would make me want to switch ASAP. Time to get that junk OUT of your bod!!
