Plus Size Guide to All-Natural Deodorant

Have you been wondering what the hype is about all-natural deodorant?

Have you tried an aluminum-free natural deodorant but gave up after a week or two because you couldn’t get over the smell?

Girl, me too.

I have been working on this article for YEARS! I have tried to switch to all-natural, aluminum-free deodorant four different times until I was able to officially make the switch. It took me years because I would give up after a month or two convinced there was something wrong with me.  

Each time I would make the switch I would wonder: why do I smell so bad?

Every Youtube video I watched said that “pit detox” (which is the natural response to switching from an aluminum-based deodorant to a natural one) would only take a couple of weeks.

Pit detox is the process of detoxifying the body from all the buildup of years of antiperspirant use. Antiperspirant blocks your pores and is designed to reduce sweating. 

If you’ve used extra-strength antiperspirant like I did, for decades (I’m in my late thirties), the detox process could take up to six months as it did with me.

During the detox phase, you will actually sweat more than had you never used antiperspirant and will continue to over-produce sweat until your body reaches an equilibrium. 

Why did I give up after a month or two early on?

Well, in all honesty, I stunk and I sweat so much that I was embarrassed.

Since puberty, I have used an antiperspirant from Teen Spirit to clinical strength options and the idea of sweating in my plus size body made me super self-conscience.

Why did I smell so much?

Well, bacteria is what causes us to smell and bacteria love warm, moist, dark places to gather and my sweaty pits were their perfect home.

Was I as smelly as I thought I was? My husband says no and none of my coworkers complained but from never sweating to now all of a sudden having a soaked underarm was a serious shock. 

I foolishly tried to pit detox for the first time in the summer right before a family camping trip where I figured smelling would be a rite of passage, boy was I miserable. Each and every time I made the switch and started to immediately pit detox I would get a heat rash. One time it was so bad I even blistered. Imagine going from perfumed and never sweating because the chemicals did their job and kept me dry to sweaty, self-conscious, rashy, and blistered. What made things more frustrating was as soon as I went back to my antiperspirant the rash went away, the moisture left and I felt “normal again”. 

I tried a couple of times again and as soon as the rash would reappear I would stop.

It wasn’t until COVID and I started to work from home that I was able to finally pit detox and make the permanent switch. I think the only reason I was able to finally persevere through the six months it took me to transition is because I stopped interacting with the outside world. My cats and my husband didn’t complain about the “smell” I thought everyone could smell and so I stuck to it. 

Now you might be wondering “why is this so important to you?”

“Why did you want to make the switch so badly that you’d put yourself through hell four separate times just to use aluminum-free deodorant?”

Well, conventional deodorants include aluminum which has been linked to cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. It has Phthalates and Parabens which are endocrine disruptors and can cause hormone imbalance. It’s also got Formaldehyde (a known carcinogen) and I wanted to eliminate that from my routine. The armpit is so close to breast tissue, and with two grandmothers who had breast cancer, I needed the peace of mind natural deodorant could bring. 

After 6 months of trial and error, hundreds of dollars spent, and endless hours on the internet researching products, I believe I’ve got a great recipe. 

I want to give you all the knowledge I’ve gained so that if you want to switch over to an all-natural deodorant you can as easily as possible. 

I tried different kinds of deodorant: alcohol-based, magnesium-based, baking soda-free, baking soda based, powder, gel, roll on, paste, and stick formula. I also tried diaper rash crème, hydrocortisone cream, Monistat, baby powder, and dry shampoo on my armpits to help with the rash.

 In all the products I’ve tried here are some of my favorites and a few runner ups:

Life Savers during pit detox: 

Here are some tips I found really help:

1. Exfoliate your underarms in the shower with either a sugar scrub or a natural hairbrush. Sloughing off dead skin cells helps reduce the smell and helps wash off the residue from deodorants (I found natural deodorant harder to get off than normal antiperspirant). 
2. Keep a backup in your purse or backpack and reapply mid-day when you’re feeling stinky.
3. Try not to shave your armpits as often in the beginning or if you have a heat rash, shaving can irritate your sensitive skin. 
4. If it’s hot and you’re sweating more than normal, skip the tank tops and wear natural fabrics like cotton or linen as that will help absorb the moisture and will keep your upper arm away from the lower underarm and prevent chafing and rubbing. 
5. Stay away from spray deodorant if you have sensitive skin, heat rash, or have just shaved your armpits. Spray deodorant’s main ingredient is alcohol and will seriously burn your already problematic underarms. Trust me on this, I learned from experience. 

Here are some runners-up that I do like but because of one or two reasons don’t make the top of the list.