The Great Deodorant Debate...

The deodorant struggle is REAL around these parts. REAL. 

Some backstory...

I was never really concerned about natural vs synthetic/chemical indredients in my deo until about a year ago. Out of a genuine curiosity (naturally sparked by numerous blog posts) I opted to try making my own. Recipe here - LINK! When that worked (well for a while-more on that later) I decided why not keep it up with the good for me ingredients and leave store-bought deo's behind?

Well here's why not.

There is potential for some TMI here, so, you've been warned.

The DIY version worked really well for me, throughout the Summer and Fall, then as the weather began to get colder and drier so did the skin under my arms. Unattractively, noticeably, and uncomfortably drier. Peeling was involved. (You were warned.)

All this was after adapting the linked recipe to my skin concerns by cutting the baking soda amount in half and replacing it with the arrowroot powder. When this no longer proved successful I figured alright, lets go back to a regular basic, store-bought white solid deodorant. Plain old Secret, no invisible solid, no skin brightening, none of it. 

Antiperspirant-yes but I figured I was reverting back to something my body was familiar with, which would hopefully clear up some of my issues. Not so much. Bye bye dryness, hello itchiness. So the traditional deo route wasn't really working either. I can say that for the first time I could really FEEL the pore-clogging power of the perspiration stopping ingredients. It's very strange.

So... on to the LaVanialla Healthy Deodorant, which smells AMAZING. I picked this up in the 8$ travel size, just to test drive for a while, and after a few days my feelings are decidedly mixed. No itching, which is a big bonus, but it doesn't work as well as the homemade version did (suprisingly!). Which means I don't have high hopes for this as the weather starts to really get warm. While the smell is wonderful all on its own, I don't know that vanilla is a scent best suited to this type of product. It just has so much opportunity to go wrong depending on the body chemistry of the wearer.

Next on my "to try" list is the Soapwalla Deodorant Cream. I have tried this once, and I remember quite liking it. I do fear I may have some similar issues with this as I did with my homemade version but, given the more advanced ingredient list I have some higher hopes for this one.

Thoughts? Have any of you come across a nice natural option that doesn't irritate but that works well?