As someone who has been exceedingly sweaty since puberty, I never had much faith in natural deodorants. But, after reading this article about Native deodorant, I decided to give it a shot and ordered the women’s sample pack. So, here’s my Native natural deodorant review.
The Specifics
For this Native natural deodorant review, I ordered the women’s sample pack which comes with one unscented, one lavender and rose, and one coconut and vanilla deodorant. In most cases I applied the deodorant once a day, unless I went to the gym in which case I applied it once before going to the gym and once after showering at the gym.
This review is primarily for the lavender and rose scent. I did try the unscented (see below) but stuck with the lavender and rose. I didn’t care for the coconut and vanilla scent but it might be better in the summer.
The Situations
Regular Life
On a day-to-day basis, Native deodorant performed pretty well. I got a hint of the scent every now and then and never seemed to be particularly smelly. I did pit out once after walking the dog, but that’s nothing new. I am interested to see how this performs with white shirts, as the aluminum in traditional deodorants is what supposedly causes pit stains.
At the Gym
As I mentioned, I’m a sweaty lady, so you can imagine that I don’t exactly “glisten” when I work out. I sweat. A lot. Because there’s so much going on when I work out, I couldn’t really detect a difference in my sweatiness while using the Native deodorant. The scent was more noticeable while I worked out, but that just meant I was getting whiffs of lavender and rose while doing my glute bridges.
Stressful Situations
One of the things I was most interested in for this Native natural deodorant review was to see how it performed in meetings. Even if a meeting at work isn’t particularly stressful, something about the situation sends my sweat glands into overdrive. I had a few meetings a week during this experiment, and I didn’t notice any significant difference in my sweatiness levels while using Native deodorant.
Pros
As described above, Native deodorant performed pretty well. It certainly wasn’t any noticeably worse than my typical deodorants (Degree or Secret), and I liked the lavender and rose scent more than typical deodorant scents. Plus, I already use a lavender-scented body wash, so this tied right in.
Native deodorant comes in the traditional stick packaging, not in a tub. Many natural deodorants require you to dip your fingers into a jar and then rub the deodorant onto your skin. I’m all for less chemicals going onto my body, but not if it requires a pit massage every morning.
Although it’s more expensive than your typical stick of Degree or Secret, Native deodorant is pretty reasonably priced. Individual sticks are $12 a piece, but they work out to $10 a piece if you buy the three-stick sample pack.
Cons
Native is a deodorant, NOT an antiperspirant. As someone who spent much of their teen years air-drying their armpits after applying CertainDri or Drysol before bed, I’m used to using chemicals to train my pits not to sweat. Native doesn’t do that. What it does do, however, is make your sweat smell nice or like nothing at all.
The formula isn’t very smooth and the product doesn’t glide on so much as rub in. This is fine, it’s just not what I’m used to. It could also potentially make application to other parts of the body difficult i.e. inner thighs during chub rub season.
My skin didn’t agree with the unscented formula for some reason. I didn’t notice it at first (Michelle actually pointed it out to me at the gym. As you can tell we have very strict personal boundaries) but after a few days of using the unscented, I did indeed have a red rash under my left arm. I went back to using the lavender and rose and everything cleared up. They do offer a sensitive formula, so if you’re concerned about a reaction I would start there.
Final Thoughts
My official result after this Native natural deodorant review: I will definitely continue to use Native deodorant. I’m not sure what I was thinking ordering the women’s sample pack, as I typically like a more masculine scent anyways. I do love the lavender and rose and would buy that again, but the unscented and coconut and vanilla options aren’t for me. I’m interested in trying out some of the other scents they have available.
I say it’s worth a try if you’re looking to start using a more natural deodorant!
Have you tried Native deodorant? Or do you love another type of natural deodorant? Let us know in the comments!
