When it comes to skincare and personal products I am a lot more ingredient conscious than with makeup as I feel products such as deodorant, toothpaste and face washes are used daily and absorbed into the skin and bloodstream. So I like to know what I should be avoiding and take those measures.
For example I avoid both SLS/sulfates and Fluoride in my toothpaste which does mean I have to purchase it online but it is the price of normal toothpaste and feels exactly the same, so it is something I could easily switch to.
Another product I switched to a few months ago now was a Aluminum and Paraben free Deodorant. Now I will try to be quick when I explain this... but Antiperspirants contains Aluminium Salts to totally block the sweat glands and prevent perspiration which is what we feel we all need. However Aluminium has been associated with a variety of healthy issues, mainly Breast Cancer and Alzheimer's Disease. Which I am sure we all want to prevent and if that means switching to an aluminium-free deodorant I will do it in the blink of an eye. Also a lot of deodorants and antiperspirants contains parabens which again has been linked to breast cancer due to it's Oestrogen mimicking properties.
Also women are more susceptible to these ingredients entering the body as most choose to shave the underarm area. There is however no solid evidence that aluminium or parabens can cause breast cancer but concentrations of parabens and aluminium have been present in breast tumours, which is personally enough evidence for me. Antiperspirants can also irritate the skin and block sweat glands causing sometimes painful lumps in the armpit.
So to avoid this switching to a Aluminium & Paraben-Free Deodorant is needed. Now thankfully all brands that are free from these chemicals will visibly state this on their packaging so there is no need to be overly ingredient savvy. However deodorants are very much a different product to antiperspirants as they still allow the body to naturally sweat and work to kill bacteria that causes the odor... so your armpits will smell nice! Now I'm well aware that the idea of sweating is seen as quite a 'hippy' like however if you feel like you don't excessively sweat then switching will be fine.
When looking for the best deodorant I still wanted to use an aerosol spray and found the two most widely available and affordable brands (that can be found in supermarkets) to be the Sanex Zero% range and also Biosen. I decided to go for the Sanex Zero% Deodorant as this is always stocked in my local Tesco.
Of course when I first switched to a deodorant over an antiperspirant it did take some getting use to it as when I did sweat my armpits felt a little damp which I just wasn't use to but as I realised there was only the scent of the deodorant I quickly got use to it. I think the real test will be in hot days in summer and on holiday however I feel the odd use of an antiperspirant will be something I allow myself to do as I won't feel like a build up of any chemicals will be happening over such a short period of time.
I really do feel the government, cosmetic brands and even health care professionals are covering up a lot of harmful chemicals. But thankfully a lot of balanced and well researched articles are available online so that we can be educated and make our own minds up.
If you do have any questions at all on aluminium & paraben free deodorants or want a more detailed post on ingredients/chemicals I avoid please just let me know as I'm always happy to talk about this.
Fee xo.
