Are You Poisoning Yourself to Avoid Body Odor?
by Vin Miller
Most people cringe at the embarrassing thought of stinking from body odor or having visible sweat stains on their shirt. Unfortunately, the deodorants and antiperspirants that you’re most likely using to avoid these problems are associated with a number of health concerns.
The use of deodorant has become so common that most people consider it to be just as important to good hygiene as bathing and brushing your teeth. However, using deodorant doesn’t keep you clean. In addition to being potentially dangerous, deodorant and antiperspirant merely hide the symptoms of a problem that should be more worrisome than the embarrassment caused by foul odors and stained clothing.
Would You Put Deodorant in Your Mouth?
Because deodorant probably tastes awful, is not meant to be eaten, and contains chemicals that you’d most likely be afraid to swallow, you probably think this is a stupid question. However, it might surprise you to know that eating a piece of deodorant is safer than rubbing it on your armpit. This is because your skin lacks the sophisticated barrier of the digestive system to help minimize the absorption of harmful substances, and as such, a significant amount of anything that you apply to your skin will be readily absorbed into your bloodstream. In fact, this is why some medications are produced as ointments.
In general, you should be hesitant to put anything on your skin that you wouldn’t put in your mouth, and this applies to all types of personal care products, not just deodorant.
What You’re Risking to Keep Your Armpits Fresh and Dry
As is typical for personal care products, most deodorants contain a number of potentially toxic ingredients. The two types of substances that are commonly found in deodorant and have caused the most concern are aluminum and parabens. Aluminum is the key ingredient in many antiperspirants that reduces perspiration, and parabens are used in many deodorants and a wide variety of personal care products to prevent the growth of bacteria and fungus.
Aluminum and parabens are both believed to be a potential risk for breast cancer and elevated estrogen levels, and it’s been generally accepted that aluminum increases the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. As expected, there’s been a lot of debate over these issues, especially the risk of breast cancer. Regardless of how big or small the risk may be, the one thing we can be sure of is that nature didn’t intend for us to be exposed to these chemicals, especially not on a daily basis.
Antiperspirants are extremely popular because most people want to keep their armpits dry in addition to preventing body odor. However, because sweating is a critical part of the detoxification system, antiperspirants impair the body’s ability to handle the significant chemical burden of modern life. Even though our armpits are just a fraction of the total surface area of our skin, there’s probably a good reason why they produce more sweat than most other parts of the body. As such, it would be wise to not interfere with their natural function.
What’s in Your Deodorant?
The long and tongue twisting list of potentially dangerous ingredients found in most deodorants and antiperspirants is made obvious by the following two top sellers.
According to the Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep cosmetic safety database, the ingredients in Secret Wide Solid Antiperspirant make it a high hazard with a score of 7 out of 10. Here are the ingredients:
Mennen Speed Stick Regular, which is not an antiperspirant and doesn’t contain aluminum, is still rated by the EWG’s Skin Deep database as a moderate risk with a score of 6 out of 10. Here are the ingredients:
Based on the ingredients listed above, do either of these products sound like something you’d be willing to put in your mouth? To find out if your deodorant contains harmful ingredients, look it up in the EWG’s Skin Deep database.
An Unrecognized Cause of Body Odor and Excessive Sweating
People who are overweight, following a poor diet, or living an unhealthy lifestyle are more likely to have problems with body odor and excessive sweating. Being overweight can cause excessive sweating by increasing the need for body temperature regulation, and eating unhealthy food or using unnatural personal care products can result in a buildup of toxins that can also increase sweat production and intensify it’s odor as well.
Many people who clean up their lifestyle and improve their health notice a significant reduction in sweating and body odor. I’ve experienced this myself. If you sweat a lot and have bad smelling body odor, there’s certainly nothing wrong with trying to control it, but also consider the possibility of it resulting from your lifestyle habits.
A Better Way to Stay Dry and Fresh
Although the obvious solution is to use a deodorant with natural ingredients, it’s not always the best solution. For example, I was using one of the highest quality natural deodorants available and had to stop because it was giving me a rash. Many natural personal care products contain a large number of ingredients which makes them more likely to cause a problem, and because there’s no regulation on the labeling of such products, some of the ingredients might still be toxic.
What I think is the best solution, if you can manage it, is to not use any deodorant at all. As crazy as this may sound, if you’re in good enough health, you should be able to do it. I did it for a while, and with the help of washing my armpits each afternoon with soap and water, I didn’t have much of an issue. However, because I occasionally noticed a little body odor, I’m now back to using deodorant. In the future, I plan to focus more effort on detoxification and I think that doing so will solve the problem.
Another option, which I’m currently experimenting with, is to make your own deodorant. Once I have a better idea of how effective this is, I’ll be sure to write more about it.
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Vin:
I have my clients use aluminum free baking soda. Just sprinkle some on under the armpit or put some in the palm of your hand and then “toss” it into the armpit area and then rub it around.
Works like a charm
Excellent post, great info. here! I avoid most commercial personal care products for the reasons you stated and use either the crystal that is made of natural mineral salts, or more often just brush on some baking soda; non-toxic and works great.
I hope you don’t mind, but I linked to your post on my blog here.
I think everyone should read what you’ve written!
Hi Vin! I have been trying to go deodorant free for years now, especially since starting breastfeeding 7 years ago and having my kids wiggling close to my underarms and co-sleeping.
I have been very serious with repopulating my gut flora and eating/drinking about 50% of my diet with probiotic foods. To my surprise my sweat stopped being stinky! I spent the majority of this summer without deodorant. I had to start my days with homemade yogurts, drink probiotic liquids, eat fermented foods with every meal and go to bed with kefir in my tummy.
The probiotics aid in the bodies production of Secretory Immunoglobulin A which is secreted in our mucus membranes including sweat (according to the GAPS book)! IgA is critical for good mucosal immunity and helps us fight bacterial and viral infections.
I am assuming that this is the reason why my body odour went away as it is the main dietary change that I have made.
It totally amazed me that IgA would work for stinky body odour. But it does
Ah!! I love it!
I actually never wear deodorant, except on rare occasions.. It’s amazing how obsessed society has become with body odor. Sure it’s never fun to sit next to someone who smells terribly, but more often than not the smell is a result of a bad diet.
I’m happily deodorant free
What about deodorant crystals? I’ve been using this for over a year. It doesn’t stop the sweat, but it does stop the odor.
http://www.thecrystal.com/
Thank you all for your comments!
Eric – Yes, baking soda is a great and is one of the primary ingredients in the homemade deodorant that I’m experimenting with.
meatlessmama – Of course I don’t mind, thanks for the link! I’ve used the crystallized mineral salts as well and am not a big fan of it. I explain why below in my response to Tomas.
Catherine – I’m glad you mentioned intestinal flora. I considered discussing it in this article, but decided against it because I didn’t want to go too far off topic. When intestinal bacteria and fungus grow to unhealthy proportions, they can get into the blood stream through an impaired intestinal wall and spread throughout the body along with the toxins that they produce. As such, I figure that they can be excreted through sweat and contribute to body odor. I think the fact that your body odor subsided as you improved your intestinal health is a testament to this.
I know all about secretory IgA! I just wrote about my story of poor health and one of the more significant problems I had was that my intestinal secretory IgA levels were undetectable!
I didn’t realize there’s a book about the GAPS diet. Thanks for mentioning it, I’m going to check it out.
Bud – I agree, most people are too paranoid about body odor and shirt stains for their own good.
Tomas – Although I haven’t used this exact brand, I’ve used mineral salt crystals for several years with mixed results. In my experience, if I use the crystal with even the slightest bit of body odor, the odor sticks to the crystal. As a result, I’ve actually made my armpits smell a bit after using the crystal after a shower. That’s not the effect I’m looking for!
I’d just assume go deodorant free. If I clean the crystal to prevent this and get the salt on my hands, it leaves a dry and abrasive feeling that I don’t like much either.
Aside from these inconveniences, I don’t know of any reasons to not use the crystallized mineral salts.
wow. never thought deorderent could be harmful
Great posting on the risk associated with anti perspirants and deodarants. It is quite alarming that the general population are not aware of the danger all these chemicals such as aluminium and paraben pose to health. Perhaps its time the government enforce law to get all these cosmetic product manufacturers to state the risks associated with the products just like some countries impose on cigarettes.
For me I copy Bud’s comment! I never used one in my life.
I’ve always heard about it being quite bad but I never knew the science behind it. I don’t think it makes that much difference to me wearing it or not but it’s just become a habit. If I start to smell I never mask it with more deodorant as it just makes it worse.
Has anyone tried using oils and turning them into your own concoctions? I remember a friend of mine many years ago used to use lavendar water.
Fab post!
Thank you for your comments!
Penelope – Anything that you put on your skin, in your mouth, or breathe in can potentially be dangerous, especially with all the chemicals that have become such a common part of modern life. However, don’t let it cause panic. Just be aware of what you might be exposing yourself to and do your best to avoid the unnecessary use of unnatural chemicals.
Stargaterich – Yes, it’s unfortunate that few people realize how toxic our world has become. With or without product labeling, we can all help to spread awareness by telling others about the risks of unnatural personal care products.
ægil – That’s great! Hopefully you’ll never need to!
Amit – Essential oils are indeed another option for deodorant, but my experience with them is limited. I plan on doing a follow up to this article that goes more into depth about natural deodorant solutions including the homemade deodorant that I’m presently using. I’ll be sure to do some research on essential oils so that I can include them in the article.
All I know is that when I did a week of 24hr fast/feast cycles with weight lifting, and eating mostly meat, my BO basically vanished. Crazy stuff lol. I was really surprised.
Hi Vin,
FYI: To avoid the problem you’ve had with the Crystal Deodorant … it does come in a spray as well!
Arlo – Thanks for sharing your experience! I’m glad you mentioned that you eat a lot of meat because I came across an article suggesting that meat causes body odor. Of course, this author also happens to be a vegetarian and believes that meat is too acidic and causes cancer. I eat a lot of meat as well and obviously don’t believe this.
Tina – Thanks for pointing that out! I never even considered the spray and will have to give it a try.
@Vin Yeah, it’s really hard to say. On the flip side, I know somebody who went carnivore for a while and complained about BO constantly. Then again, he ate a tremendous amount of calories, whereas during my fasting experiment I was struggling to get even 1500kcal (even with the weightlifting and tons of energy).
Having been on the vegetarian side for 2 years, and the primal/paleo side as well, while we all have our “agendas”, the vegetarian side can be driven strongly by ideology and you get a lot of these myths that are easy to believe if you don’t think past the proposition (meat rotting in our intestines, for example).
I haven’t really found much information about the biology of BO, then again I haven’t looked very hard. So if it’s bacterial and fungal growth, how could eating greater than 95% fat and protein be worse than ingesting tons of sugars that are easy for the bacteria to use to reproduce?
Thanks for sharing that, Arlo! I unfortunately haven’t been able to find a great deal of information about the physiology of body odor either. I certainly wouldn’t say it’s impossible for meat consumption to cause body odor, but there are many factors to consider such as poor digestion, the quality of the meat, what else is being eaten, and of course, overall toxic load. Also important to consider is Metabolic Typing and the concept that some people are better suited to eating more meat than others. For someone who would do best eating smaller amounts of meat, perhaps an excessive amount of meat based nutrients for that individual could somehow contribute as well.
There was actually an interesting study done in 2006 that found a potential correlation between the consumption of red meat and the existence of body odor. However, it was a very basic study that used college students as subjects and didn’t take into consideration their lifestyle, toxic load, or digestive health.
Based on my individual needs, I personally eat about 2 pounds of pasture raised meat per day, and although I do get body odor if I don’t wear deodorant, it’s insignificant. It’s certainly less significant than when I used to eat less meat and more processed junk. What’s most important is that I feel better than ever on this diet, and as I mentioned in the article, I think there are other factors contributing to the small amount of body odor that I sometimes get.
Dr. Mercola, who also supports the idea of nutritional individuality and uses his own variation of Metabolic Typing, is also a “protein type” and eats a lot of meat. In some of his articles, he’s claimed that he wears no deodorant at all and has no issues with body odor.
Although I think there are a variety of factors that could lead to meat consumption resulting in an increase of body odor, I don’t think it’s justified to say that eating meat is unhealthy based on this. (I’m not insinuating that anybody here has suggested this, but am just concluding my thoughts.)
If anyone else knows of any other information relating to this topic, please feel free to share it!
Thanks Vin…I look forward to hearing about the results!