Hi Sweeties!
We are in the thick of
summer down here and when you live in the South that means that you no longer
glisten like a lady, you just flat out sweat. As part of my mission to
systematically trash the trash and use the good, I scoured the shelves of my
local Target and picked up a stick of Tom’s of Maine Naturally Dry
Antiperspirant Deodorant. I’ve been using Dove Invisible Solid 24 hour
protection in Powder for years and after reading the ingredients and
recognizing some big no-no’s, I knew I had to try something different. Tom’s of
Maine proclaims that all of their products are natural. After some in-depth
internet research I found that their standards for “natural” mean that their
ingredients are sourced in nature (okkaaay, that sounds good but it’s a bit
vague), free of artificial preservatives, colors, sweeteners, fragrances, and
other additives (yay!), free of animal ingredients (awesome!), subject to
limited processing (again, vague), and promote organically grown ingredients whenever
possible and practical (cop out, for sure). So I think they’re trying, but in
my high-standards opinion, they could try harder. Why not use all organic ingredients
instead of when it’s just practical (i.e., cheap)? But I digress and will now
step down off of my super green soap box.
On to the important stuff!
I tried out Dove’s Invisible Solid and Tom’s of Maine deodorants. During the
summer. In the 100 degree humid heat. I’ve ran in it, kick boxed in it, trekked
all over the beach in it. And the odor winner is? Dove. Yeah, their deodorant
kept the odor at bay for most of the day. I didn’t have to reapply once. With Tom’s
of Maine you definitely need to carry a stick with you or keep one in your
office for extra applications. It works, just not for 8 hours at a time in the
intense heat.
Now let's move on to the good stuff, or not so good stuff in Dove's case. After I did a thorough
review of its ingredients on the Environmental Working Group’s Skin DeepDatabase, I threw my Dove stick in the garbage. I’ve posted the two product’s
ingredients below as always. So let’s hit the high points- Dove lists
significantly more ingredients than Tom’s of Maine (a whopping 19 compared to
10). [Side note: I always look at the length of ingredients when comparing
products. Generally, the smaller the list, the better it is for you.] Starting
with Dove, the ingredient BHT registered a level 6 with the EWG. My biggest
concern with BHT is its links to cancer. And it’s in a deodorant. It kind of
gives new meaning to the “cancer stick,” right? It also has allergy concerns
with its fragrance, so that’s a concern for me as well. Seven of its 19
ingredients are rated at a 3. Normally, I am okay with maybe one or two
ingredients being a 3 as long as it’s not linked with cancer. But seven?
Absolutely not. Buh bye, Dove. Maybe instead of your Campaign for Real Beauty you
can Campaign for Safe Products. Catty enough? Perhaps.
Now let’s move on to Tom’s
of Maine. They did a lot better in the ingredient list, but I’m still not
satisfied. Similar to Dove, they list fragrance as an ingredient, which rates
at an 8 with EWG because of the allergen aspect. Additionally, Dove and Tom’s
of Maine have two ingredients listed at a level 3 with one of them being talc, which
has been flagged as having contamination concerns with asbestos fibers. Insert
my WTF here! Asbestos fibers? Really?? So Tom’s isn’t as pure and clean as I
had hoped. And both brands still list some form of aluminum as their main
ingredient, which I’m really wary about given some of the recent linkage of aluminum
to breast cancer and Alzheimer’s. So bottom line, Dove is out and Tom’s is sort
of teetering on my scale right now. I’m just not 100% sold. I’m still going to
keep searching because going without deodorant just isn’t in my nature! In the
next few weeks I’m going to be looking into some homemade deodorant recipes and
will let you know how they go! Anyone have any luck with other brands of
deodorant?
Stay sweet!
Dove
|
EWG Rating
|
Tom’s of Maine
|
EWG Rating
|
Aluminum zirconium
tetrachlorohydrex GLY(18.5%)
|
2
|
3 (when airborne/aerosol)
|
|
Cyclopentasiloxane
|
3
|
0
|
|
Stearyl Alcohol
|
1
|
8 (Allergies/Immun-otoxicity)
|
|
PPG-14 Butyl Ether
|
1
|
1
|
|
Dimethicone
|
3
|
0
|
|
C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate
|
1
|
0
|
|
Hydrogenated Castor Oil
|
0
|
Talc
(Contamination concerns
with asbestos fibers)
|
3 (when airborne)
|
Talc (Contamination
concerns with asbestos fibers)
|
3
|
0
|
|
Fragrance(Parfum)
|
8
|
Olive Leaf Extract
|
0
|
Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower)
Seed Oil
|
0
|
Maltodextrin
|
0
|
Steareth-100
|
3
|
||
Vegetable Oil
|
0
|
||
Glyceryl Oleate
|
1
|
||
Glycerin
|
0
|
||
Propylene
|
3
|
||
Glycol
|
3
|
||
TBHQ
|
3
|
||
BHT
|
6
|
||
Citric Acid
|
2
|
||
No comments:
Post a Comment