Me asking if natural deodorant really works is like Popeye asking if spinach makes you strong.

The answer is unhesitatingly “YES!”

The right natural deodorant keeps you odor-free without any harsh chemical ingredients adding to your body burden.

But here’s the thing that most people fail to understand when it comes to “natural deodorant” and the question “does natural deodorant really work?”…

You’re going to sweat.

Now I know some people immediately bounced right off the page after reading that sentence, and all I have to say them is, “LAME.” For those of you that remain, please hear me out.

Bacteria, not sweat, is the cause of body odor.

And while sweating “activates” the bacteria which in turn creates body odor, if the bacteria is not there to begin with, then there is no BO. Do you follow?

So natural deodorants contain ingredients with natural antibacterial properties to help kill bacteria on the skin. Coconut oil, tea tree oil, and lavender essential oil are most often used for this purpose.

Natural deodorants also typically include odor-absorbing ingredients such as baking soda , and moisture-absorbing ingredients such as clay and arrowroot.

Therefore, the ingredients in natural deodorants keep you odor-free by killing BO-causing bacteria and absorbing odor and (some) moisture.

So yes, natural deodorants do really work!

But not all natural deodorants are created equally.

When I first went anti-antiperspirants, I grabbed a brand that is now widely sold at most drug and grocery stores. And it. Was. Awful. In other words, I stunk. That’s because most of the primary ingredients are included for consistency, not odor-protection (as indicated on their website). It also contained the mysterious “fragrance” which I now know is a sure-fire sign of a green-washed product.

Primal Pit Paste is the natural deodorant I always recommend since it is made with the aforementioned antibacterial and odor-eating ingredients, and is so safe you could eat it (though it wouldn’t be very tasty).

And if you’re down to try a DIY, check out my DIY all-natural detoxifying deodorant. In addition to natural antibacterial and odor-eating ingredients, it contains a healing clay that pulls toxins and heavy metals from the skin.