Customer Reviews

Arm & Hammer Essentials Deodorant, Fresh, 2.5 Oz/pack, 4 pack

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

First of all, I must point out that this product has been mislabeled here as an "antiperspirant", which it is not (natural deodorants never are, since the "antiperspirant" ingredients are what potentially cause cancer.) This product's label, clearly seen in the picture, advertises it as being an "aluminum free, paraben free, natural deodorant."

Ok, having cleared that up, I am happy to report that this deodorant is absolutely fantastic! It smells wonderful (a crisp, clean, almost sporty-like scent, like the smell of many men's body washes...I'm a total girly-girl, however, and the sporty fragrance doesn't bother me at all or make me feel like I smell manly or anything.) Even better than the way it smells, though, is the fact that I don't feel like I'm just covering up my own body odor. I live in the southern CA desert, where it is 110°+ the whole summer, and sweating is completely unavoidable. Any other natural deodorants I've tried recently (Tom's of Maine, various salt crystal types, Jason, and a few others I can't recall off the top of my head right now) did nothing to prevent the sour pit odor that can occur in miserable summer temps, no matter how fastidious I was regarding my personal hygiene! I didn't want to, but I finally had to give up on using safer, healthier, "natural" deodorants because I couldn't stand my own stench (and I'm pretty sure others around me couldn't stand it, either!) I reluctantly went back to using an antiperspirant deodorant that has aluminum and paraben in it...effective against sweat and odor, but at the risk of causing cancer?? Yikes.

My mom found this product while she was on vacation, and decided to give it a try, even though we'd both concluded that natural deodorants just don't work as well - or even at all - as regular antiperspirant deodorants do. Thank goodness we've been proven wrong! Finally, here's a natural deodorant which I can feel safe and comfortable using, it works all day, smells terrific, and keeps me from smelling like a funky hippie! :) (I'm all for a green, holistic, all-natural lifestyle, but...you know what I mean??) I highly recommend this deodorant!

Once upon a time when I was a teenager I used to sweat a lot. This sweating, shockingly enough, was focused pretty much in my armpits. Some of you may also sweat from your armpits. Don't worry... I hear this is a common occurrence.

It must've been hormonal or something because I don't sweat nearly that bad anymore. Regardless, at the time I tried a few things to help the situation. I tried Certain Dri Antiperspirant Roll-On for Excessive Perspiration 1.2 oz (35.5 ml), the OTC super antiperspirant. It cut down on my sweating a lot but I wasn't quite satisfied.

My doctor gave me a prescription for Drysol, the prescription-only super antiperspirant. This stuff would literally keep my armpits bone dry if I were doing jumping jacks in a dry sauna while wearing a parka. What's the catch? After the first application the stuff starts irritating your skin and it gets to the point where it burns mercilessly when you apply the stuff and then even after washing it off your underarms are extremely tender and itchy. I couldn't live with that.

Fortunately I grew up into my 20s and my crazy hormones chilled out and I stopped being an excessive sweater. But I still sweat like a normal person and here was my main concern:

I HATE RUINING SHIRTS! Yellow stains, white stains, "stiff" fabric, what have you... I hated it. And so I was using Mitchum Anti-Perspirant & Deodorant, Power Gel, Mountain Air, 3.4 oz (96 g) (Pack of 4) because it was a strong antiperspirant (25%).

**** IMPORTANT PART FOR YOU SKIMMERS ****

Here's the key point: all along while I thought I was doing more to alleviate my problem, I was in fact exacerbating the problem! I thought it was sweat that ruined shirts. No, not true. IT'S THE ALUMINUM-BASED CHEMICALS IN ANTIPERSPIRANTS THAT RUIN YOUR CLOTHES! What???? I know, shocking. When they mix with your sweat they react and then bleach or stain or stiffen the armpit area of your clothes. So by using Mitchum, which has 25% active antiperspirant ingredient, I was actually doing MORE damage.

But would would I do without my precious antiperspirant? Sweat? Heavens no! So I tried out Speed Stick by Mennen Antiperspirant Deodorant, Stainguard, Clean 2.7 oz (76 g), Pack of 3. It turns out their theory is to have less active ingredient for the antiperspirant (only 10% while Mitchum had 25% and most regular antiperspirants have around 15%) and a more "clingy" formula for the stuff to keep it from rubbing off on your clothes from your armpits. I guess I liked it but I was still troubled by the fact that the evil stain-causing antiperspirant, while at a lower concentration, was still present. I wanted to be able to wear my nicest shirts and not be stressing over whether they're getting ruined or not.

So I decided to make the change. Along with learning about possible-although-a-good-chance-not-actually-related connections between increased aluminum in the body and Alzheimer's disease, I decided to make the move to strictly deodorants - antiperspirant-free, that is.

BUT I WAS SCARED! A MERE DEODORANT WITH NO SWEAT-STOPPING POWER? HOW COULD IT POSSIBLY SUFFICE?

Enter Arm & Hammer Essentials Antiperspirant / Deodorant, Fresh, 2.5 Oz/pack, 4 pack. HO-LY CRAP! I did careful research into all kinds of aluminum-free deodorants. Some had cotton in them. Some were crazy crystals from the Earth (which, I've learned, is simply the natural ore from which aluminum is made so, yeah, for what it's worth). Some had tea tree oil and Shea butter and all the fad-like seasonings and spices you could ask for. But the reviews for the Arm & Hammer Essentials Deodorant sounded good so I got it.

HERE'S THE SKINNY:

It says it's unscented. It's not, but from what I've read of the scented versions, they are way too overpowering and so the unscented version gives you just enough fresh fragrance.

I found that with my previous antiperspirants/deodorants like Mitchum and Speed Stick, the scent lasted the full day. But I would say I ended each day smelling what I like to call "funky fresh". It was sort of a weird mutant smell created by the merging of B.O. and the fragrance. So it still smelled fresh but with like a bit of a sour twang. The underarm fabric of my shirts also would have this funky fresh smell at the end of the day.

With the Arm & Hammer, I was amazed. About halfway through the day I can't really detect the "fresh" scent anymore. But that's okay, because it's labeled as unscented, right? So by the end of the day, of course, there's no fresh smell. But guess what else I don't have at the end of the day? The funk. No funky, and no fresh. It's amazing - in a good way! After a long day of sweating in the DC summer humidity, at the end of the day my underarms simply smell "neutral". As in, they smell like nothing. There's just nothing! I love it! No B.O., no sour funk, and not even any deodorant smell. It's really cool, actually.

This stuff works. I consider myself an average to slightly above-average sweater. My primary concerns being ruining clothes. This stuff is an answer. I highly recommend this product.

And honestly, I don't notice myself sweating any more than I did before when using Mitchum or Speed Stick. So I'm not missing the antiperspirant at all!

For years, Arm & Hammer made a deodorant (not antiperspirant) containing baking soda. This was my deodorant from sometime in the mid 90s until they stopped making the product in ~2005 or 2006. They continued making a non-antiperspirant deodorant but no longer had baking soda as part of the formula, and the "new improved" deodorant did not work. I don't like the strong chemicals in the antiperspirants, and so I looked around for another deodorant. I tried Kiss My Face with enzymes (somewhat decent), Tom's of Maine (did not work), and various other "natural" deodorants. For a while in late 2007/2008, I used Adidas Cotton Tech+ 24hr Deo Control Fitness Fresh for Women, which worked but appears now to have been discontinued. I found this new Arm & Hammer Essentials deodorant in my local grocery store in the fall of 2008, and was pleased to see that the ingredients again include baking soda. I was pleased to also spot it in the local RiteAid. It works OK, although not as good as the older Arm & Hammer formula that I used for ~8-10 years. Based on finding it in 2-3 local mainstream stores, I anticipated using this deodorant for years to come.

But - alas! - in the past month, I went to buy deodorant, and could not find either the Adidas or this Arm & Hammer Essentials in any of the stores that had previously carried them. (I also could not find the Adidas online.) I wonder if these products are being discontinued; it seems likely based on my past experience. If you like the Arm & Hammer Essentials, stock up now. It may be on its way out. I just bought 20. I hope this will tide me over until the next time one of these manufacturers tries a natural deodorant, and I'll stock up again for a year or two.

Much worse than having your favorite lipstick color discontinued.

After using this for a few weeks and thinking I'd finally found a deodorant without aluminum that works most of the time, I looked at the label again and discovered that this product contains triclosan. My mistake for not reading closely when I bought it, but disappointing...
The FDA is reexamining triclosan which may be an endocrine disruptor.
[...].

I grabbed this at my grocery store because I am trying to eliminate chemicals from our home and I liked the price and the claim that it doesn't contain aluminum or parabens. I've used it twice and I must say it smells nice and it works. The downside is it contains Triclosan, a known toxin. If you're interested you can look up ingredients yourself and see how they rate on the Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety site. This one scores and 8 out of 10 for being a moderately high risk to humans and the environment. This is not what I expected from a natural produt and defeats the purpose! I will not be buying it again.

First off, I wish I could give this deodorant five stars... it smells WONDERFUL, very "fresh" like the name says. And it works wonderfully too. Lasted all day, unlike most natural deodorants I've tried.

However, I developed an allergic reaction after about 4 days of use. Slight itching/burning, and the skin on my underarms started peeling off and darkening. This is the same thing that happened when I used TOM'S OF MAINE Lavender deodorant. I looked at the ingredients list of both deodorants, and they share many of the same ingredients. I just wanted to point this out...if you've had allergic reactions to any TOM'S OF MAINE deodorants, you might be allergic to this one as well. But give it a try anyway. If I wasn't allergic to it, this would definitely be my new deodorant of choice.

I'm going to buy the unscented version and give that a try...I'll edit my review if I have better results with that one.

This product as well as some other "natural" deodorants contain "Propylene Glycol". Below is just a sample of what I found on the Internet but there are tons more....just look it up!

Propylene Glycol (PG, Polyethylene Glycol (PEG), and Ethylene Glycol (EG) are all petroleum derivatives that act as solvents, surfactants, and wetting agents. They can easily penetrate the skin, and can weaken protein and cellular structure. In fact, PG penetrates the skin so quickly that the EPA warns factory workers to avoid skin contact, to prevent brain, liver, and kidney abnormalities. PG is present in many stick deodorants, often in heavier concentration than in most industrial applications. (Nyack, Dr. Vin, Ph.D., Biochemist; personal communication). And Propylene Glycol is what is used to carry the "active" ingredients in those transdermal patches INTO YOUR BODY.

I bought this because it was paraben- and aluminum-free, but returned it to the store after discovering that it had triclosan in it to control bacteria.
[..]

No thanks. :)

This is not natural deodorant. Propylene Glycol is one of the ingredients which is being under investigation right now..

This deodorant is better than most in terms of ingredients, but the anti microbial ingredient is the toxin Triclosan. Most people who get this get it because they try to be healthy. Check all ingredients and make your informed choice! "Natural" deodorants do not work for me, so my choices seem to be Triclosan, Aluminium or to be smelly. Maybe Ill trade of every few years :D