Deodorant

Yes, the title of this post just proves that you never know what you might be reading about here on TammysRecipes.com!

This is my deodorant. It's actually a rock-hard salt crystal (potassium alum, to be exact). To use it, you wet it with water and rub it under your arms (or on your feet, or wherever you want to use it).

These crystals last for years! I've been using them for 12 years, and my first one lasted for about 10 years before it was too small to use!

I'm not sure exactly how much they cost, because I got both of mine at a garage sale (new, in the package) for $1.00. I thought it would be a fun experiment.

Besides the super low cost of this method of deodorant, it's so much better for you than the deodorants and anti-perspirants sold in the store. Even deodorants without aluminum often have questionable ingredients. Do we really want to put that stuff under our arms every day for the rest of our lives?! :) Okay, so maybe you do... :)

But the big question is how well it works.

I won't lie and say that this deodorant keeps you dry and will make you smell nice for a week. It won't. You will sweat a little. That's natural, after all. If you take a shower every day, you should be fine. If I shower daily, this deodorant works great.

Joshua, who does manual labor for 8 hours every day, tried using this deodorant, and it just didn't eliminate enough odors. While I didn't think he "stunk" (well, any more than usual, after a day's work!), the armpits of his shirts definitely weren't something you wanted to rub your nose into. (Joshua now uses a deodorant without anti-perspirant or aluminum.)

Now, here's the strange part. This isn't scientific, and I haven't heard this from other people; this has just been my own experience.

I think my body had to adjust to this more natural alternative. When I was using anti-perspirant every day, sure, my armpits smelled great... almost like... perfume. When I stopped, and went to this salt deodorant, I felt like I sweated a lot more at first. After a few days (or maybe a week? I can't remember...) it leveled out.

I feel that with a daily shower and use of this deodorant, there's really not much difference than when I used anti-perspirant, minus the perfume-y smell.

But it gets even stranger. On a couple of occasions, when I have been traveling, I thought it would be more convenient to just use a commercial deodorant. After using the salt crystal for so long, when I used store-bought deodorant I thought it made me sweat more and didn't control the odor.

I know it seems odd that after the initial period of "adjusting" to using a salt crystal, the commercial deodorants and anti-perspirants wouldn't work as well as a silly lump of potassium alum... and I'm guessing that if I completely gave up the salt crystal deodorant, my body would probably adjust back. But I've given up trying, and now I don't travel without taking this lump of salt as my deodorant.

So, that's probably more than you ever wanted to know about my personal odor habits!  It's all in the name of informing you, if you wish to investigate, that there are natural and inexpensive alternatives to commercial deodorant, and you don't have to stink! :)

More frugal tips can be found at Crystal's blog! [1] :)