Elevated (Taylor’s Natural) PITS Natural Deodorant Review

Smelling good has been the objective of the human race since we noticed that we can smell bad sometimes. (Ok maybe not during the Middle Ages, but do you really smell bad if everyone else smells just as bad?)  The use of perfumes, oils, and even wax candles melting on your head (I’m looking at you Ancient Egyptians) are just a couple of the ways humans have tried to make themselves smell good throughout the ages. Then came the deodorant and antiperspirants that we all know and use.

Have you read your deodorant/Antiperspirant label though? I did for the first time and when I googled the ingredients this is what I found. The first ingredient in my bird named deodorant/antiperspirant is Aluminium zirconium tetrachlorohydrex gly. This ingredient literally blocks your pores. Plugs them right up so that your sweat can’t escape and is absorbed by the ingredient. Oh and it turns the underarms of your clothes yellow. (Um… don’t we spend tons of money to unclog our facial pores, and laundry detergent to get th eyellow stains out?) Lets continue down the ingredient list. Cyclopentasiloxane helps your deodorant/antiperspirant to slide on nicely. This ingredient can also irritate your underarms. Stearyl alcohol gives your skin a smooth and soft appearance. C12-15 alkyl benzoate, Ppg-14 butyl ether, Hydrogenated castor oil, Hydroxyethyl urea and Dimethicone  are skin conditioning agents. Peg-8 is a solvent. When I googled Polyethylene all the hits said it was plastic, but it has been known to cause kidney issues when used in deodorants. Oh and Steareth-100 is a polyethylene glycol ether so I would just see above where I mention Polyethylene. You can look up the above ingredients yourself. I used a combination of  http://www.cosmeticsinfo.org/, and http://www.cir-safety.org/ingredients, and http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/. (I took EWG with a grain of salt. That is why I used the other two sources as well.)

Whew and WOW. My mom always told me that if I couldn’t pronounce an ingredient in food I should not eat it. ( I am still trying to follow that one.) Maybe we should use that thought for the outside of our bodies as well?  So I tried a natural deodorant.

I was scared though. I was scared the natural deodorant wouldn’t work and I would smell. Well I did end up smelling, but I smelled like Roses. I tried Elevated’s PITS Natural Deodorant in Rose Vanilla Scent. Ingredients: Shea Butter, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Virgin Macadamia & Coconut Oil, Calendula, Lemon Balm, Comfrey, Cosemary, Aluminum free Baking Soda, Arrowroot, Activated Charcoal, Magnesium Oil, Rose Geranium, Vanilla Extract & gse. Much easier to pronounce and I know what all of those ingredients are without having to look them up.

One thing that I didn’t know was that I was going to need to detox my armpits from my regular deodorant/antiperspirant first. (Makes sense to me now. haha) You need to get rid of all the extra left over gunk from your regular deodorant and to re-establish your natural microbial ecosystem in your armpits. You can do this a couple of ways. The first is by applying a bentonite clay mask to your armpits, or you can use apple cider vinegar, witch hazel, or lemon after showering and before putting on your natural deodorant. I didn’t have the clay, but I did have apple cider vinegar so I swabbed that on before I applied the PITS natural deodorant after my morning shower for a couple of days. I  found at the beginning my underarms were a little sensitive, but after a day or so they returned to normal.

Have I noticed any changes or a difference? Heck yeah! With my regular deodorant/antiperspirant I used to get really itchy underarms. (It is never sexy for someone to catch you scratching your underarms. Haha!) I also noticed that if I forgot to apply my deodorant/antiperspirant I would have a pretty bad BO. I have used Elevated’s PITs natural deodorant for a week now and I haven’t had any itching and I haven’t had any BO complaints. My underarms are soft, and smell like Roses. (If you are a fan of Vanilla I must warn you the Rose Vanilla scent is more on the Rose side then Vanilla.)

Elevated’s PITs natural deodorant comes in a glass container with 2 FL of product in it. Even though the container for the PITs might seem small you only need a dime size amount for each underarm so the container should last you a while. All in all I am actually quite impressed with Elevated’s natural deodorant, and I am looking forward to trying their other natural deodorant scents.

I hope this review helps anyone who is on the fence about using natural deodorant. Cheers!