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Eco-Friendly Fashion

How to protect skin and use a deodorant

by Dave Armstrong 19 Sep 2013
How to protect skin and use a deodorant

This natural deodorant seems a good alternative for athletes and those who are seeking something less acerbic to the skin; Credit: © Primal Pit Paste

Amy Cazin always found personal deodorants more offensive than people who don't use them! Natural alternatives never worked for her or her children, at least. So she decided to research all the carcinogenic or Alzheimer-causing possibilities of paraben and aluminium salts, and find alternatives.

If you spot propylene glycol in a product, remember that it's a neurotoxin and affects kidney function. These substances are sometimes found in products that are labelled as “natural,” but you hardly need to be told they most certainly aren't. Amy's home in Tampa Bay in Florida became the centre of a different approach to body odour or BO.

Bacteria on the skin need to be washed off daily, and not only in adolescents. The smells created from their waste give you a body odour (BO). The products Amy came up with in her research were totally natural and organic, and even edible, like the baking soda which some people use to whiten their teeth. This is sodium bicarbonate, which does act as a mild skin irritant because of its pH.

The carbon dioxide it produces affects the acidity of the skin, which is normally less acidic. Normal skin pH varies from pH4.5 to 6.2, which is pretty acid in some areas and almost neutral in others. Many other deodorants can lower the acidity drastically, which damages the skin while encouraging a really acidic bacterial environment. They really grow fast in the acid conditions.

The other problem that bothers us in deodorants is the desire of the producers to get the perfect fragrance. These synthetic smells really get up our nose. Perhaps a chemistry background makes you slightly allergic to certain substances or the horrific range you are assaulted by in a perfume department of a store! Asthma and allergies, of course, have been traced to these chemicals, too.

Skin absorbency is yet another problem with poisons. With very natural substances, unlike some organic compounds on sale, the absorption will be similar to that our ancestors have adjusted to over the centuries.

In a similar vein, the sweat that is stopped by antiperspirants really needs to release naturally created body toxins, just like the kidney does when it filters. This coconut oil-based product of Amy's doesn't block the pores and still manages to prevent body odour from appearing. It's quite pleasant to have no yellow aluminium stains on the shirt armpits for a change.

The effect of the PPP (Primal Pit Paste) is a cooling effect as you rub it in like a lotion or body butter. The coconut oil is likely to melt at higher temperatures but it provides a useful base for the deodorant effect around the skin.

And the effect of Primal? Well the name indicates that its basic ideology is to be natural. The anti-bacterial properties mean that less smell is created, while the lack of chemical perfumes means its suitable for anyone, especially athletes who produce so much sweat – ie. bacterial fodder.

The waste products that get out of your pores are catering for bacterial taste, developed over millions of years of unicellular growth and evolution, alongside our hair and skin! The idea of a deodorant that simply restricts their activity, without using unnatural chemicals seems similar to stopping the use of pesticides. The effects of chemicals in both cases can be disastrous.


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