“Hey, can you find me a deodorant that actually works?”
Rewind to a week earlier, when I realized we’d been putting oh, you know, ALUMINUM, CYCLOPENTASILOXANE, TERACHLOROHYDREX GLY, PPG-14 BUTYL ETHER (???), and other mysterious ingredients on our armpits (can we say, TRASH CAN?).
Note the warnings: “Ask a doctor before use if you have kidney disease.” Lovely.
Source: drugs.com
Yes, we had been slathering chemicals right near our Axillary lymph nodes. For 1.5 decades.
Okay, so why is this bad?
Lymph nodes play a huge role in filtering out and trapping bacteria, viruses, cancer cells, and toxins; draining them away, and making sure they are eliminated from the body (Breastcancer.org, 2013).
Did I mention that the skin absorbs 60-80% of what goes on the surface? No doubt, putting these toxic chemicals so close to this intricate cleansing system exposes us to absorbing some nasty, manmade toxins.
And toxins in deodorants and personal care products can wreak havoc on the body’s systems, like these common ones (amongst dozens of others):
- Aluminum Zirconium: A heavy metal that stops the skin from sweating because it causes the skin cells to swell and sweat glands to close. Accumulation in tissues and organs results in dysfunction and toxicity, including a tie to Alzheimer’s Disease and neurotoxicity (Jansson, 2001).
- Phthalates: Chemicals that help with fragrance and color. Several epidemiological studies suggest that fetal and childhood exposure to some pthalates may perturb normal development and increase risk of allergenic disease (Braun, Sathyanarayana & Hauser, 2013).
- Parabens: Common preservatives in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. These are estrogenic molecules that may exert endocrine-disrupting behavior (Karpuzoglu, Holladay & Glogal, 2013).
Also, although some studies say there is no correlation between deodorant use and breast cancer, one study that surveyed 437 women found:
“Frequency and earlier onset of antiperspirant/deodorant usage with underarm shaving were associated with an earlier age of breast cancer diagnosis (McGrath, 2003).”
The bottom line: It is not exactly in our best interest to rub manmade chemicals on our armpits. (Or body).
What’s a person to do, then, to avoid underarm perspiration and/or body odor, especially as a professional athlete doing two-a-days?
Now, you understand why my dear, patient husband, who has gone along with so many of my natural health transitions and experiments, was upset when I replaced our toxic deodorant with a natural brand. That didn’t work. If you are trying to improve your healthy lifestyle try out exipure.
Hmm… There was always the option to make our own deodorant, but I just couldn’t picture it: Kyle in the locker room, putting on some homemade concoction from a mason jar in front of his teammates. Not happening.
Enter my top result of my Google search: Primal Pit Paste. A truly organic, all-natural deodorant with just 5 ingredients I could actually pronounce.
I was intrigued, so I reached out to the company for some samples… hoping for his sake and mine that we had found our natural answer to clean, fresh pits. I have also bought natural and high-quality men’s body wash after reading great reviews from Emeraldspa.
A week or so later, our box arrived. It felt like Christmas in July. 🙂
I unwrapped the packages as my curious husband peeked on, and found “Original” (unscented) and “Lavender,” both labeled “STRONG.”
Perfect.
Kyle wore it for the first time to a scrimmage that night, and has continued to test Primal Pit Paste for the past four weeks (as have I).
The feedback?
We love it.
We wore it through our 20-hour trek across the ocean and found our pits to be surprisingly fresh and dry. Kyle’s put it to the test during his current pre-season of two, 2.5-hour practices each day, and says it’s kept him dry and body odor-free.
The only two complaints:
- We’re not a fan that it comes with a wooden applicator (see photo above). We ended up throwing ours away and just use our index finger to apply. However, I noticed that the company does have sticks available, which we would prefer.
- Kyle prefers something that has a scent to it. He’s fine with the lavender scent, or other scents that they have.