What’s your current deodorant?
My go-to deodorants were Dove and sometimes Suave for their wonderful fragrance and anti-perspiration. As it turns out, Dove and Suave are two of the worst brands to wear, despite their popularity. These deodorants have toxic ingredients including parabens, formaldehyde, talc, baking soda (not toxic but an irritant) and petroleum. These ingredients go onto one of the most sensitive parts of our body: our armpits.
Deodorants are said to be one of the most harmful cosmetics to put on your body (depending on the brand). For this reason, many of us made the switch to organic deodorants we find at Whole Foods or at a quaint Farmer’s Market.
But these deodorants, for lack of a better word, suck.
Why Organic Deodorants Don’t Always Keep You Fresh
If you’re anything like me, you apply a generous amount of organic deodorant in the morning. Within a couple hours, your pits sweat and stink as if you just completed a two mile run.
Most name brand deodorants contain aluminum, a toxic chemical that seeps into our body, but also clogs skin follicles to prevent us from sweating. To counter the release of harmful chemicals into our body, natural companies design aluminum-free deodorants with natural ingredients that offer a pleasant scent, but scarce odor control.
The team at iSkinCareReviews when on a hunt for brands that sell organic deodorants. That was the easy part. The hard part was to find an organic deodorant that provides daily freshness.
So we reached out to Jasmine Tran, founder of Essance Skincare, a natural beauty company that began in 2010. Not only do they sell organic beauty products, Tran provides skincare consultations for people who are ready to transition into the world of “green beauty.” She explains that each consultation depends on where you are in your skin care journey, what you wish to achieve with your skin and a plan of action. So if you’re ever in Portland, Oregon, schedule an appointment for your skincare consultation.
Essance’s Organic Deodorant Formulation
Jasmine Tran, like most of us, understands that organic deodorants can be ineffective at times. So we asked whether her organic deodorants really did provide 24 hours of dryness protection.
“Many of the natural deodorant brands are designed with the same formulation, but lack an understanding of how the body and ingredients respond to one another,” says Tran.
“Therefore it’s a huge disappointment for the consumers.”
Her formulation is based on three important criteria:
- Sweat
- Odor
- pH Balance
Tran explains that she “looked at the body as a whole” to formulate a product that can address these concerns. She came up with a number of solutions, one being the use of essential oils – but not just any essential oil: the most effective.
Tran poses the question: “Did you know that all essential oils contain antibacterial properties?”
I sure didn’t.
Tran, however, not only knows that essential oils provide anti-bacterial properties, but certain oils are more effective than others. The essential oils she uses, along with the combination of bentonite clay (which draws out toxins and absorbs moisture) and zinc oxide (an anti-bacterial and anti-fungal property), creates an organic deodorant that actually works.
The Four Element’s Of Essance’s Deodorants
Tran explains that her deodorants are designed based on the four elements.
“The oils selected are identified with those elements as well as it efficacy to combat anti-fungal and antibacterial properties,” explains Tran.
For example, she says, “Frankincense is amazing with antifungal, soothing and (calming) the glands. Rosemary and Geranium (are) fantastic for controlling the oil production.”
But her deodorants are not antiperspirants.
“You can still feel the sweat in high heat,” says Tran. “But for mild temperature, it does well with keeping you dry.”
With Tran’s deodorants, you will often sweat. However, her “formulation” prevents odor.
Essance’s Oils and the Elements:
Air Green Breeze – Fresh: Includes notes of rosemary, tea tree, litsea and lemon for an uplifting feel throughout the day.
Earth Soothing Choice – Woody: Notes such as cedarwood, sandalwood, wormwood, geranium, copaiba, balsam and rosemary for a natural scent.
Fire High Performance – Oriental: Oriental spices, such as notes of frankincense, Peru balsam, litsea, ravensara, rosemary, clove and cinnamon.
Water Solid Dry – Unscented: There are no essential oils or fragrance in Essance’s Water deodorant. But according to Tran, it still helps to minimize some odor.
Our Experience with Essance’s Organic Deodorant
Tran sent us her two most popular deodorant fragrances: Essance Earth and Essance Air. According to Tran, “One sniff and it’s sold.”
Since we had two products, why not try it on two different subjects?
We used Essance Air on our young, female sales associate who admits she sweats a lot. However, she works a sedentary job in an air conditioned office.
So our second subject was a male who performs a labor intensive job outdoors in South Florida’s Summer heat. Essance’s Earth deodorant has a woody, almost musky smell that we believe is suitable for both men and women.
After one week of using the product, they came back with their thoughts on the organic deodorant.
iSkincareReviews Subject 1
Riley F., our female coworker, says that she really loves the deodorant.
“…It’s the first (deodorant) that actually worked for me,” Riley says – either organic or chemical-based. As a competitive athlete, Flores never had the best luck finding good deodorants for odor or perspiration. Essance, Flores says, did the trick. She uses it twice daily: once in the morning and again at night after her shower. She did have one criticism, which some may view as a plus.
“The smell of it is not bad,” says Flores, “but it’s a little too scented and I think you can get tired of it quickly.”
Other than that, she is pleased with the product’s 24 hour dryness protection.
iSkinCareReviews Subject 2
Our second subject, a 27 year old male whose hobbies include building entire gazebos over the weekend, is very active and also a heavy sweater. After one week of using the product, he has criticisms: he wanted it to work like his anti-antiperspirant, Arm & Hammer.
Arm & Hammer’s Essentials Natural Deodorant is considered “non-toxic.” Most don’t use the Essentials deodorant, and neither does our second subject. Not to mention, Arm & Hammer deodorants can be pretty sneaky with their ingredients. Our second subject’s deodorant contains triclosan, propylene glycol, and synthetic fragrance – all ingredients you don’t want smeared on your armpits.
When he uses Essance’s Earth Organic Deodorant, his two complaints are:
1) He sweats too much.
2) He can’t smell the deodorant’s scent, unlike our first subject.
According to Tran, his response doesn’t surprise her. She says that consumers don’t understand the difference between natural fragrance vs synthetic fragrance. The latter is produced with chemicals to stabilize the scent on our bodies. Natural fragrances with essential oils, on the other hand, go into the bloodstream and eliminate toxins from the body. The fragrance, says Tran, is often temporary.
After informing our second subject of the toxins found in most deodorants, including Arm & Hammer, he says he will continue to use Essance until it runs out.
Much like any other skincare product, Essance’s natural deodorants work differently from person to person. But in both subjects, it did its job by eliminating odor.
Our recommendation is to give Essance a try if you’re on the market for an organic deodorant. See for yourself how it works. At iSkinCareReviews, we recommend Essance’s line of organic deodorants because they’re natural, eliminate odor, and unfortunately if you do sweat, remember that sweating is a natural, healthy process. Along as it doesn’t make you smell, no harm, no (literal) foul.
