Is Your Deodorant Making You Sick?

When ever you walk into your small local or chain drug store looking for your favorite deodorant or a new one you would like to try, there is a vast variety of them looking back at you from the shelf. But what most consumers do not know about deodorants is that the majority of them contain aluminum, aside from other metals.

There have been a number of studies done on the affects of aluminum in deodorants on the body and they all are not very good. Of course if one is looking for one that does not have aluminum, you can always go to your local health food store and you can find a number of brands that have clean ingredients. But for the majority of consumers that don’t usually frequent a health food store and just go to their local drug store, there are very few choices to choose from that do not have metal derived ingredients.

Studies on aluminum in deodorants have defined its toxicity to the nervous system, identified it as a potential cancer-causing ingredient and linked it to Alzheimer’s. The skin, especially under the arms, is highly porous and can easily absorb into the body anything that you use there. You can easily identify this aluminum compound by just looking at the ingredients listing and find the name “aluminum chlorohydrate” or “aluminum zirconium”. Do an experiment and go to the deodorant section of your pharmacy and look at the ingredients of all the personal hygiene products on the shelf. You will see that about 90% or I’ll guess even more of them have an aluminum compound.

The clue as to which product has this compound is by the descriptive used in the name on the front label. If it says “antiperspirant” then no doubt it has aluminum. If the word “deodorant” is used as a descriptive, then most likely it is aluminum free. But some manufacturers try to trick the public by using both words on their front label, antiperspirant/deodorant, and they contain aluminum.

Antiperspirants clog the pours, which isn’t healthy. A product should let the pours breath but at the same time be effective in controlling odor and wetness. Deodorants are a very personal product. One that works effectively for one person, might not do the job for another. So look at the personal hygiene product you are using, if it has aluminum stop using it and through it out.  Experiment, try a number of aluminum free products until you find the right one for you and you will be a healthier person by introducing less toxic ingredients into your body.