Simple Shift is a way to share a small change we’ve made towards a more mindful & conscious lifestyle : a simpler, environment-conscious, clean & healthier shift for daily living. I’m hoping the series will make it feel easy & doable to shift personal habits for a better life for our families & our world. More on this personal lifestyle switch here.
This is a change that I feel most happiest about and it’s one I want to push everyone around me to do. I know there are always all kinds of opinions on whether antiperspirants are as harmful as some might suggest, here’s a study via EWG that I consider as a very trusted source.
I feel so happy that we made this switch from antiperspirants years ago and there’s been no looking back. BUT this is also a switch that needs a little bit of un-learning and learning in the process, otherwise one wants to ditch natural deos and go back to antiperspirants.
When I started to make the shift it took me a while, because it requires a little bit of un-learning on the feeling of clean that we have gotten used to thanks to the antiperspirants (spoiler: you have to get used to the feeling of sweat)
+Here are a few tips about making this switch+
- It takes 2-4 weeks for your body to get used to the switch, basically get rid of everything that has been trapped because of conventional deodorants in your pores. This is called a detox phase. (More on that here)
- Some natural deodorants can irritate your skin. If you experience that switch to a baking soda free formula.
- Get used to sweating (sweat isn’t necessarily equal to smell). Using antiperspirants for years made me associate “clean” with dry arm-pits, when in reality our glands need to sweat to remove toxins from the body.
- Shower daily. Or if you like to skip a day in between like me, wash your arm-pits atleast every morning before applying deodorant.
- Wax or shave armpits at night. Use deodorants in the morning. Never apply deodorant right after hair removal because skin can be irritated.
- What you eat can make your sweat smell bad. I’ve heard that people who eat really clean don’t even smell (i KNOW – not for Pakistanis though with all of the onions and garlic in our food haha).
- Hormonal fluctuations can also affect body odor, eg: at puberty and then at different times of your menstrual cycle. On some days you’ll notice you don’t smell bad at all.
- In summer months when you tend to sweat more, I like to use deodorant twice in the day.
I was kindly sent this deodorant from Primally Pure just to try it out (this isn’t a collaboration) and have been using it for the past many months (it’s lasted very long). I have to tell you I absolutely love it, enough that I felt like taking photos and sharing it in this post too:). I’ve experienced skin irritation from previous clean deodorants but absolutely nothing from this. I would definitely recommend this.
Here’s the Primally Pure’s Deodorant in Geranium | ALSO amazing tips on their website too on making the switch to natural deodorant | ALSO this post on what’s so bad about your regular deodorants
ALSO
For my Pakistani friends, please check out Mah.riya for natural deodorants. I love what this brand is about and what they’re doing. Here are their deos.
Two other brand recommendations : Schmidt | Native (both are affiliate links – more on that here)
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Have you made this switch already? If you haven’t, are you inspired now?
Lots of love, Nataliya
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