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8 Essential Ingredients For The Best Natural Deodorant
A great natural deodorant formula should be a combination of two things: a serving of delicious botanical fragrance on the left and on the right, a cocktail of natural anti-bacterial compounds that are all gentle on your skin, but make it a rough night out for odour-causing bacteria. Learn more about how bacteria cause sweat odour here.
First things first, let's clarify one thing: what's the difference between antiperspirant and deodorant?
ANTIPERSPIRANT VS DEODORANT
The difference is pretty simple. Antiperspirants aim to block sweat from coming out entirely (Figure i). Standard deodorants aim to mask the odour caused by sweat. Triumph & Disaster's low pH deodorant attacks the bacteria causing odour with natural sodium bicarbonate and botanicals as well as applying a bespoke fragrance to neutralise odour.
At Triumph & Disaster, we're about working with the body's natural rhythm. We're not about stopping sweat. To do so is reckless and ignores the body's natural function. Humans are designed to sweat, armpits in particular, have evolved as a key area to release toxins. Mess with this at your peril. Sending toxins from your armpits back into the body to overload other parts of our excretion and perspiration systems is not something we're interested in risking for the sake of a notion of self-confidence or curing minor discomfort.
WHICH INGREDIENTS COMBAT BACTERIA?
Bacteria are the cause of sweat odour, not sweat itself. We use natural proven ingredients that have history on their side. Human exposure and experience with these ingredients over centuries mean we know they are safe and effective at fighting bacteria. So, rather than set out to simply punch the bacteria around (along with following a few handy hints) we've included a few key ingredients to go straight for the knockout.
1. SODIUM BICARBONATE
Baking soda is alkaline, meaning it counteracts the bacteria-loving acids in sweat and acts as a natural balancing agent for armpit odour. Our formula has been developed to be low pH, making it gentle on skin, but strong enough to mask the effect of bacteria and the odours they create.
2. KAWAKAWA (Piper excelsum)
‘Kawakawa’ in Te Reo (New Zealand’s indigenous language) refers to the bitter taste of the leaves, coming from the word ‘kawa’ meaning bitter. Also referred to as NZ Pepper Tree, Kawakawa was one of the most important plants in Rongoā (Māori medicine), Māori used it externally for cuts, wounds and bruises and also applied it as a treatment for toothache, nettle stings and eczema due to its natural anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties – we use it for these very same properties.
3. ALOE VERA (Aloe barbadensis)
An evergreen perennial, it originates from the Arabian Peninsula but grows wild in tropical climates around the world and is cultivated for agricultural and medicinal uses. Most of us are well aware of the benefits and properties of this awesome plant, ask anyone with a sunburn what they are reaching for and the answer will be Aloe Vera. We use Aloe Vera for its all-around properties to help us inhibit bacterial and fungal activity. Aloe Vera also has a nice calming and cooling effect to the touch and adds to the overall application sensation of our deodorant.
4. MANUKA OIL (Leptospermum scoparium)
Probably New Zealand’s most widely used native plant. Everything from tonics and teas to lip balms and Honey are infused with its goodness and sold on our shelves. In our deodorant, we use it for its calming and neutralising benefits to help bring odours under control.
WHICH INGREDIENTS MAKE THE SPICE FRAGRANCE?
Our ingredients are natural and organic. Our fragrance is exotic. Along with a little help from Bergamot oil, Lime oil & Vanilla Oil, our bespoke fragrance was developed with a few key ingredients to evoke a sense of a wild night under a full moon that we might have had when no one was looking.
5. FRANKINCENSE (Boswellia serrate)
6. BAY LEAF OIL (Pimenta racemosa)
Bay leaf is that random leaf you come across in your curry that when you bite into it you wish you hadn’t. Thankfully for us the bay leaf smells much better than it tastes, as it is one of the key fragrances we use to blend the bespoke fragrance we call ‘Spice”. Moreover the Bay leaf has a long and exotic history that involves, war, pirates, rum and the spice trade, making it perfect for Triumph & Disaster.
7. CLOVE OIL (Eugenia caryophyllus)
Cloves are used in Indian Ayurvedic medicine, Chinese medicine, and Western herbalism where the essential oil is used as an anodyne (painkiller). It has been burnt to ward of mosquitos, eaten as a spice, applied as a remedy and inhaled for goodness knows what, we think of it as our little ‘fix all’ flower from the east.
8. LAVENDER HYDROSOL (Lavandula angustifolia)
Lavender, Lavender, where art thou Lavender. We use a bespoke infusion of organic lavender as the vehicle to get all the other fragrance ingredients to the show. Lavender is your friendly train conductor, doing all the hard yards to make sure the team is there on time and ready to play.
Shop Deodorant - Spice:
