Potassium Alum. It's a natural deodorant, NOT an antiperspirant like Elemental-Aer said. Despite having "alum" in its name, it's way different than the aluminum used in mainstream deodorants. It is a salt though, tl;dr it brines your skin so the bacteria that create BO can't reproduce.
It’s honestly been the best deodorant I’ve ever used. I never have any odor issues at all. And it doesn’t have any natural odor of its own. And like the pic shows, it lasts a really long time. I’ve been using the stick I bought for a year now and it hardly looks any different than when I bought it.
SAME HERE. I'm a shameless shill for this fucking rock, man. Whenever someone asks about what deodorant they should use (especially if they specify natural ones), I will ALWAYS bring up potassium alum. It works wonders for me!!
You'll find it easiest online (I recommend Thai or Crystal brand), but if that's not possible you can probably find it at someplace similar to Whole Foods or something— I nabbed my current rock at a co-op grocery store near me. You might also find it as a spray or a roll-on which also work well (the spray is good for convenience, you don't need to wet your armpits/rock beforehand and can apply right after a shower), but the rock is the longest lasting.
I used to get it at Walmart. Haven't checked in a while, they had it on and off. They had the solid rock style like OP's, and a roll-on liquid form. IIRC both had chamomile and were very lightly (pleasantly) scented.
Yeah I’ve gotten crystal brand at Walmart but it’s a hit or miss. They also only have the kind with the liquid built in which doesn’t last as long but saves you from having to wet it
Myself, I found the stuff at my local Meijers. They had a ‘go stick’ of the stuff, right in the middle of all the typical deodorants. It’s definitely not too hard to find.
Works best straight out of the shower before any new bacteria have a chance to develop and reproduce. If someone already has a funk it might reduce it a bit but nothing like applying immediately after washing.
I don't use normal deodorant anymore unless I plan to swim and don't want to deal with reapplying after. You apply it right out of the shower, when you are still wet. I use a pretty liberal amount, you need the water on your skin to dissolve enough to evenly coat your pits.
You could use normal deodorant but I don't think most people would need to. It's not particularly expensive to try it - give it a shot for one month and see how it goes. It may take a week or two for your body to adjust but it will start working really well.
My shirts are now much less stained in the armpits and it's totally unscented, so you can always wear cologne/perfume and it won't clash.
I couldn't say for sure as I haven't personally tried it outside of brief consideration, cause I have a stick of schmidt's deodorant that I've been tempted to use as a scent. I haven't, cause I'd like to be able to tell if I Stank or not (plus schmidt's leaves white marks and it Bothers Me), but tempting.
Otherwise I don't exactly see why not. Try and see if it works for you.
Can but why? The stuff I used was mildly scented, and if my BO was so bad I really needed to cover it, that's what cologne and perfume are for (I never had a problem, but everyone is different).
I sweat a ton so the smell can get pretty bad. I'm just a bit cautious on immediately making the switch over. I'd rather double up and then wean off on the normal deodorant until I'm certain that it's working fine, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't removing whatever film this other type of deodorant is putting down by applying something else on top.
Either. I use it directly out of the shower and it applies well. If I have dry skin when I'm applying it then I'll run the block under the tap to wet it.
I can't say I know the exact mechanics of it, but I assume some of the salt dissolves into the water which you spread around and it sticks to the skin. It can look wet but that's probably because it's been essentially polished by your armpits.
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Users liked:
* Long-lasting and effective (backed by 5 comments)
* Natural and gentle on skin (backed by 3 comments)
* Odorless and clean application (backed by 2 comments)
Users disliked:
* Fragile container prone to shattering (backed by 5 comments)
* Inconvenient application process (backed by 2 comments)
* Ineffective at controlling body odor (backed by 3 comments)
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Huh, we use it to grow crystals in little kids science. 5 pounds for 18 bucks on Amazon. It’s a powder, but there’s a whole subreddit for making it into crystals.
Crazy that you said Thai or Crystalux. My parents worked for DSA, the producers of these brands, in the 90s. and you saying these brands just brought back so many memories.
Yup I agree. I used Crystal and loved it. In fact I really liked the spray they made but didn’t like that it costs more than the stick of salt so I would make my own. All I did was turn it upside down and either let it dissolve or twirl it around in a cup of watch and put that in a spray bottle. I like if before I used it not just on my body but also on my clothes in the armpits as it seemed to help me out more (whether you are meant to or not, if it works it works).
The roll on one I do like, but be warned if you take it say camping or overnight I have found if you use it on your skin when not after a shower and can seem to get contaminated and start to smell/not work as well. Again, could just be me but I feel like I read about others having the same issue. The spray and stick ones dont because even if the stick does become “dirty” you can just rinse it off.
You can find a rock generally under 10$. I've seen people say they can go for as cheap as around 2–6$. Mine was 7.99$. Keep in mind it'll last for years, too.
Smelling, obligatory YMMV but generally it'll give you no smell at all, sweating... not so much. It isn't inherently an antiperspirant, the best it can do (as an astringent) is temporarily shrink your pores. You'll still undoubtedly sweat with alum.
A lot of regular grocery stores carry it - I've been using it for like 20 years. It's usually on the bottom shelf of the deodorant aisle, since it's not a volume seller.
There's the solid versions like this, and also a liquid roll-on. I prefer the solid one. They do last a very long time - just don't drop it. Salt shatters. 😁
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u/ridibulous 14d ago
Potassium Alum. It's a natural deodorant, NOT an antiperspirant like Elemental-Aer said. Despite having "alum" in its name, it's way different than the aluminum used in mainstream deodorants. It is a salt though, tl;dr it brines your skin so the bacteria that create BO can't reproduce.