Four Deodorants: Soapwalla, Meow Meow Tweet, Schmidt’s, Osmia Organics

 

I’ve rambled about deodorants before (one of my first posts here, Going Green Tag here), but here’s the lowdown: I’m a sweaty person. No matter the season, my pits will sweat. They always find a way. Even when I tried antiperspirants in my pre-green days. As for my hands, summer is the worst season because my piano-playing accuracy goes down and my slipping-off-notes rate goes way up. I’m a sweater.

That said, I have yet to find a green deodorant that can’t keep up with these pits. None of these are antiperspirants, so I still have to dress strategically (no gray, no tight-fitting clothing up top, layers) and I am okay with that–I am at peace with sweating out my toxins. I don’t stink, in fact with some of these, even my sweaty clothes smell pretty good. All of these are creams, and I’ve come to enjoy massaging them into my pits (lymph nodes need some loving too). The price range is from $9 – $14, which I don’t think is bad at all–a tub can last 3-6 months. My pits sometimes get sensitive if I’ve shaved them the night before and then use deo the next day–I’ve found that including them in my body moisturizing routine reduces the chance of next-day-angry-pits.

Ingredients-wise, all of these share a similar base of ingredients: a moisturizing plant oil, shea butter, baking soda, kaolin clay, starch or arrowroot powder, and essential oils. Plant oils and shea butter keep pits moisturized and calm irritated skin. Baking soda, kaolin clay, and starch/arrowroot powder absorb moisture and stench. Essential oils play two roles: a hot scent and bacteria-killer at the same time–nice.

As pictured from left to right,

Soapwalla Kitchen Deodorant Cream – the classic green deo
Greenies and non-greenies alike love this cream–it’s the one that started it all. And the nearly-empty tub pictured above is at least my third repurchase. This can get a little gritty when it dries, but nothing that quick stir through the tub with a finger can’t fix. It’s classic for a reason: it works. It’s simple. My clothes don’t always smell the best after this, but it keeps me from being smelly (that said, 15-hour airplane rides–reapply in the middle to be safe).

Ingredients: Simmondsia chinensis (Jojoba) Oil*; Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Oil*; Rosehip Seed Oil*; Butyrospermun parkii (Shea) Butter; Corn Starch*+; Sodium Bicarbonate+; Kaolin Clay; Vegan Kosher Glycerin*+; a custom blend of essential oils, including: Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender)*; Melaleuca Alternifolia (Tea Tree)*; Citrus Sinensis (Sweet Orange); Mentha Piperita (Peppermint)*; Citrus Aurantium Bergamia (Bergaptene-free Bergamot)*; Non-GMO Soy lecithin*+; Non-GMO Vitamin E*+.
 (*: certified organic, +: food-grade)

Meow Meow Tweet Deodorant Cream – the texture of this is like a cake
The texture of this. I am obsessed. It’s literally as soft as cake batter. And it’s always as soft as cake batter, even in the dry winter of Baltimore or California. And the scent. I have it in tea tree, and seriously, tea tree has never smelled so good. My clothes smell deliciously of tea tree if and after I sweat into them.

Ingredients: *virgin coconut oil, *jojoba oil, *shea butter, *arrowroot powder, baking soda (naturally mined), kaolin clay, tea tree essential oil

*organic ingredient

Schmidt’s Natural Deodorant – even the clothes you sweat in will smell good
The texture of this is the exact opposite of Meow Meow Tweet’s: it’s hard. It comes with a little spatula to scoop out the cream, and you need it. Putting aside the trouble of having to scrape out the cream and being careful to warm the cream in a way that the flakes don’t fall on the ground everywhere–this smells so good. I have it in Cedarwood + Juniper (also have a Ylang Ylang + Calendula waiting for me), and like Katie from The Green Product Junkie has said–this should be made into a perfume. One day I was running late for an 8:30am class (*die) and I realized I forgot my lunch after I was halfway to school–I was wearing this and a button-up, I booked it home and back to class, and even though I was panting for the first couple of minutes of class, I smelled awesome.

Ingredients: Butyrospermum parkii (shea butter), Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), Maranta arundinacea (arrowroot) powder, Theobroma cacao (cocoa) seed butter, Cedrus deodara (Himalayan cedar) essential oil, Tocopherol (vitamin E), Juniperus (juniper) essential oil, Humulus lupulus (hop) extract

Osmia Organics Deodorant Cream – perfect size to bring along if you forgot to apply deo at home
I was “meh” about this at first–I’m not the biggest fan of lavender (blasphemy, right?), which is the biggest scent I catch from this, the first couple times I tried this I still stunk, and the price/size is a little more compared to the other three deo creams. However, I took a break from this for a couple weeks, came back, and it worked. Still predominantly lavender, but no stink at the end of the day. Also, as small as it is, this little tin is the best size to throw in your handbag in case you forget to apply deo.

Ingredients: butyrospermum parkii (shea) butter*, tapioca starch*, simmondsia chinensis (jojoba) oil*, sodium bicarbonate, fuller’s earth clay, callophyllum inophyllum (tamanu) oil*, vegetable glycerin*, and a proprietary blend of certified organic and wild-harvested essential oils

* certified organic ingredient
91.9% certified organic ingredients
100% ingredients from nature

If you’re not into deodorant creams, I’ve recently been hearing great things about Green Body Deo, which, shockingly, comes in a stick. If you’re up for getting personal with your pits, all of these four have worked for sweaty me.

tl;dr Classic: Soapwalla. Best texture: Meow Meow Tweet. Best smell: Schmidt’s. Best size: Osmia. Massaging these in my pits (one at a time, of course) keeps me from being smelly, and often makes me smell even better.

Have you tried any of these deodorants? What’s your favorite? If not, what are you using?

Disclaimer: I purchased all of these myself for use and review: Soapwalla from Eco Diva Beauty (though I’ve purchased it from Spirit Beauty Lounge before), Meow Meow Tweet from Meow Meow Tweet, Schmidt’s from Schmidt’s, and Osmia from Osmia. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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