A lot of people, admittedly even myself, often mix up natural deodorant and antiperspirant, which is usually bundled up together and again I am not afraid to admit that I thought about them as interchangeable names for each other. After some thorough research however, as you may have guessed, there is a natural difference between the two especially between natural deodorant and antiperspirant. As the name implies, antiperspirant is used to stop your body from sweating, while as a natural deodorant works hard in removing the nasty smell. While those are indeed rather glaring differences, there is a bit more to go over between natural deodorant and antiperspirant.

Deodorants smell better – Considering that the main job of a deodorant is to stop or at least reduce the smell of your bodily functions due to sweat, it just smells better doesn’t it? I mean this is a general assumption between natural deodorant and antiperspirant so I can see how this can be a norm. I like how most of the scents are named after a weather outcomes if you may – Spring Rain, Misty Autumn, Summer Breeze… I wonder if I got any of those right, I’m just guessing scents here.

Antiperspirant uses aluminum – Well not aluminum exactly, but I suppose close enough to the aluminum that we know. Most aerosol antiperspirant, if you actually take the time to read what’s actually used in most of the items you consume, yes I am guilty of this, you will notice something such as aluminum chlorohydrate or aluminum zirconium tetrachlorohydrex, can we appreciate how difficult that last word was for a moment or two? I certainly can, took me 3 tries to type that in. In any which case, these chemicals or ingredients in antiperspirant usually clogs your pores in order to reduce sweating, thus the name of the product. I’ll get into it deeper in the next point.

Clogging the pores with antiperspirant is a no-no – The ingredients above has been one of the main causes of debate or concern for antiperspirant use, as opposed to natural deodorants. The concern was that antiperspirant causes cancer, but I will say that even now the National Cancer Institute has not released whether this is true or otherwise, so safe to assume that a lot of people have turned to natural deodorant rather than antiperspirant due to this rumor. What has been confirmed however is that aluminum is not good for people with kidney problems, as it can reduce the kidney functions, there is a stern warning on the front stating to check with your doctor before using. I suppose this is mostly to avoid any pending lawsuits if some health concerns come up, but you can really see that the difference between natural deodorant and antiperspirant, and honestly who needs the extra aggravation when you put on your underarm protection?

Sweat is good for you – The body’s natural way to cool down is to release sweat, if you are a dog person, you’ll know this is why dogs pant a lot as they do not sweat, just a little tidbit that I want to share. So I got a little sidetracked there, but anyhow sweat is pretty much good for us, despite the way it feels and smells, so you can see how this will bode poorly for antiperspirant and will give natural deodorant a leg up. Antiperspirant stops your body from sweating, so pretty much the toxins in your sweat save up and fairly much gets your body to overheat quite a bit. On the other hand natural deodorant, doesn’t stop the flow of sweat but rather hides it in various scents, allowing your gym buddy a little breathing room.

Some if not many are not fully aware of the difference and risks that our daily hygiene staple has.

Both are FDA approved – As you can tell, both are FDA approved and natural deodorant and antiperspirant can be purchased over the counter without the need of a doctor’s note. However this does not mean that there are no risks to the product, as you can see above the aluminum chemicals in antiperspirant really does bring about a risk. The FDA makes sure that they are labeled properly and that the benefits outweigh the risks in each product, quite frankly which gives me more reason to turn towards a natural deodorant as to the other option.

Aluminum has been linked to some neurological diseases – While the aluminum ingredient already has some scary side effects, and again there are no conclusive findings as to the direct link to it and cancer, there have been studies that say there is a direct correlation a few neurological diseases. Among them Alzheimer’s has been cited among them, which gives me immediate pause. The accumulation of aluminum in the system has been proven to cause disorientation, loss in coordination and much more. So the active avoidance of ingredients with aluminum in it, has made a lot of people turn towards natural deodorant rather than antiperspirant.

Natural over chemically enhanced – Just in case you didn’t know, I’m more into the healthy and natural options, but hey who knows, you might be new to the site. Anyhow, if you go over the ingredients in a natural deodorant seems a lot more natural and if you are a ingredient enthusiast, not sure if that’s a thing but if it is, I totally am one, you’ll notice that most of the items listed can be identified or at the very least you’ve heard of them. I’m not saying it’s all 100% but at the very least the amount of natural ingredients in well, natural deodorants are more nature friendly shall we say. Moving on to antiperspirant, you can immediately hurt your tongue and eyes just by reading some of the stuff in them. Personally if it seems almost impossible or challenging to say, it has a higher chance of being a chemical in my opinion. Anyhow as you can see on a can of antiperspirant, the list of chemicals are very unnatural and you can almost picture someone in a mask and white lab coat preparing it as you continue to read through the ingredients. Given the choice of either natural deodorant or antiperspirant on this point, I would definitely award it to natural deodorant, but again that’s just me.

And there you have it ladies and gentlemen, the difference between natural deodorant and antiperspirant is rather glaring but please do not take this to mean that I endorse either of the items, I am simply saying that the pros and cons of each item is rather apparent and given the option of either, why not choose one that has less harm listed on it? I leave the decision up to you my dear friends, I am only sharing the information I gathered and thought it was best for you to be as informed as possible. After all a smart consumer is a learned consumer, and now you can consider yourself both. Stay healthy!