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 Creamthe 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 Creamthe 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 Creamperfect 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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20 Comments

  1. Mademoiselle nature
    April 29, 2014 / 7:21 am

    Nice post miss! I am struggling to find a really really good deodorant..I have been using a few lately and hope to review them soon :-).
    The Meow Meow Tweet deo cream looks nice! x

  2. April 29, 2014 / 7:26 am

    I use the one by Soapwalla, it's easy to get here in Germany and works for me.

  3. April 29, 2014 / 2:34 pm

    I've been thinking about getting the Meow Meow Tweet deodorant next. Right now I'm using Nourish in Fresh Fig which is working well for me.

  4. Call It Vanity
    April 29, 2014 / 5:33 pm

    I haven't gone crazy trying a bunch of different natural deodorants (just one so far), but they all sound so yummy (sans the lavendar…I'm not a huge fan either) that you totally make me want to get personal with my pits 😉

    Mayah x

  5. April 30, 2014 / 11:29 am

    I AM THE SAME! Even before trying out natural deodorants, antiperspirants never worked for me so trying natural ones hasn't been an unpleasant experience for me. I really want to tryy Schmidt's or Soapwalla I've heard great things about the both of them from other bloggers too. I was using Lavanila but it's a stick and its now in the lid and I can't get it back out!? I e-mailed them and they said there's not a lot they can do as they can't ship to the UK from USA so I'm not using that anymore even though it worked great…I'm currently trialing one from LUSH – so far so good 🙂

  6. April 30, 2014 / 11:51 am

    Love my Schmidt's deodorant in ylang ylang<3 Great post sweetie! 🙂 xx

  7. May 1, 2014 / 4:12 am

    Thank you Audrey! Meow Meow Tweet is a particular favorite of mine 🙂 Hope you find the perfect deodorant for you soon!

  8. May 1, 2014 / 4:13 am

    Nice! I stuck with Soapwalla for a while before trying other deodorants–it works!

  9. May 1, 2014 / 4:13 am

    Hope you do try the Meow Meow Tweet one next! I've seen the Nourish deodorant in my local Whole Foods and read some reviews on it–the stick form does look convenient.

  10. May 1, 2014 / 4:14 am

    As evidenced by all the deodorants I have, I'm a bit of a smelly person/have a fear of being smelly 😛 Get personal with those pits!

  11. May 1, 2014 / 4:15 am

    😀 *thumbs way up!

  12. May 1, 2014 / 4:16 am

    High five Amber!! I had high hopes for antiperspirants, thinking my wet armpit stain days would be over…but I'm glad switching over to natural deos wasn't a hard decision.

    Aww I'm sorry you're having issues with the Lavanila 🙁 I saw recently Sephora started shipping to the UK–is it possible to get Lavanila that way? Glad the one from LUSH is working well for you–hope you can try Schmidt's or Soapwalla soon!

  13. May 1, 2014 / 4:17 am

    Ooh, can't wait to use my Schmidt's in Ylang Ylang then 🙂 Thank you Jana! x

  14. Laura
    May 1, 2014 / 8:52 am

    Nice! Most of these are not available in the uk/eu, would particularily love to try the sticks! I use soapwala, but not too keen on the smell and finger application.

  15. May 1, 2014 / 9:36 am

    Ugh antiperspirants were just the bain of my life haha! Sephora do ship to the UK but you have to spend £75 and then its an extra £10 delivery on top of that so just for a deodorant its a bit of a pain!

  16. May 3, 2014 / 7:24 pm

    I wasn't too into the finger application for deo creams when I first started, but it's grown on me. Of course, sticks are so much more convenient and I may look into those when I finish up these creams. I know several of these ship internationally from their sites–Meow Meow Tweet and Osmia Organics both have great products besides their deodorants, so maybe hopefully you'll be able to find enough to justify the shipping 😀

  17. Akaisa
    March 9, 2015 / 7:03 am

    Hi,
    I've been searching for a natural deodorant for a while now. I've tried Soapwalla and Schmidt's but unfortunately I'ms not a big fan of the smell. It smells earthy and strong and I can't stand it! I just wanted to now what Meow meow tweet smells like compared to the others 🙂

    Thanks!!

  18. March 10, 2015 / 2:26 am

    Hi Akaisa!

    Hm, if you don't like earthy, Schmidt's does make a variety of scents–the Ylang Ylang one I remember smelled like nothing to me.

    You'll definitely get an essential oil-y/sort of earthy smell with Meow Meow Tweets' deo's (tea tree, lavender), though their newest baking soda-free one smells like grapefruit.

    A newer deo I've been using lately by Black Chicken, called Axilla, smells really good–I was doing yoga this morning and in downward dog was wondering, "What is that great smell…I haven't applied perfume yet today…" and realized it was my deo!

    Hope this helps!