Lavanila's $14 natural deodorant works well, smells lovely, and has lasted me for months so far
- As consumers have become more cognizant of the ingredients in their chemical-based body products and skin care, interest in natural deodorants is on the rise.
- But many of them are ineffective, don't smell good, or give the wearer a rash.
- I've found that Lavanila's Elements Collection ($14 per stick) works well and smells lovely.
At the beginning of summer, I went on the hunt for a new deodorant. I definitely wanted to use a natural one for a couple reasons. One is that antiperspirants have sometimes turned my white shirts yellow because an ingredient in them can interact with the bacteria that lives in sweat. Another is that didn't want to be ashamed of sweating: it's a normal and healthy process, after all. Sweating is how your body regulates its temperature, and I just wanted to be able to sweat without the odor.
Before we get into it, let's clear one thing up about antiperspirants versus deodorants: Antiperspirants use chemicals to block your body from sweating, whereas a deodorant just helps to mask or get rid of the smell of sweaty armpits. Science has not yet produced natural antiperspirants, but it has allowed researchers to produce natural deodorants. If you didn't know this already, sweat is actually odorless, but it's the bacteria that lives in sweat that gives it an odor.
Researching natural deodorant and its ingredients
So, I was looking for a natural deodorant, but many in the past hadn't worked for me. Either they did nothing to mask the smell, their scent wasn't something I was passionate about using on the daily, or they gave me a weird, red rash. I Googled "best natural deodorant," saw Lavanila being sold in places I already shopped like Anthropologie, Sephora, and Ulta. I found their Elements Collection, and the "Air" scent contained vanilla and jasmine. Those are scents I love, so I decided to research more.
But what ingredients could a natural deodorant contain that would set them apart from the ineffective or irritating ones I have tried? I learned that many natural ones like Lavanila's get their odor-destroying power from essential oils. Lavanila has lemon peel oil, and lemon is known to be antibacterial. I felt more comfortable knowing that the ingredient going on my underarms was something I use in my kitchen, instead of harsh chemicals like parabens that could irritate my skin. There's also aloe in the deodorant. If you've had a sunburn, you know that aloe calms redness and moisturizes your skin, so it's definitely a great ingredient to have in a deodorant. The icing on the ingredient cake is that this deodorant is vegan and cruelty free.
My experience with Lavanila deodorant
On first application I noticed how sturdy the stick was, how smooth the deodorant felt, and how calming it smelled. I was a little worried when I switched to natural deodorant that I'd have a "detox" where my body remembered to start sweating again and would send out a ton of smelly sweat, but thankfully that didn't happen.
On a typical day, I apply it once and my underarms experience no irritation. They don't look red, there's no build-up of deodorant on my underarms, I haven't gotten a rash, and my shirts have not gotten stained yellow. I honestly don't even remember it's there, unless I give my shirt a sniff and I find that vanilla and jasmine scent.
I haven't stopped sweating entirely, but this deodorant holds up well when I'm in air-conditioned offices or at home. Even if I do notice that I've been sweating, I don't see big sweat stains on my clothes, and my underarms don't feel uncomfortably sticky if I do sweat. If you're a very active person, I would not recommend this deodorant, since if you're out for more than a few hours sweating or in hot temperatures, some of your natural odor will come through. For my purposes, though, it works well as an everyday defense against odor.
Why I can justify the $14 price
The deodorant is $14, which can be hard to swallow when ones you've seen in the drugstore are around $5. But the deodorant is of a nice hefty size (two ounces, so it breaks down to $7 per ounce), and because it's a wider tube than most deodorants I've seen, I don't feel like I'm using much to cover my entire underarm area. I've used it for months and the consistency hasn't changed, and I don't see myself getting anywhere near the bottom of the twist-up tube yet.
I'm definitely likely to repurchase it, and maybe try some of the other great sounding scents, like violet and rose, or red ginger and wild orange