Goodbye deodorant - Hello baking soda!

Hey everyone,

Just before Christmas my boyfriend and I went to Montreal for the weekend with another couple.  As we were about to head back home, we discovered that our car had been broken into outside of a Metro station and our friend's travel bag was stolen.  The hilarious part of this annoying incident was that our friend had a zip lock bag full of a white powder in his travel bag: baking soda.  Whoever opened that bag was probably quite disappointed once they injected/snorted/smoked all of that baking soda.  It turns out that our friend had been using baking soda instead of deodorant.  As always, I was intrigued and did some research.  Here's what I have learned:

Ok, let me begin by saying that anti-perspirant is the worst, followed by most deodorant brands.  Anti-perspirant reduces the amount of sweat secreted by the glands under your armpits.  It does this by plugging those sweat glands.   Many individuals who have struggled with acne their whole life have seen major improvements once they have ditched anti-perspirant in favour of plain old baking soda.  The reason for this medical miracle is that many toxins are secreted through our sweat.  When you are blocking toxins from exiting your body from your armpits they will want to find another way out... your face or your back.  Not cool.  Now the following is serious, aluminum which is found in antiperspirants can be absorbed by your skin in that region which is of course close to the breast.  Aluminum has been found to mimic estrogen and estrogen has been proven to encourage the growth of breast cancer cells.

On to deodorant.  Some brands of deodorant and anti-perspirants contain parabens, look at your ingredients list for the following types of parabens: methylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, and benzylparaben.  Research is somewhat inconclusive, however, it has been proven that parabens mimic estrogen and that many breast cancer tumors had very high concentrations of parabens.

If you really want to continue using conventional deodorant, I suggest you do not apply it shortly after shaving.  Research has shown a link between shaving underarms and breast cancer.  Scientists have suggested that perhaps nicks and cuts from shaving allow the harmful chemicals to penetrate the skin more easily.

The solution to all this scary stuff is baking soda.  You simply put a little bit of baking soda on a slightly damp cotton pad (the type you would use to remove make-up) and then gently rub the pad on your underarms.  Be sure to get an aluminum free baking soda brand. (Arm and Hammer or Bob's Red Mill brands both do not contain aluminum).

Now for the kicker, I don't find I smell bad anymore when I don't use deodorant.  I still use the baking soda for special dates or when I am working out, but otherwise I just don't find it is necessary.  I am not sure why this is but I think it is because I am no longer applying harmful chemicals and products to my body, I am trying to eat very well, I shower regularly and I drink lots of water.

I encourage you to try and ditch the stick!  Free yourself!