Baking soda in deodorant

When it comes to natural deodorants, aluminium chloride is an absolute no-go. We don't like to see synthetic perfumes on the ingredients list either. But what do we need? The answer: baking soda. In this article, we tell you all about baking soda in natural deodorants and how it works.

Aluminium: no thanks

Aluminium in deodorants makes you sweat less. You will find this unnatural ingredient in drugstore deodorants. Not clean, not natural and not very good for your skin and body. The aluminium salt blocks the exit of the sweat gland and so you sweat (temporarily) less. In a previous blog post, we told you more about aluminium in deo products, check it out.

Baking soda to the rescue

Instead of blocking aluminium salts, many clean brands choose to use baking soda in their natural deodorants. Baking soda has many advantages. We will list them here:

• Baking soda absorbs moisture without clogging your sweat glands. So you do sweat, but because the baking soda absorbs moisture, your underarms stay dry. By absorbing the moisture, bacteria are also eliminated. This prevents smelly armpits.
• Baking soda is antibacterial. It kills bacteria and keeps you odour-free all day.
• Baking soda neutralises odours.

Skin irritation from baking soda?

If you have a very sensitive skin, you can get skin irritation from using deo with baking soda. Why is this? Baking soda is alkaline, which means it raises the pH level of your skin. Raising the pH causes your natural skin fat to decrease, causing your skin to become irritated. But this only happens in a humid environment. If you apply a natural deodorant with baking soda to dry skin, you should be fine. Do you still get redness or itching? Then you might be hypersensitive to baking soda and should choose a variant without it, like the one from Soapwalla. The Citrus Sensitive Deodorant Cream is specially designed for sensitive skin. Another baking soda-free deodorant for sensitive skin is Agent Nateur Holi Stick.

Dark armpits because of baking soda

If you have sensitive skin, you may find that your underarms turn darker after using deo with baking soda. It's not common, but it can happen. Harmless in itself, but we understand that you don't want to walk around with dark underarms. With some fresh lemon juice and a mild scrub, you can restore your underarms to their original colour.

Great deodorants with baking soda

Convinced of the benefits of baking soda in deo? At BEAUTSY you can shop a fine selection of deos that work great, keep you fresh all day and smell great. One of our favourites is Agent Nateur Holi (Rose) N4, a deo that smells like a lush rose garden. The spicy Salt & Stone Deodorant Lavender & Sage with moisturising hyaluronic acid is also a hit with baking soda.