This antiperspirant girl tried an all-natural deodorant for 30 days and this is what happened...

I've heard and read all sorts of things about natural deodorant being better for you so it seemed like some sort of fate when I got a deluxe size of Schmidt's Natural Deodorant in Lavender & Sage in my January Allure box at exactly the time I ran out of my Dove deodorant antiperspirant deodorant. I've always generically called everything that goes under your armpits and keeps you from smelling deodorant, so I didn't think there would be much of a difference as long as it (a) didn't break me out and (b) actually kept me smell-free. Yeah, I was wrong.

To completely understand, you have to know that there is a difference between the two and what the difference is. An antiperspirant actually sits on top of the sweat gland and reduces your sweat production. It also uses antimicrobial agents to kill the bacteria that makes you smell. It is literally "anti-perspiration"or anti-sweat. Get it?!

Deodorant just applies the antimicrobial agents to kill bacteria. So you can still soak through a shirt, it's just not supposed to smell. It's kind of like "all Kleenex are tissues but not all tissues are Kleenex": All antiperspirants are deodorants, but not all deodorants are antiperspirants. The natural deodorant camp would have you believe that antiperspirant uses harmful ingredients that cause breast cancers, etc. The antiperspirant camp would have you believe that this is unsubstantiated and only hippies wear natural deodorant. I'm not a scientist and I'm not even remotely going to try to get in the middle of that debate. What I care about in the purpose of this post, like I said, is (a) did it break me out and (b) did it keep me smell-free.

I was really really committed to giving this a fair shot. I did not have a backup of my antiperspirant and when I found myself smelly, I had to try something different. The first day was really strange for me, because I usually don't sweat. At first I thought that the experiment had failed already and I was bummed. Then I did a sniff test and realized that while I was soaking my shirt I was still smell free! So this was going to be a little weird, but I'd get use to it.

Then there's the whole digging into a pot, warming the product in my finger tips, and then rubbing it in. It's not a bad texture - not creamy but not hard either - it softens into a gritty texture. It was easy to get too much and then my pit felt goopy. Again something that was weird to start but I quickly got used to.

Day Two came the rash. Yep, I'm allergic to it. I had the red itchy bumps on my pits to prove it. Like I said, I was committed. I kept using it, because (1) I'm stubborn and (2) I didn't have anything else to use. So after a couple days the itching subsided and the bumps went away. Hallelujah! We were back in business. I'm not really sure why I had the allergic reaction because I would have thought that all-natural is less harmful, but my super sensitive pits didn't like something in the formula.

I definitely had some bad days and that's pretty embarrassing. I just chalked it up to learning how my body reacts to new things - I was smelly in the name science and stuff. The first day that I had my B.O. on full display I realized that while I shower every day, but because my schedule is so fluid some days I shower in the morning but I might not shower again until the following night. So, with this I need to reapply the natural deodorant every morning. Got it! I'm so used to my normal antiperspirant that works up to 48 hours that I don't even worry when I shower 32-hours apart instead of 24-hours. The next time I caught a bad whiff of myself I had applied deodorant that morning so I was a little flabbergasted. The next time that I skipped a morning shower in lieu of a night time shower, decided to take a wash cloth to my armpits to de-gunk to area for a fresh, clean application. This seemed to work. I didn't really mind the trial and error though it could get a little frustrating at times. About 15 days in I was at Target and picked up a backup of my Dove antiperspirant.

I also noted through the whole month was that I was pretty hooked on scents whether it was a perfume or scented lotion. This is because by 5:00pm while I did not reek of body odor I wasn't smelling the lavender and sage either. I really just smelled "hot." I don't know how else to describe it. It smelled like I had just gotten off an elliptical machine or ran a mile at the gym and really I had only been in the office all day. With my antiperspirant at 10:00pm on my way to bed I still smell like I'd just gotten out of the shower. This was kind of a difficult to get used to all month and I honest really didn't.

On day 30, I had figured out how to use my natural deodorant and was on a roll. I was trying new perfumes and enjoying myself. But then I actually lifted up my arms and looked in the mirror. I was positively horrified. The Dove antiperspirant I regularly use is the Clear Tone Renew. It's moisturizing and promises to restore armpits to their natural skin tone. So 30 days without my Dove and I learned that (a) yes it actually does what it says, (b) it's not using harsh chemicals so you do have to keep using it for the effects to keep working, and (c) without it my pits turn into a dark splotchy mess that made me want to jump back in the shower and scrub them for a few hours. Super disappointing.

So after 30 days, what's my verdict then? I'm just not a natural deodorant girl. I can definitely make it work for me, but I really don't want to. There are too many "rules" to abide by and too much work just to get it to work for me. I am much happier just to use what has been working for me.

So tell me, are you a deodorant or antiperspirant girl/boy?